#also wow!! I put the last one on after posting and holy crap it sounds so good

[foxgloveinspace]

I felt well enough to listen to some music on my new headphones this evening! Here’s a little playlist/dump of what I listened to

[greenhappyseed]

BnHA Ch.318 - Comparisons and parallels

Hey, did you hear Bakugo was back? I kid! Of COURSE everyone on Tumblr heard the collective BKDK screams. :) While the gremlin ex machina is the big news, a lot of other good stuff happened too.

We open the chapter with more Endeavor chitchat. He’s turning out to be a good coordinator, an insightful investigator, and all around worthy of being a top pro…except he’s still a crap father and still doesn’t seem to care about human beings. Even here with Deku, he appears to express concern over Deku’s wellbeing but immediately follows it up with:

Yup, he only cares about Deku as the OFA holder, not the kid who saved him in the war, the kid who used to intern for him, or the kid who’s friends with his kid. Ugh.

Deku swears to Endy that he’s fine because he’s still on his feet, but that’s a pretty poor standard. I mean, he’s wobbling and needs Blackwhip as a literal crutch. The vestiges agree with Endy and start to gang up on Deku, so Deku, in all his tired teenage wisdom, decides to ghost them. Apparently you CAN ghost a vestige, and Fourth is not here for it.

Holy heteromorph discrimination! All the villains we see Deku fighting are heteromorphs (some are even dressed like Spinner). We also see Deku fighting a gigantic shark-headed villain in the water, presumably because Gang Orca and Selkie were busy.

I LOVE the panel of Deku thinking of his family, his teachers, and Eri. This is what he’s fighting to achieve, but Deku’s perceptions (goals?) don’t necessarily line up with reality.

His mom is first (awwww) and she’s cheering for him like she did when he was little. NOT worried, not crying, just pure joy for her hero son, like he fantasized when he was a quirkless boy.

Gran Torino in his hero outfit, smiling and eating — NOT as Deku last saw him in the hospital.

Proud Dadmight with a genuine smile, NOT hero All Might. Also, All Might appears to be wearing his track jacket, not a business suit, so presumably Deku is thinking about a more casual training moment with his mentor. This is an interesting contrast to Gran Torino, who Deku DOES picture as a hero even though Torino handed his cape to Deku in the hospital.

AIZAWA GLARING WITH BOTH EYES AND HIDING HIS MOUTH, because THIS is how Aizawa looks in Deku’s happily ever after. But we all know Aizawa is probably hiding a sly smile under under his capture weapon, right??

Eri, finally smiling freely, because she’s learned how.

Also, it looks like Deku is again fighting heteromorphs at the bottom of this panel, although one of the kids he’s defending appears to have a duck bill, so we have some positive representation too.

Deku says he wants everyone to live their lives in peace and safety so they can smile together. Wow, where have we heard an idealistic kid say that before?

As Deku thinks about the ideal he shares with All Might, he arrives at Kamino, the place where “All Might” ended. Deku nearly collapses and meets his end when he sees a villain called Dictator, who was sent by AFO. Yup, Nagant wasn’t the only one sent by AFO, she just thought she was (and AFO didn’t prep her well — by comparison, Dictator received a full briefing about Deku). But look carefully at how Dictator uses different insults than AFO. He doesn’t call Deku useless or a boy (as both AFO and Nagant did), even though the imagery throughout this chapter points to the “what can you even do?” bit from Chapter 1. Instead, Dictator calls Deku reckless, impatient, and a loner.

“Rampage” in particular, calls back to this AFO/Yoichi exchange during the vestige battle, where AFO decried “rage” as being ruled by emotion and out of control, but Yoichi praised it as a form of passion.

Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but I think AFO is increasingly afraid of Deku. AFO is putting more effort into prepping his assassins, and his pass-through insults are sounding more like the taunts he hurled at All Might. AFO is now referring to All Might as useless and Deku as reckless. If, somehow, we see Dictator in the next chapter, I’m curious if he’ll explode or bust out a second quirk…..He does say taking Deku to AFO will bring him security, so I think AFO explicitly threatened him. All I’m saying is, it’s weird that a villain named Dictator has no mission statement or political end he’s trying to reach. He seems to be acting purely on AFO’s orders or ELSE, which means AFO is getting desperate and doesn’t have time for games. By contrast, AFO persuaded Nagant the boy would stop hero society from collapsing, therefore her goal and AFO’s goal were aligned. Unlike Dictator, she wasn’t aware there was an “or else;” she didn’t know she would explode if she exercised “free will.”

Deku snaps out of his stupor long enough to challenge Dictator to give up AFO’s location. Dictator says if Deku wants a fight, he’ll give him one, which echoes a line from AFO in Kamino:

There’s no more “come quietly if you want to keep your limbs,” it’s straight to “let’s fight!”

FINALLY! We. See. Bakugo! I adore how Deku is piled under bodies, twisting his tired brain around, thinking “I need a strategy,” and Bakugo is just, “VILLAIN GO BOOM!” with a precision blast. He knew exactly how to get the villain while keeping civilians safe. Perfect victory (assuming Dictator is truly done). Also, Bakugo’s “that punk” could apply to either the villain or Deku. :) It’s a nice callback to the final exam when Deku can’t think of a strategy to win against All Might and Bakugo was, “I choose violence against my childhood idol.” Both times, Bakugo’s right — sometimes a little rage is necessary to save and win.

I have thoughts on AFO and the “my body moved without thinking” bits that I’ll post separately. As for my next chapter hopes and dreams:

More Bakugo and UA kids. Plus All Might and Stain. And some LOV love pleeeeease.

Figure out why Second is being sus. He says saving everyone is the right path for Deku (contrary to AFO, who calls Deku’s path “thorny”), and that inaction is not an option for OFA holders. We also know Second believes victory = life and defeat = death, so it makes sense he’d push Deku towards victory no matter the cost. Second also says there’s something that can bolster Deku, which is presumably Bakugo and friends. However, when Bakugo arrives, Second doesn’t look pleased. Assuming he’s standing the same way against his throne chair as he is at the start of the chapter, then in the panel below Second is looking over his LEFT shoulder AWAY from the other vestiges and towards the expanse of the OFA mind realm. (Earlier in the chapter he looks over his RIGHT shoulder to speak to Yoichi and Third.) WHY YOU LOOK AWAY FROM VESTIGE FRIENDS WHEN WHEN BAKUGO APPEARS??? ARE YOU ON THE LOOKOUT FOR AFO TO ARRIVE??

Although the arrival of foreign heroes has been promised for a bit, and I’m ok with some background forces to bulk the hero ranks, I’m not keen on new cannon fodder cameo characters that will show up for 4 chapters and then disappear. A Captain Celebrity appearance would be fun, but let’s be honest, he likely noped out of going to Japan to fight villains gone wild. If Death Arms quit, there’s no way Captain Celebrity would keep going!

[officialscaramouche]

Companions

pairing: Chongyun x Xingqiu

summary: Chongyun finally takes on the demon, but how is Xingqiu going back home?

warnings: none

word count: 2,133

also posted on ao3!

notes: Wow! Thank you to those of you that read this from the very beginning! There are a LOT of themes that finalized in the last few chapters (such as character development, thoughts that changed, etc.) and I hope yall can find them all! The story isn't over yet, though! I've started writing two pieces that relate to this story and which ever gets the most votes will get posted!

There's an epilogue where older Chongyun meets with Xingqiu in Qingce and there's also a full translation of Xingqiu's book! Comment which one you want to read next!

Also, I started another future fic where this time, Chongyun meets older Xingqiu! Keep an eye out for it!

Ch. 5 of 5 < prev |

“What do you think clouds feel like?”

Xingqiu looked up at the large fluffy cloud that passed through the sun. He smiled, twiddling his thumbs on his tummy. “Like pillows?”

“Or marshmallows. But wet. Wet marshmallows.”

Xingqiu covered his laugh with a fist, sitting up on his elbows to look at the young boy next to him. Chongyun had snuck out of meditation practice and picked up Xingqiu through his bedroom window. Now, they found themselves a nice hiding spot under a tree by the river next to Yujin Terrace. “Chongyun, I had the weirdest dream just now.”

“You were sleeping?”

“I guess. You were older, much older. And I was older, but I was in the dream the way I am now. Seventeen.”

“What kinda things did we do? Were we hanging out?”

“We went on a crazy adventure! And you were so cold to me!”

Chongyun jumped up and dug claws into Xingqiu’s sides. “It’s the cryo in me! Mwahahaha!”

Xingqiu involuntarily laughed, the tickle bursting out of him. He kicked and kicked, trying to push the other off but Chongyun, having trained in battle more than him, was stronger. “Get-- haha! Get off of me!”

Chongyun pinned the scholar by the wrists and hovered over him. “Make me.”

Xingqiu blushed and rolled his eyes, a playful smirk on his lips. “Ew, are you flirting with me?”

Chongyun flushed red and flew off of the boy, sitting straight with his hands shoved into his lap, his eyes looking out at the distance. “No. Why would I be?”

Xingqiu sat up with his mouth hanging open, a little irritated that he got off of him. “Are you dense!”

“I thought you wanted me to get off!”

“Well, yeah! But--”

“But what! You liked it, or what?!”

“W-Well, yeah!!”

Chongyun raised his eyebrows and faced Xingqiu who stared at him with a flushed face. The look in his eyes was daring, but scared. Afraid that Chongyun was going to deny him right there. But after having such a wild dream, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity the way he had before. “What are you saying…?”

Xingqiu shut his eyes tightly and balled his fists into his lap. “I’m saying...I’m saying I like yo--”

Xingqiu gasped, his heart jumping out of his chest. The moon was still in the sky but was ready to set in the next few hours. He gripped the fabric over his heart and panted, sweat rolling down his temple. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve and looked around for Chongyun but he was nowhere to be found.

He sat up and peered over the shrubs to look at the incense and food, but found Chongyun sitting there with a large brown figure. He rubbed his eyes, blurry from sleep, and watched as the exorcist rubbed at the skin of the figure there. He scrambled to his feet, squirming through the shrubs and tentatively walked over, playing with his fingers nervously. The closer he got, the clearer the figure became. It’s ugly, horrifying face contorted in its sleep. Chongyun swiped his hand through the bowl from early, scooping a paste from within, and rubbed it on the demon’s arm. “W-What...is this the...the d-demon?”

Chongyun placed a dirty finger to his lips and shushed the boy, waving him over. He extended a hand. “The drawing, please,” he whispered, continuing to rub the demon as it slept.

“It’s sleeping…so peacefully.”

“Like you were,” Chongyun chuckled. “Now, please. The drawing.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m tending to its wounds. It's in so much pain.”

Xingqiu looked at the leaf where the skewers were and at the ash the incense burned off. Their plan had worked. But looking at the demon up close, it didn’t feel like a demon at all. He didn’t feel any evil sense emanating off of it. “Are you gonna try the thing?”

“Yes. Drinking it should be fine. I only freeze them to help keep me cool, but the night is chilly enough.”

Xingqiu filled the bowl with water and Chongyun crushed up the flower into the bowl. He mixed it with his finger before placing the bowl to his lips and gulping down the drink. With a refreshing “ahhh,” Chongyun wiped his hands on his pants and unfolded the drawing. He placed the paper between his forefinger and his middle finger, bringing his hands together. Xingqiu watched as the paper began to twitch, unfurling until it was perfectly straight. The ink of the drawing flickered a bright blue for a moment, but the paper began to fall again. Chongyun furrowed his brows in frustration, concerned that the drink didn’t work. If he can’t get this talisman to work, then all of this would have been for nothing. Xingqiu bit his lip and watched as the demon rolled over, grunting in its sleep. He bounced nervously, the meditation not working.

“Ah, ah, Chongyun hurry up!” Xingqiu eyed the paper and the demon as it continued to toss and turn. “I-It’ll wake up!”

Chongyun pressed his palms together firmer, clenching his teeth uncomfortably as he focused on channeling his energy into the paper. He began to sweat, his yin energy being stirred too much. His arms began to tremble as he loses control of the flow of energy, but Xingqiu presses himself into Chongyun’s back and gathers cool water at either of Chongyun’s ears. The sound of the sloshing and the coolness of the water steadied his mind. Through the muddle of the water, he could hear Xingqiu’s soothing voice. “Please come back when you’ve finished your journey, okay? I have something I want to tell you.”

Xingqiu shut his eyes and muttered quiet please’s under his breath, hoping that Chongyun can muster the strength with his help. The paper fluttered loudly, with the help of no wind. A bright light illuminated behind Xingqiu’s eyelids and he opened to find the ink shining a luminous blue. It floated up, hovering over Chongyun’s aura. The exorcist’s hair stood on ends, and his skin was hot to the touch. Chongyun stood, and Xingqiu pulled away. The demon gasped, startled awake and groaned in fear. But Chongyun formed a hexagonal bagua floor beneath their feet and adjusted it’s rotation to place the demon atop the earth trigram. Now seemingly incapable of moving, Chongyun threw the guidance talisman with two fingers, sending it flying towards the demon. It latched itself to the demon’s forehead and it fell backwards, laying motionless while the talisman worked its magic.

After a few moments, the demon began to dissipate with a hiss, the talisman burning into its skull. Chongyun stood with his arms folded over each other to hold the floor until it completely left for the afterlife. He fell to his knees, catchim himself with a hand, the other clutching his chest. Xingqiu jumped up and down in excitement. “Holy crap! That was so cool! Was that the baguazhang energy map?! I’d seen you play with a small one, but that was huge!!”

Chongyun coughed, his chest heaving.

“The lines were steaming with yin energy!! The yin and yang symbol was moving! Oh goodness, you’re pale! Water! Here drink water!!”

Xingqiu pushed in the drawer and picked up the rag on the counter. He wiped it down once more before tossing it over his shoulder and picking up a box. He trudged up the stairs, box in hand, and turned the corner to the left. He walked down the hall and pushed the door open with his hip, dropping the box to the side. “Where did you want these?”

Chongyun snapped the blanket, dust poofing off and into the air. “Shit!” Chongyun covered his nose with the inside of his elbow and sneezed. “What is it? Are those the old rugs?”

Xingqiu nodded and sneezed, walking over to the window and forced it open. “I haven’t gotten the ones upstairs, though. These are all the downstairs rugs.”

Chongyun picked up the box and walked out of the room. “I’ll put them in the storage closet for now. I gotta wash them later.” Peeking back into the room, Chongyun watched Xingqiu shut the box in front of him.

It was the morning after the exorcise and Chongyun and Xingqiu were cleaning up the estate. Xingqiu worked on the downstairs, dusting and washing and throwing while Chongyun worked on the upstairs. When they got there, they took a nap at the front door, the exorcist collapsing from exhaustion. He had never used that much energy before, but if Xingqiu hadn’t given him the idea of using qingxin flowers to overflow with energy, the demon would’ve gotten away.

“What are you gonna do if you’re stuck here?” Chongyun asked, filling a newly washed glass with water from the tap.

“I’d say I’d stick around with you, but you already have me I guess. I could refound the Guhua Clan, maybe?”

Chongyun laughed into his cup. “There’s nobody to tell you no anymore,” he joked, putting the cup in the sink. “That diary tell you anything?”

Xingqiu put his hands on his hips. “No, I still can’t read a lot of it. We’d have to decode it.”

Chongyun patted the boy’s shoulder and jutted a thumb to the backyard. “Let’s work on the backyard. Afterwards we can take a look at it, hm?”

Xingqiu dusted his hands and set off for the back. This was going to be his first time in their meditation circle, it was pretty exciting. Without any training needing to be done or strict parents to tell him no, Xingqiu would be able to actually stand on the stone bagua floor. “You said once that your backyard is the strongest spiritual point in Teyvat right?”

Chongyun grabbed the screen door and slid it open, letting Xingqiu go first. “Yeah, it’s why my ancestors took residence here. I think this is where the original ley line was. When I first stepped foot in here, it made me dizzy so be careful.”

Xingqiu flicked his hair back and let out a sarcastic laugh. “Ha! I’m stronger than I look, Chongyun. Don’t be fooled.” Xingqiu looked at all the dead leaves and stagnant puddles that ruined the aesthetic of the place. “Maybe we should start with the leaves, huh?”

Xingiu felt dizzy, just like Chongyun said he would. He reached back to hold onto the exorcist, but Chongyun was not there. He staggered back at the lack of support, and found himself face to face with a door. The same red door of their secret hangout spot. He flung himself around and smelled the familiar scent of delicious food, the constant murmuring of chatter, and the birds tweeting above. He looked at his clothing, freshly washed and repaired. The book missing.

“What are you doing?” Chongyun asked.

The privilege to be bored was something I took for granted. I had realized that I had done not a single thing, not been helpful with the exception for entertainment. Which, in hindsight, I believe is what kept us together for so long. I am intolerable and quite loathsome, but my dearest sees through me and the facade and brings me along anyhow. Quiet moments like these will forever warm my heart in memories. We are not sharing a single activity, yet we are bonded by the coexistence. The rays of the sun stunk like poorly washed laundry and our hair clumped together from the bodily oils but it is fun to reminisce and I enjoy being sullied every now and then. I awoke to its presence, horrifying and ugly. But...what a strange man, indeed, that can place a hand atop the you hun ye gui that has tormented his very existence. ‘It sleeps,’ I whisper. I creep forward, trembling down to my toes. ‘Peacefully,’ he says. ‘Like you.’

Like me? He teases me. If I could meditate instead of sleep, I would. The way he shows kindness to such a foul beast makes me swoon. That’s why he puts up with me.

We all have our own inner demons. Only we can conquer them. It helps to have friends to support you, but in turn, you must support them. I was a lost mind, chasing after lofty dreams that I am designed to not overcome, but I can still live them in writing. When I write, or when I read, I am taken elsewhere. I am no longer a hermit, disowned by my own family, but I am a knight. I am a samurai. I am an adventurer. And sometimes, the antagonist is a dragon, a ronin, or a hilichurl. But sometimes, the antagonist is yourself. And only you, the hero, can conquer the villain. But it doesn’t hurt to have a companion along the way.

-- Xingqiu

[barisiscourtroom]

After 22x10, I, as so many others, quickly decided that it was Rafael on the phone (Sonny even wore his tie!), so I wrote an episode related thing. I’m ace myself, and I like the idea of ace!Sonny, and I hc them both as gay (strangely enough, since I tend to always hc everyone as bi, but not Barisi for some reason), so this is my take on what could happen after that episode.

Once again a huge thank you to @novemberhush for the beta read and for answering all my questions and helping me make this better! ♥

A Call to Come Out ao3

1559 words | Teen warnings: mentions internalized homophobia characters: Sonny Carisi, Rafael Barba, Amanda Rollins tags: Sonny Carisi & Amanda Rollins friendship, Episode Related, Post-Episode: 22x10 Welcome to the Pedo Motel, Established Relationship, Asexual Sonny, Gay Sonny, Gay Rafael, Coming Out, Internalized Homophobia

Sonny accepted the call with an apologetic smile to Rafael. "Amanda," he said both in greeting and to let Rafael know who it was. He got up from the couch to head towards the kitchen. "How is everything?"

"Hey, Sonny, I don’t really want to talk about it, I just wanted to hear a friendly voice," Amanda said, making Sonny smile.

"Okay, I can do that," he said.

"You were about to tell me something when I got the call," Amanda said.

Sonny remembered that all too well. His awkwardness as he tried to speak still embarrassed him. "Yeah," he said.

"Tell me now? It was about that hot date of yours, wasn’t it?" Amanda said, her voice teasing.

"Yeah, it was, and, uh, about me." He took a deep breath and looked at Rafael, who was still sitting on the couch, doing something on his phone. He must have sensed Sonny watching him, because he turned to give him a reassuring smile and a nod. Sonny nodded back and spoke, "I’m gay."

"I, uh. Okay," Amanda said.

"I’m also asexual, apparently," Sonny said.

"What, uh, I don’t know what that means?" Amanda said.

"It means I don’t feel sexual attraction to anyone, and for me, it also means that I… don’t really want sex," Sonny said quietly. Rafael had told him that it was no one's business but his, that he didn’t have to tell anyone if he didn’t want to, and Sonny knew that was true, but he wanted to tell Amanda, she was his best friend. Second best friend, but Rafael was also his partner, so he wasn’t sure he should count him.

"Okay," Amanda said slowly. Sonny wished he could see her, so he could read her silences.

"But, uh, yeah, so I have a… we don’t really like the term boyfriend, I mean, we’re both over 40, we’re not exactly boys anymore, so I guess I have a partner," Sonny said.

Amanda huffed a soft laugh. "Okay, well, that’s nice though, congratulations, I’m happy for you," she said, and Sonny breathed out in relief. Which she obviously heard. "Aw, hey, come on."

"Sorry," Sonny hurried out, "it’s just that you’re, well, you’re the first person I’ve told, except, uh-"

"Your hot date?" Amanda teased, and it was Sonny’s turn to huff a little laugh.

"Yeah, except my hot date," he said. "And you’re important to me, it’s… really scary and you’re my best friend, and it’s terrifying, especially considering our history, and I don’t want to hurt you."

"Oh," Amanda said.

Sonny pulled a kitchen chair out to sit, putting his elbows on the table and his hand over his eyes. "I didn’t - I guess I thought my feelings for you back then were romantic, because I love you and you mean the world to me, and because I… well, I guess I didn’t want to accept being gay, and I didn’t know then that I don’t feel sexual attraction, I just thought that’s how everyone felt, so when I have felt the way that I feel about you before, I’ve thought it was normal, that I’ve been in love, because even if I always felt… differently about men, I just pushed that down and ignored it, you know?"

His heart was beating hard in his chest, his throat tight, and he very nearly begged her to know what he meant, to understand, because he didn’t want to hurt her, he needed her to be his friend.

"I…" Amanda started slowly, quietly, and Sonny squeezed his eyes shut, his breath shallow. "I don’t know, I guess, because I do feel sexual attraction, so I don’t think I can ever understand, not really, but… I think I understand what you mean."

"Yeah?" Sonny rasped.

"Yeah, of course," Amanda said. Her voice was a little rough, like she was holding back tears too, and Sonny pressed his thumb and index finger against his eyelids. "So, you want to tell me about your partner?"

The forced cheer in her voice was fairly obvious, but she was trying, so Sonny would too.

"It’s, uh, well, he has said it’s okay to tell you who he is, but you gotta promise you won’t make fun of me, okay?" Sonny asked.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Amanda said, mock serious, and Sonny huffed another laugh and rubbed his eyes before lowering his hand.

"Rafael Barba," he said, and just saying his name had Sonny smiling.

"Rafael Barba," Amanda repeated faintly.

"Yeah," Sonny said.

"And you made me promise not to make fun of you, Sonny, you’re the worst," Amanda said.

Sonny grinned. "Well, I do know you, and I’m not as stupid as everyone thinks, you know," he said.

"Rafael Barba," Amanda said. "Sonny Carisi and Rafael Barba. Holy crap."

"Yeah, yeah," Sonny said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, tell me everything," Amanda said. "I mean, I know how you met, but how did you meet, you know?"

"I mean, looking back at it, I think that I was in love with him the whole time, but I told myself I just admired him, you know. Then, when he left, our relationship changed, we started talking about other things than work and law, mostly by text at first, or if we met up for drinks or something, then one day we came to talk about religion and homosexuality, and I sorta accidentally came out to him. I panicked, Amanda, really, it was bad, but he’s gay and grew up Catholic, he handled it really well, and he helped me a lot and made me see that I can be both.

"Then, during the trial, we met a lot more than usual. I mean we barely met every other month before, not even that often during last year with the virus and all, but over the trial I saw him every day and my feelings became very clear to me, it was so obvious, I don’t know how I could have ever convinced myself it wasn’t there. So I told myself I’d tell him once the trial was over, if nothing else just to admit that I had feelings for a man, but he beat me to it and asked me on a date before I could," Sonny said.

"Rafael Barba asked you on a date," Amanda said.

Sonny grinned, he knew he probably looked love-struck and stupid, but Rafael Barba had asked him on a date, he was allowed. "Yeah, he did. He said he’d been flirting with me for years, called me dense for not noticing," he said, smiling at the memory.

"God, you sound so in love, wow, I didn’t know you-" Amanda abruptly stopped herself, but she quickly continued, "You sound happy, Sonny, and I really am happy for you."

"Thanks, Amanda, that means a lot to me," Sonny said.

They talked for nearly 20 minutes, mostly about him and Rafael, about their dates and about their long conversations, both before and after the trial, about how Rafael had been the one to explain asexuality to Sonny and how it felt realizing he was asexual, about how supportive Rafael had been while Sonny learned to understand himself in relation to most other people. They talked until Amanda realized that Sonny was at Rafael’s place.

"Why are you talking to me then?" she asked.

"Because you’re my friend, Amanda," Sonny said.

"And I love you for that, but go be with your man," Amanda said.

"Are you okay?" Sonny asked.

"Yeah, it helped to talk for a bit, thanks, Sonny. I’ll tell you more later, I just… really don’t want to talk about it right now," Amanda said.

"Okay, I’m here if you need me," Sonny said.

"I know. We’ll talk soon, okay?" Amanda said.

"Yeah, talk soon, take care," Sonny said.

"Say hi to Barba," Amanda said, and Sonny swore he could hear her grin.

"I will, and I’m sure he says hi back," he said as flatly as he could manage. It made Amanda huff out a little laugh though, so he considered it a success.

"Bye, Sonny," she said.

"Bye, Amanda," he said.

He tapped the phone to end the call, then he got up and put the chair back before going back to the living room to sit next to Rafael again.

"How’d it go?" Rafael asked softly.

"Good, I think," Sonny said. "She says hi, and she said she was happy for me."

"Good," Rafael said, leaning back against the couch and wrapping an arm around Sonny’s shoulders to tug him closer.

"I said you’d say hi back," Sonny said, tilting his head to smile at Rafael, who rolled his eyes.

"Say hi back," he said dryly, but then his face softened, and he smiled as he leaned in to press a kiss to the corner of Sonny’s mouth. "I’m glad it went well, I know how important she is to you and I know how scary it can be. I’m proud of you."

"I couldn’t have done it without you," Sonny said, because it was true.

"I don’t believe that for a second, but I’m glad I could help at all," Rafael said. "Do you want to stay tonight?"

Sonny sighed and settled in more comfortably, his head tucked into the crook of Rafael’s neck. "Yeah, I’d like that," he said.

[eyrieofsynapses]

so today I just watched the first episode of Almost Paradise! And I’ve gotta say, I am impressed. I already had it on my watchlist but I was planning to wait to watch it for a while until I could let Eliot fade a bit from memory, just so I wouldn’t automatically think of him while watching Kane. But I ran into an article this weekend about how it was filmed in the Philippines and the details of that, and my curiosity was piqued considerably more, so I figured... why not? 

(I also started White Collar this weekend and that was very enjoyable, but that’s a post for another day.) 

Anyway, my brain’s buzzing now, so have some first impressions and reactions, plus initial meta-analysis because I am intrigued. In hindsight I probably should have recorded first impressions while I was watching, but I’ll do my best to remember the bits that stuck out. Warning for... exceedingly long post.

ooo, okay, so he’s got a medical condition. I faaaaintly remember reading about this in the summary but I didn’t pay much attention to that, oops.

telling a guy played by Chris Kane not to get his heartrate up! that’s definitely gonna happen. definitely. one hundred percent. not like this guy loves fighting or anything

(also tbh the joke about, ah, sexual dysfunction admittedly left a sour taste in my mouth, because I do not go for that kind of thing, but... this is Devlin and Kane, so I’m trusting, based off Leverage experience, that they aren’t gonna be too inappropriate. [In hindsight there are actually interesting meta reasons for this so the sour taste has dissipated somewhat.])

this poor doctor. she’s so done with him. 

...he’s definitely not gonna pay attention to the monitor is he

that journal’s gonna get zero use oop

(I was duly impressed when he actually did use it later)

huh, liking how we immediately dive into the effect tourism has had on the Philippines. so we’re getting some commentary here too? I can deal with that

...wow. bad shop. eek

I’m sorry but I am loving the touch with the floorboards and such breaking beneath Alex. the look on his face is just perfect

and the monitor goes off! for tbh the last reason I expected it to first go off for, excellent 

MOTORCYLE? did they give him a motorcycle?!

awww no it’s the baddies who have the motorcycle :(

hmm this should be interesting. loving the look of this leader guy tho

--aaaand good asthetic guy is dead! with an ice pick! creepy and creative! 

bar. no way this could go wrong

internal battle! understandable that Alex wants out, buuuuuuut if he’s anything like I suspect he is--

--yup, picking a fight, with a damn pool cue--

--not picking a fight?

...picking a fight. by being friendly. *sigh*

yuuuuuuuup. that’s definitely good for your heart

badass fighting scene! with a pool cue, that’s a new one! love seeing Kane take ordinary objects and turn them into fighting tools

(ngl this had Eliot vibes. that said I am thrilled to see how damn good these fight scenes are and this is making me even more excited for Redemption)

aaaaaaaaaand oh fuck this was a police setup. which. I actually did not see coming, huh

ahahah they’re pissed! because he messed up their bust? or because he just saved their asses? 

...probably technically the former but I suspect the latter is also true

refusing to get Involved being foreshadowed by his indecision earlier! of course he’s going to get Involved anyway, only question is how

“hitter” I SEE YOU. I SEE YOU AND YOUR REFERENCES. I SEE YOU DEVLIN AND KANE

pfffffffffffFFFFFT the meditation, oh gods

that voice. oh Alex. 

I genuinely cannot tell if this is him actually trying or if this is him begrudgingly making an attempt because he has to

lacquering(?) the doors, which, hey, actually look pretty nice--this place is gonna look good when it’s done isn’t iii--

oh fuck Alex is being attacked

(this is definitely something to be concerned about. yes. totally. not like we haven’t already seen him take down a bunch of guys.)

with a garrot! this is definitely totally not how he’s gonna get Involved

oh my gods the detail with the paint. nothing says Competent like getting irritated at how the baddie interrupted your house restoration

hehehehe Involved

oooh, hmm, he thinks they sent the guy after him? what kind of corruption has Alex faced? I mean it’s not an unreasonable fear, but jeez, it sounds like this has happened to him before. doesn’t say much good about the DEA...

huh, this is a level of disturbed I haven’t seen from Kane before. which, granted, I have only seen him in Leverage, but I’ve never seen him pull this out before. the voice crack is an excellent touch

also, worth noting, Alex is definitely a notable level of... hmm, paranoid? this is just a tad bit frantic, though that’s understandable from a guy who almost got killed while in the middle of an attempted meditation

oh god being cocky in the middle of a briefing. poor Kai 

--being cocky and competence porn! of course he takes the watch and turns it into a lesson

...he must be a hell of a teacher

(also, bonus points for actually using the journal. maybe he’s taking this health thing more seriously than I thought he would?)

may I repeat: COMPETENCE PORN

uh-huh, you’re so not involved, definitely, Alex, not like you’re gonna get pulled straight into this or anything

Ernesto is just watching to see how things play out, Kai is... trying to do things the right way, and Alex...

...Alex gives precisely zero fucks. buddy you are so not subtle

right, walking straight into the lion’s den! radiating confidence! terrifying

this is a disturbing level of truth he’s sharing for this lie. I mean, best lies are crafted from truth, but... jeez

hm. so is Alex also a “I don’t like guns” type guy? 

(probably not for the same reasons as Eliot doesn’t [his is definitely more in the “they make it too easy to kill” department whereas I would guess Alex has either more tactical or PTSD reasons], but, hmm. this is something to watch for)

(did they know they were bringing back Leverage when they set up Almost Paradise? I’m genuinely wondering if they didn’t write some Eliot traits into Alex specifically bc they knew Kane missed playing him)

this is a fantastically confident level of grifting--what exactly did he do in the DEA, precisely?

...ah. cool asthetic guy. stuffed in the freezer. gotta admit, I definitely didn’t see that one coming. creepy! 

(and it looks like you actually managed to shake Alex a little, hah)

aaaaaand in the meantime we have Kai following his advice! in an... interesting way. hm. 

(surprisingly this does not annoy me that much in hindsight. not sure why)

and understandably, this does not go over well! except, oh, fuck, DEA guy. this ain’t gonna be good

...worse. worse than I thought. what happened to you, Alex? former partner? whaaat

“attacks”? 

this gonna be the typical “traumatized white dude has Anger Attacks” type thing? 

honestly I immediately went “probably not” given how it was handled in Leverage. wasn’t sure though. but that does leave the question of what sort of attacks? it doesn’t seem like it’d be meltdowns, so what does that leave? 

hmmm. DEA guy is an Ass. we Do Not Like him. I’ve known Alex for less than half an hour but you do not do that to him. you do not use trauma against your guy, Jerkface. 

cutting a deal? this should be interesting

...well shit. I. am sincerely hoping Kai isn’t about to walk in on anything too bad

this definitely isn’t gonna be a fight though, that I called right off the bat

--bottles. dammit

oh, Christ. attempted OD or just drunk?

just drunk! good! well, very Not Good, but better than the other thing

pffffft dunking him in the water and then him going straight back to the water when he sees her, that is both absolutely hilarious and deeply concerning

aaand I’m agreeing with Kai but also, poor guy just got confronted with a hell of a lot of things that would raise his trau--

...mm. yeah. that’d be it. 

...I. was. not expecting that much backstory info straight off. holy cow, Alex. that is. messed up. someone get this man a hug

“one of the guys that cared too much”

(...like you?)

(or is that why you won’t let yourself care now?)

fuck, there was a lot more to that boat scene than I thought. ow

partner who betrayed him like that? I’m just. gods. 

Trust Issues is definitely gonna be a Thing isn’t it

can we just take a second to appreciate how Christian Kane is playing the absolute hell out of this character

aaaand Kai brings him back to the city for a Heartwarming Reminder of why he was in the game! this is very tropey but it is, as John Rogers has pointed out, an instance of the “well-worn writing tool” rather than feeling cheesy! 

holy crap Kai has lost. a lot of people. oh man

ahahahaha classic “why did you bring me here?” line! you know why, Alex. you know why

oh, and Ernesto gets a chance to help him out! I’m already enjoying this so much

awww and Kai shows up to help encourage him! with coffee! supportive friend and very obvious but honestly okay love interest! good!!!

(what the heck is with Devlin and his crew and sticking Kane with two besties? based on Ernesto’s dynamic with him I’m guessing this isn’t gonna be an OT3 but. I am loving the trend)

“I’m gonna regret this in the morning” pfft

huh, working with the DEA agents. not like he’s gonna go off script or anything. that’s totally not gonna happen is it

hehe irritated look while they’re putting on the mic. he is so very unimpressed

--”little episodes”--episodes? 

moment of appreciation for the un-forced-feeling diversity in these police squads

“how’s the anxiety?” I’m sorry what

hold up, when we say “episodes”--are we talking panic attacks? does Alex have actual goddamn anxiety? 

...actually with PTSD? that would make complete sense. I am... intrigued. I am really hoping that that’s the case, actually, because having seen how well they handled Parker and her PTSD in Leverage (as well as Nate’s and Eliot’s) I have a lot of faith that they could pull that off really well, actually. That would be good. 

ppFFFT TAKING OFF THE WIRES RIGHT OFF THE BAT

wait what. you’re telling them everything? what’s your game here? 

“get that frikkin gun outta my face!” yup, not a fan of guns! no disarming though? huh

(also can we just. appreciate how Kane manages to make “frikkin” sound just as much like the cuss it’s replacing?)

(LET ALEX SAY FUCK)

oh. OH

hi Ernesto! hi Kai! I see what y’all doing

ohhhhhhhhhh Alex you goddamn genius. Getting rid of all of the drugs so there’s no way the precise thing he was claiming to be doing can happen. I like this

THE MEDITATION COMING ON ON THE RECORDING I CAN’T--OH MY GODS

Alex please tell me you know how to disarm a gun. please. guns are not effective at that distance

OH. OH I DID NOT SEE KAI COMING. 

got ‘em! murder confession, how did I not see that coming? good stuff

Kai can fight! 

KAI CAN FUCKING FIGHT WOW

I am very much appreciating Kai right now

also is that a FLYING KICK from Ernesto?

they better give these people more fight scenes

aaaaand straight into the water, oh god. I’m assuming this was a choice made because Alex is familiar with this territory? ...I do not think I want to know where Alex learned to fight underwater.

(I really really really want to know.) 

how the fuck has your monitor not gone off by now Alex

choking him out underwater, okay, wow 

what size are your lungs? this is long

extra kudos for excellent underwater filming and wow I am hoping the actors actually came up for air

(this is also unreasonably beautiful for a scene where you’re choking out a drug lord. the water is so pretty)

Evil DEA guy (no I am not going to learn his name, he doesn’t deserve it) is gonna be Alex’s Agent Sterling, isn’t he? this should be interesting

heh, police chief is taking his side! good stuff, good stuff

(it is very nice to see Alex getting some people in his corner after knowing what hell the DEA put him through)

Alex has fallen so damn hard for Kai. this is very very adorable actually

awww he’s really getting into fixing up the shop, isn’t he? I’m sincerely looking forward to seeing how he gets this up and going, it really looks like he’s enjoying himself

somehow I am starting to wonder if the cocky “oh yeah I’m opening up a gift shop how exciting huh” thing at the start wasn’t... actually genuine. he... is enjoying this, isn’t he? good. very good

I am unreasonably invested in this man’s wellbeing for one episode in

!!!!!!!!! HE GETS HIS PARADE

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

giving him his reason to keep going! yes! yessss

oh Alex you are attached now. you are very attached. good luck my dude and don’t let the trust issues get in the way

this is a good show. this is a heckin awesome show. 

also, side note, it is SO PRETTY

I am just loving loving loving all of the scenery. competence porn AND landscape and city porn. beautiful. perfection. excellent

...that was. much longer than I anticipated oops 

anyway, conclusion: hot damn this is a fun show! I am very excited to keep watching this. Alex officially has my heart, even if he’s a bit of a cocky bastard sometimes. Kane is fucking hilarious. (More reasons to be excited for Redemption!) Kai and Ernesto also have my heart, and I am extremely interested to see their character development. 

Honestly, the beauty is surprising. I didn’t expect to just enjoy how pretty it is. The blues of the ocean, the intense tropical colors, even the run-down gift shop--there’s such a gorgeous aesthetic to it all. If I wasn’t already invested in the characters and plot, I’d be invested for that alone. 

So... I have some thoughts on Alex and the show structure.

He’s obviously very disillusioned. There’s a lot of nods to the idea of war--he’s commonly referring to himself as a soldier, as a veteran, maybe as a casualty. I’m gonna take a totally wild guess here and say this show is going to be focused on the drug issues in the Philippines. (Wow, Synapse, how the heck’d you guess that?) I do find describing the war on drugs as a war, and going into the terminology that comes with it, very appropriate, and I like how this show is actively calling this to attention rather than using it as a convenient plot. They’re actually addressing the issue and discussing its impact. And given how overlooked certain aspects of the impact of the drug war on the Philippines is, this is a good choice, especially in order to alert American viewers to the issue. I’m curious to see how they handle that.

Again, interesting drawing parallels to war, too, and comparing it against the likes of WWI and Vietnam. It really gives that sense of weight to the issue and defines a vital aspect of it: the impact of the war on drugs on the people involved. It emphasizes that the people who are fighting it suffer consequences and PTSD just as a soldier in the field does, and it also emphasizes, with Kai, that it isn’t just the people actively fighting who bear the consequences. It’s also the people on the sidelines--it’s the families, the people on the streets by the gunfights, the economical impact, etcetera. 

But there’s also an element to Alex’s character that automatically makes him relatable to a lot of people... and it has nothing to do with the PTSD, nothing to do with the war on drugs, nothing really to do with the main issues. It is, simply, the intense hopelessness and depression that comes with trying to make a difference. In his case it’s making a difference on a severe worldwide issue. But the vast majority, if not all, of Almost Paradise’s audience should be able to relate to a feeling of never doing enough. And there’s certainly a large section of that group who can relate to being part of a fight that never seems to end. Doesn’t matter what you’re doing--if it’s driven at helping, it rarely ever feels like you ever do enough. But the advice given is excellent. One of the best things to do, when you’re feeling hopeless over this, is to focus on and take deep joy in the impact you do make. 

Alex is an expression of a frustration that a lot of people deal with. This, I think, is one of the reasons why he instantly drew me--and presumably the rest of the audience--in (outside of a fantastic actor and great humor). He’s relatable. He’s something that most people can see a part of themselves in. 

Anyway, symbolism and real-world talk aside, this is just... fun. It’s genuine fun. We’re covering rough issues, but there’s a lot of well-written tropes in here too that are written in that way that makes them enjoyable to relive rather than painful. The humor is delightful and plentiful. There’s a lot of beautiful feel-good moments. I’m suspecting this’ll be a comfort show, and I am perfectly all right with that. 

Onto the next episode!

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

Continued thoughts on RE8

This was copied when I was making my DeviantArt journal about this. And ah, thank goodness, I don’t need to space out shit. Guess DA using numbers like that helps me out lol.

Hope the title is creative enough. But...the game has been out a month. But I'll tag spoilers anyway. So I got done with the game at 12:04 or well, I put my PS4 into rest mode to charge my controller. I'm gonna say three things.

Donna's death honestly fucked me up...and not in a good way.

Moreau is likely the best boss in the game. Maybe.

Shut your fucking hole is honestly funny.

Okay but yes, I finally played more of Resident Evil 8. And surprisingly, and I wanted to save and be done with the game after I got into the confrontation with Heisenberg.

Let me be honest with you all. Resident Evil 8 is a fine game. While I am still critical about it's story and what choices they made. The gameplay is pretty fine, and I think it's an overall nice or alright experience. While I don't think this is the best RE game ever. And I do think this game got too much of high praising. It was overhyped honestly. But I do feel like it becomes I guess more enjoyable as you play it.

Now I'm gonna go over me going through the sections I talked about real quick. And no, I didn't beat Heisenberg...I haven't yet.

Donna and Angie's section is maybe the best part of the game. Gonna admit when you go to House Beneviento, it's actually beautiful seeing a waterfall beside it. And while I do think the Silent Hill comparisons are...I'm no expert. I've only watched movie format of the first four Silent Hill games. But that part is where the game is scariest at. Despite me being annoyed by the puzzle stuff in one part of this game. Luckily, I feel great I decided not to look anything up.

But I guess it's the closest we'll get to a modern Silent Hill game. But I overall loved this part of the game. Despite I was being stupid and didn't put half of a child puzzle piece into a door for a few minutes. I will admit, I do feel like the puzzles are easier than usual than older RE games...which is kind of fine with me.

Also that giant fetus baby thing is fucking creepy. Thank God I wasn't devoured by it...but amused I was spooked by maybe the projection falling and bookcases moving. Which I dubbed Scooby Doo shit.

And...I'm sorry, I was not expecting Donna's death to go like that...like wow...despite what my friend told me about...wow...just saying, I am not selling Alcina Dimitrescu's or Moreau's remains to the Duke. And I'm sure as Hell not selling Angie either. Besides, I get a lot of money in this game already. Seriously, I'm loaded.

It's just silly like...I didn't want to go to Donna's house first but I had to. Will admit, I do feel like she was underdeveloped. And that could go as well to maybe the other lords. And I did go back to Donna's place to get her treasure...where I fought this fucking giant with an axe...and I'm really interested in who the Hell is that Claudia Beneviento. Considering she died very young.

Moreau's section was pretty fine. But I think along with Alcina's section, was a pretty nice place. While Donna's section seemed a bit more simple, it was more focused on, creeping the shit out of me. Yet I was still terrified being in Castle Dimitrescu because it was my first time...and may still could be scared if I replay the game again after I finish it.

Will admit, I was annoyed I got killed by Moreau three times in the water. I think the reason I liked his part because his boss felt very classic Resident Evil. Maybe almost like Nemesis when he's fully unleashed in the original RE3. I feel like Moreau was pretty unique. Despite at first...kind of wonder if I do want him to look more a Gilman creature. Because he's likely inspired by that those kinds of films.

Also I will admit this, him popping up as a huge fish at first spooked me. Continuing on, I have been going to wells and using the crank to collect shit. Which got me to collect Alcina's golden statue of herself. Which yes...is very narcissistic of her haha! Along with the treasure from Donna...and I forgot to mention I've finished those first three...weird ball games...

Gonna admit, I strangely feel reminded of Sonic Spinball and those pinball sections in the Sonic series. I sound stupid saying that. They are interesting puzzles. I'm just glad and to me personally, Alcina's ones was the most tricky.

So after I beat Moreau, I got the Wolfbane, which was the pistol I was very interested in and it killed that weird beast(Is it like a dog turned Lycan dog or something?)...in one shot...this is maybe the strongest gun in the game. Holy shit, Barry Burton would be proud.

But yeah, I went through the Lycan's den. Turns out, Heisenberg wasn't there. Also the grenade launcher is great to use too. And seriously, the amount of Lycans heads I've blown up with mainly a normal pistol amazes me. Holy crap, I killed a shit ton of them, so many heads blown up.

After getting that last flask and finally opening a way to Heisenberg's factory, I finally get to meet the fella. To be honest, I'm not huge on Karl's voice. I've heard it before, and I know the voice actor got inspiration from Nicholas Cage...but I just imagine Karl's voice to be different. Maybe Cage when his voice is higher pitched, but I forget. Maybe if I get used to it, I'll be fine with it. Here's one of the more amusing lords and...really, the four lords and a lot of other stuff is why I like this game.

What I hate is of what later on happens and...the future of these main games.

I also wanna say that the part I saved on is when I have to escape the factory. But holy shit, how the fuck can the Duke get into these fucking places or whatever. At least the Merchant made sense and whatever else...I'm rambling on. I just find it amusing that this huge character can get into certain places that would maybe seem impossible or not.

But yeah...I'm very likely close to the end of the game. Played a couple of hours. Maybe 3 to 4 or so. While I am...critical of this chapter of the RE franchise. There are things I genuinely liked. I just strangely hate...that this is the final product and we're gonna have to live with it. This is the RE game people are making memes about...I shouldn't be very excited for the new movie reboot this year...but that's what I'm more excited for.

The 25th anniversary of Resident Evil has been going good. Despite my feelings on this new main game.

I remember now, I feel like when I finish this game and I be more detailed with my criticisms. I've heard from a good friend of mine that Under The Mayo has similar opinions to us of how we feel about Resident Evil 8...yet before I decided to listen to the usual 1 hour version of the RE8 save room theme. Which is this.

Resident Evil 8: Village Save Room 1 Hour Extended - YouTube

A day ago, he posted a video that has this thumbnail and the title of how God Of War ruined Resident Evil...I'm really wondering how the fuck is that possible. And my usual bitching is about the fact we hardly see our old characters anymore(Such as Jill who isn't such a big focus anymore), some characters are not better expanded upon or whatever else, and the future...I'm just not interested. Despite I've said to a friend I could be interested in seeing how it goes...

I just explained a little of what I had problems with. I'm just gonna say Capcom needs to be a bit more ambitious and meaningful with their storytelling now. Which may sound stupid...I just want better for this series. And when mentioning that upcoming movie. If we ever get a movie adaption of RE7 and 8, ESPECIALLY 8, I want that to be a loose adaptation and some shit changed.

[bomberqueen17]

That sounds exciting, glad no one was hurt in the car pileup. Also, does the truck not have a parking brake separate from the park gear?

No, the truck does not have a parking brake!

I should mention that despite the fact the truck has license plates on it, I highly doubt it’s actually road-legal. Last year a brake caliper froze up going over the Petersburg Pass, and they managed to get it repaired and it passed state inspection but I do not understand how. It’s an automatic and the gear shifter doesn’t actually point to the gear it’s really in, and the frame is rusted out so bad the trailer hitch ripped off it two years ago, and in all sorts of ways it is very much a farm truck and NOT a street-legal vehicle. Oh yeah the gas line rusted out so you can only get a gallon into it at a time... So anyway. I mean, compared to past farm trucks (the one you had to hold the door closed with your arm as you drove it, the one that only drove in reverse, the one with the snapped frame so it tilted into a V and you had to climb up to get into it, the one with the hornet’s nest in the ventilation system, the Jeep that didn’t actually have a clutch... I could go on) it’s doing great but to expect it to have a working parking brake is kind of, well, something you’d only do completely sans context. 

msilverstar replied to your post “a farm accident”

Wow could have been so much worse! I was expecting four new cars to be toast!

OH yeah, Sister got a bit shaky thinking about what could have happened. She saw the employees’ cars there and thought about asking them to move-- but Wednesday is the really busy CSA pickup where we all have to go put our cars somewhere else, and Saturdays are more sedate, so she decided not to bother with it, and boy is she glad she didn’t. The Subaru is probably fine and she might not bother repairing it, and the Toyota, well, that employee admitted he’d been saving up for a newer car anyway because it was in such bad condition, and having an insurance payout might actually be helpful because its trade-in value was likely to be zero. 

But the truck directly next to the Subaru was, like, on an order of months old, and in flawless condition, and that would have been an absolute nightmare.

(And, worst, if there hadn’t been cars there. Oh my gosh, if there hadn’t been cars there. Oh we can’t even think about what might have happened. The ditch slowed the truck a bit maybe but it would definitely not have stopped before it hit the building.)

thesacredreznor replied to your post “a farm accident”

Woah! I’m glad no one was hurt.

So are we and that’s really the important thing.

That poor apprentice is on chores this whole weekend so she’s got to keep going back out in that truck, too. She took it over by the barn and hosed it out really thoroughly, gave it a good cleaning, and it’s actually looking better than it has in a while. Just, more crunched, a bit. The Incredible Flying Chore Truck... 

We’d been joking that we should have a Wall Of Fame showing previous apprentices and maybe having a couple of notable things they’d done, and she was like “oh no I’m gonna be that girl who threw the truck at some cars” and we were like “listen that doesn’t even rate on the Weird And Dumb Shit Apprentices Have Done Here” which to be fair includes some real howlers that BIL himself did. It’s a hard job and sometimes things you think are gonna work great Really Don’t.

missbuster replied to your post “a farm accident”

Holy crap. I broke my parking brake once and then never fixed it until after my master cylinder exploded on a mountain and I crept into a town so I didn’t have to brake but this is way more exciting

I once drove a 1994 Plymouth Voyager minivan 215 miles with no brakes, on the Thruway, but I had a working parking brake, and let me tell you stopping a minivan with the parking brake (foot-operated type) was not fun.)

Middle-Little sister told us a story of how she found out the e-brake on our older sister’s high school Jeep didn’t work, the hard way, with a snowbank, but she’d never had to admit that to anyone before because there’d been no damage.

It all could have been so much worse, and it’s terrifying to think of.

We delayed telling BIL about it-- he was at the farmers’ market and there was nothing he could do-- but after everything was fixed, Farmsister texted him a quick rundown so he wouldn’t be blind-sided. She realized that the state troopers that had come to generate the incident report so we could submit that for insurance had been visible from the road, and had been there for like an hour, so everyone going to the city of Troy from points straight east was all buzzing with “there were cops at Laughing Earth!!” and the word was bound to get to him one way or another-- and in fact one person had solemnly told the apprentice there with him that they were sure everything was fine, and BIL was like ?? so it was best we notified him.

His reaction was, It is absolutely not the apprentice’s fault, it’s my fault if anything for having no better option than that shitty truck, also I will spend a few hours on the phone with the various insurances and figure out whether property or automobile is the way to go with the claims, don’t worry, I’m good at paperwork, which is practically a love letter. 

He was mostly just glad our dad had viewed it as a fun logic puzzle, and confirmed he too probably would have used a similar method, with the jacks. But he would not have viewed it as a logic puzzle, he would’ve considered it a huge pain in the ass. 

[unfortunatelyevent]

Last 10 Fics Tag Meme

Rules: Post the first lines of your last ten fics read or written and then tag others to do the same.

so i saw this and i really liked it so i’m doing it

1. Visceral Reactions by STARSdidathing (frostiron)

Tony wasn’t entirely sure how it happened.

One moment, he was chained to a wall in Loki’s latest warehouse lair and the mage was monologing. Tony was delivering his usual snarky one liners in response and Loki was trying not to look amused.

They were enemies just doing their thing and passing time until someone could save Tony (or he could save himself).

The point was, Loki was mid-monologue, throwing in some “mortals are beneath me, I hate you all” crap. Tony was rebutting that Loki was an Asgardian snob and, a total liar because he knew Loki liked a lot of Earth food, clothing and music.

Loki was towering over him and glowering.

And then... then they were kissing.

2. Friends Don’t Let Friends by theorytale (frostiron)

Steve was angling his shield to deflect a blast from Loki's staff, when out of nowhere the Hulk dropped down - splintering the concrete under their feet - and scooped Loki up in one massive green hand. Steve cringed reflexively even as he relaxed his stance. Loki was an evil bastard, sure, but watching Hulk use him like that whack-a-mole game was just… uncomfortable.

Only, Hulk didn't smash.

Loki struggled uselessly, yelling for the Hulk to put him down. It was kind of funny how fast the guy could go from menacing and legitimately frightening to… kind of pitiful. The cognitive dissonance gave Steve a headache.

Hulk lifted Loki up and peered at him intently, brow furrowed. "What puny god's intentions?"

3. Obliviousness Can Lead To True Love by pointnclickbait (science boyfriends)

Bruce swore softly shooting a glance at his watch as he hurried to the next presentation. This conference was turning out to be more hectic than he had expected. He had been hoping to catch a couple of presentations in particular but had already managed to miss some of them. The one he was hoping to attend the most was after the one he was currently running to. He really hoped he didn’t miss it. He paused at the entrance to the conference room to catch his breath before entering. He stepped in and scanned the room before hurrying to the one free space he could see. He settled down just as the speaker took to the floor.

He was so invested in what he was hearing that he forgot to keep an eye on the time and wasn’t aware of it until he was applauding the conclusion of the presentation. He looked at his watch absentmindedly before doing a double take when he saw the time. Swearing loudly this time he tried to squeeze his way through the crowd. By the time he finally escaped the room more precious time had elapsed. Inevitably by the time he reached his destination there was no possible way that he could have gotten inside. He let out a sigh of frustration and scrubbed his hand through his hair. It looked like he wasn’t getting into Tony Stark’s talk after all. He dropped his hand with another sigh. He’d been looking forward to the talk all weekend. It was the reason he had asked to have his presentation given so early, he had been hoping that he wouldn’t have to worry about the talks clashing. He swallowed his disappointment and headed for the dining hall hoping to eat his feelings.

4. The Language of Love by 1derspark (kaysanova)

To be in Jerusalem is to be hard of hearing.

Nicolo learns quickly there was no silence to be had in the city. Even on the way here, there is noise: the breaking of waves against a Genoese ship, the clamor of a thousand knights and horses, their armor clattering like heavy shells on the march to the holy city.

There is never silence. In Jerusalem it’s as if God were screaming, and with every hoarse screech the devil answered.

The battlefield is everywhere, and so is the blood. The sound of death, the sound of pain. Nicolo has dreamed in war cries for years, so this did not bother him. He dreamed in black curls, a dark helm pulled over an angry face, teeth bared and chattering in a language he did not understand but would soon come to hear very frequently.

He meets this man — the one that roars and tramples down swathes of armies beneath his feet — not too long after the fighting starts.

5. Here We Are, Born to be Kings by Purple_ducky00 (iron husbands)

“Your Highness. Lord Stark is here to see you.” Quentin Beck holds up his nose.

Prince James Rhodes rolls his eyes. It’s not like Beck should judge. He was only hired because his family was in serious debt.  Tony is working out of his.

Tony walks in a few minutes later, hair askew. “Wow, Rhodey, your servants hate me. I call it an achievement.”

“They just think it’s ok to judge since their scandals happened long ago enough for people to forget. You don’t deserve this.”

“I probably do.” Tony shrugs. “It doesn’t bother me. Actually, it gives me the chance to ditch my politeness because they already dislike me.”

6. Impossible Things by accioromulus (wolfstar)

Sirius arrives at the party two hours late and covered in snow. Facebook had suggested around thirty people were coming—a number which already threatened to overwhelm James and Lily’s tiny flat. When Sirius arrives at just past ten however, he immediately wishes he’d brought a sledge hammer, if only to make it past the front door. It’s clear that no less than fifty guests had burrowed their way inside. They stand in every corner, filling the narrow hallways and spilling out from every room, their faces vaguely familiar to him, their chattering bright and enthusiastic. Music drifts in from the sitting room, and it takes Sirius a moment to recognize it, bizarrely, as Christmas Carols, despite the New Years Eve decorations strung about the walls. He turns a corner, attempting suave and casual, but instead narrowly avoids a party-goer's over-enthusiastic elbow by crashing into Lily Evans.

7. greater love has no one than this by Jack_R (kaysanova) ((THIS IS A FAVE))

‘I am not going to Rum,’ Yusuf said. ‘They are filthy, depraved degenerates, and I will not bring dishonour on the house of my father by consorting with these Greeks dogs.’

‘I thought your mother was Greek,’ Niccolò said, mildly.

‘Then you should trust me when I say that their entire civilisation is simply beyond saving,’ Yusuf said.

8. fearfully and wonderfully made by bethecowboy (kaysanova)

Yusuf’s blood buzzes so hard through his veins that it takes all his effort to stay still. Every part of him longs for motion, for justice, for a swift end to the constant exhaustion.

He always calms his limbs, his mind, in time for Fajr: his forehead kisses the ground as the new sun soaks the sand in deep russet oranges. Light glints of the breastplates of dead Christians; it caresses the faces of his fallen brothers who had died defending the outer wall.

9. Genus and Species by 27dragons, tisfan (winteriron)

When Bucky opened his eyes, all he could see was green in all directions. At first he thought that was just the remainder of the Time Stone’s power. Thanos had done… something. No one quite knew what because the battle had been so confusing; the Power Stone blasting purple rays everywhere, the Space Stone moving people out of position, lord only knew what was happening with the Reality Stone. And then there had been a great, green wave of energy--

“Ug,” said someone nearby. It took Bucky a moment to clear his thoughts enough to identify it: Tony. “I feel like a Pride parade just swallowed me whole and then puked me out.” A pause. “Why are we in a jungle?”

10. Through The Years by hawkbucks (winteriron)

Tony is 8 and Natasha is 12 when Tony brings Natasha home for the first time.

“Mamma!” he brightly exclaims as soon as Maria opens the door, holding up one of his hands that is intertwined with one of Natasha’s. “This is Natasha! She helped me while I was walkin’ home from school today.” Before Maria can say anything, Tony is already rushing past her, dragging his newfound friend into the living room with him. He leads her to the rather lavish, cream-colored couch that’s bigger than necessary and tells her to sit down, letting go of her hand.

“Some’a the kids at school were followin’ me and sayin’ bad things to me,” Tony starts to explain as he takes off his patent leather shoes, remembering what his mother said about tracking dirt into the house. “But Natasha made ‘em go away. Then she said she’d keep walkin’ with me so that I’d get home all safe. She was really awesome!”

and that’s that, i have to say that i absolutelly love and rec all of these!

ok i’m tagging: @natyhunter @atypical-snowman @simplyclockwork @camp-half-dumbass and whoever wants!!! (also everyone i tagged please don’t feel obligated!!!)

[jising-jisang-jisung]

Waiting Game | Lee Jeno

Word count: 1.5k

A/n: wow I used a lot off lil faces in here for no reason other than self amusement so sorry¿? also hi I might have accidentally fallen in love with Jeno while writing this uwu his smile

Genre: floof ofc

~

Is it even possible that you liked the same boy for 11 years? You met Jeno in kindergarten and immediately fell for him. When you two were kids, you'd always tease each other and talk. "Ladies first." "oh then go ahead, Jeno." But as you two grew up, you both became too shy and quiet to talk to one another. 乁║ ˙ 益 ˙ ║ㄏ

Nevertheless, you liked the boy and you reckoned somehow you always would. Any time you imagined your future, he was there. If you were picturing your wedding, he was the groom. Your kids: had his eyes and hair. Future house: idk but he'd be there. You get the point. Jeno was always on your mind and you were worried that you might never get over him.

Now, half way through your junior year, you realize that you dont have much time left before you'll both move off to college and never see each other again *sad uwu*. So what do you do? You find his social media! How you two don't follow each other already, I dont know. A little while after he follows you back you send a meme. He sends one back, cute right? But then next day when you see him, you two act the same: borderline ignoring one another.

Frustrated at everything, mainly yourself, you decide to just risk it to get the biscuit. The next morning, you check your phone to see yet another meme from Jeno. Instead of sending one back you send:

Roses are red

You're pretty cute

Do you want to be my date to prom uwu?

And homeboy frickin responds to you with that:

Violets are blue

You're pretty cute too

I'd love to go to prom with you uwu

And you were like asdfjkan I did that on a whim and what?!?!? Queue your heart: bOom boOm!! -`ღ´- But now you are super anxious because you have barely had adequate conversations with this boy and now you are going to prom together. Little did you know that Jeno was also panicking.

So basically you have already gotten a dress at this point and are trying to track homeboy down to show him for color coordination purposes and not just because you want to talk to him. You finally find Jeno during lunch and show him pics of your dress and ask what he planned on wearing. You turn to face him and he just kinda (❁´◡`❁)... you wave your hand in front of his face a few times and he returns back to Earth. "Oh right sorry- uh you look nice. I'll just find a tie that will match" he says as his face turns hues of red. As you walk away you heard the rest of the boys laughing at Jeno's table, oblivious to the teasing comments about Jeno being in loooove with you.

Now at least you have an excuse to talk to Jeno which is cool because it leads to more conversations and meme sharing. One day in class you sent him some funny post and he looked up at you and smiled and your heart!! just!! boOm!! bOom!! -`ღ´- You would die for his eye smile holy crap. You absentmindedly smile back and now you two are just looking at each other and smiling like idiots for a few minutes <(▰˘◡˘▰)> . That is until the teacher calls your name.

"I'm sorry, what?" "I asked if what you got for number 7. Please pay attention y/n." "Yes, sorry." And you glanced back to Jeno to see that he was no longer looking at you but he did still have that stupid smile on his face. "24.9" "correct." You could feel your face blushing brightly just as Jeno's had before.

~

The day of prom finally came and to say you were really frickin anxious would be an understatement. The dance started at 7, so you were meeting Jeno at 5 to get pictures and dinner beforehand. You had hoped that when he came to pick you up you two would just leave. Of course, your parents had other plans, taking a millioooon pictures of you two together. After 1395820 years you finally head out to dinner with a few of your mutual friends and their dates.

Around a large table sat you, Jeno, and 8 others. You knew Jaemin, Renjun, and Donghyuck who were also in your class in addition to being Jeno's best friends, but you didnt know the last boy, Chenle. Apparently, he was a year younger than you, but you think it may be a bit more than one year. Coincidentally, their dates were some of your friends: let's call them Ryn why not we got a good thing going here, Elle, Sarah, and Rosie. After 2 hours of mindless staring, blushing, laughing, and eating a bunch of food, it was actually time for prom!

You entered the venue that was decorated to look like an enchanted forest, but to you it looked like Barbie Swan Lake. but whatevs. For the majority of the dance, you all had danced together in a large group, occasionally taking breaks for water and to cool down. But this time Jeno and you had decided to take a break while the others continued to bust a move. (´▽｀)ノ♪

"Tonight has been really fun so far, y/n, thank you for asking me to prom. I would've asked you but I didn't have the balls to do it." Not knowing what to say, you looked at him kinda like (。♡‿♡。) and without even realizing your actions, you left a smol smooch on his already tinted cheeks before grabbing his hand as you make your way back to the group.

It was nearing the end of the dance and, to your luck, the DJ put on a slow song. Before you could even open your mouth to speak, Jeno already had his hands around your waist, slowly drifting back and forth. Once again, he had the darned smile on his face that made you melt. You wrapped your arms around his neck in return and began to move as well. This got a lot of winks and hollers from your friends. You glared at Elle when you noticed she was filming everything. Pretty soon they started dancing too, leaving you and Jeno to yourselves.

You two had always been semi-awkward when you locked eyes for minutes on end, but it felt different now. The awkwardness and lack of talking was killing you. You tried to initiate conversation in hopes of eliminating some of the tension. "So-" but you were immediately cut off by Jeno's lips crashing abruptly against yours. You looked at him with your eyes wide from shock (⊙＿⊙) . "No need to talk" he replied, leaning in again. You closed your eyes and kissed him back.

Before you knew it, the song was over along with prom and students were leaving in crowds. You said bye to your friends before getting in Jeno's car for him to drive you home. At least, you thought he was taking you back to your house until you realized that he was in fact not doing that. "Um, this isnt the way to my house." "oh I know." "so where are we going?" "You'll see." You pouted (╯︵╰) wanting to know what was going on. When Jeno saw this he did what Jeno would do and pecked your lips again. "Dont worry y/n." And truthfully you couldn't worry. You really couldn't think at all. *swoons* (◕﹏◕✿)

He pulled up to a wendy's drive thru and began to order some food. "What would you like y/n?" After getting the bag of food he parked his car and began to munch eat his fries. After consuming the total of your meals and the fries that were in the bottom of the bag you were both just kinda :|. So you decided you might as well just kinda sorta maybe makeout with Jeno. And thus, that is what you did. His lips were really soft and tasted a little salty from all the fries, but you didnt mind.

You continued to smoochy smoochy makeout with Jeno for who knows how long when your phone vibrated, signaling a message from your mother. "She wants to know when I'll be home." "I suppose I should probably take you home now. It's getting late."

As he pulled up in your driveway and you thanked him for driving you, he grabbed your hand to stop you from getting out of his car. "Hey so, uh, about tonight- so are we-" he trailed off, not knowing how to finish his sentence properly without sounding like a doofus. "Jeno, would you like to be my boyfriend?" "YES! I mean, yeah sure that's cool." With that same dumb smile on your faces, you pressed your lips to his once more before heading into your house. When your mom asked you how it went, all you could do was smile. Even if it took 11 years to realize just how much you both liked each other, it was well worth the wait.

[is-this-a-skam-account]

Shelter Chapter 2 by Shawnie1718 ao3

The next week, Lucas’s heat hits him like a truck. He had planned for it, since he had stopped taking his suppressants in order to trigger the heat. However, when he woke up, he was covered in sweat and slick and was overtaken by the worst headache in the world. Lucas quickly ran to the bathroom to take some Motrin for the cramps. He downed the pills two at a time and glanced in the mirror.

Lucas groaned and rubbed at his under eye bags. He looked like crap, which usually happens during his heats. He isn’t one of those lucky Omegas that tend to look like literal angels whenever they go into heat. However, Mika has said that Lucas smells like an absolute dream, which means his roommate has to wear a clothespin on his nose to avoid accidentally breathing in Lucas’s scent and triggering any of his Alpha instincts of domination to take over.

Lucas trudges back to his bed. He strips off his shirt and pants as he feels the fire inside him start to burn. Great, the best part. He whines involuntarily as he climbs back in bed, pulling his pillow close to him, his inner Omega crying out for some type of skin-to-skin contact. He just wants someone to roam their hands down his back and cuddle him until he falls asleep.

Lucas groans into his blanket. He hates being an Omega.

When he wakes up later in the afternoon, he absolutely reeks. He definitely smells like an Omega in heat. He reaches for his phone, the bright screen not helping his headache at all.

@srodulv sent you a message!

Lucas felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest. Eliott must have sent him something while he was asleep. Lucas eagerly opened up the message.

@srodulv: two weeks and one day!

Lucas smiled, the idiot was counting down the days until their planned meet-up. Good thing Lucas had his heat now, rather than having to move it around the meet up with Eliott.

@lucallament: wow what a romantic.

@srodulv: well, I have to be the romantic for both of us. All you like to do is make fun of me!

@lucallament: ❤️

@lucallament: is that better?

@srodulv: much 💕

Lucas purred. He purred. Has he ever purred before? Maybe once when he was ten.

As they continued texting Lucas’s inner Omega was sprinting around inside him. Begging Lucas to ask Eliott to come to his apartment. To hug him. To take care of him. Of course, Lucas did none of the above. He managed to suppress the urges and down another Motrin.

@srodulv: oh! I got another house plant by the way!

@lucallament: I wonder how long it’s going to take you to kill this one.

@srodulv: D:

@srodulv: do you wanna see it?

@lucallament: sure! Send a photo?

@srodulv: I was thinking more of a video.

@lucallament: that works too

@srodulv: well, more of like a video chat.

Lucas froze. How could he FaceTime Eliott right now? In the middle of his heat? Well, he is still in phase one. The phase where he just wants to nap 24/7, so his hormones haven’t completely taken over. Also, what would happen if he rejected? He didn’t want to make Eliott feel bad...

@lucallament: okay, give me one sec.

Lucas dashed around his room, placing anything away that may give Eliott a clue as to Lucas’s situation at the moment. He forced all his dirty clothes into his hamper, and nesting blankets folded neatly at the end of his bed. His inner Omega growled at the fact that he would have to rebuild the nest later, but it will have to suffice. Lucas quickly slipped on a clean sweatshirt before clicking the call button. His heart was pumping in his ears, making it seem as if his whole head was shaking.

Suddenly, Eliott’s face appeared on Lucas’s laptop and Lucas became hyper aware how much he, himself, looked like crap. And how goddamned photoshopped Eliott looks.

“Salut!” Eliott greeted.

Lucas smiled, “salut.”

Shit, this boy really is gorgeous. Lucas thought as Eliott’s image suddenly started moving. He had gotten up from some type of sitting arrangement. A couch? And walked into another room, flicking on a bright light.

“You look...cute?” Eliott questioned and breathed a laugh.

Lucas rolled his eyes, “if I look so bad I may as well just go.” Lucas said and threatened to close his laptop screen.

“No! No!” Eliott said frantically, “I just hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”

Lucas shrugged, not the best. “I just didn’t get much sleep last night.” And my butt is sticking to my pants and all I want to do is sleep.

“I’m sorry,” Eliott said, and it seemed like he’s genuinely sorry. Lucas swallowed the purr that was making its way up his throat. “Well, I hope my new plant can brighten your day!” Eliott said, his shoulders shrugging happily before flipping the camera around. “Tada!”

Lucas gasped and his smile widened, “oh! Forget-me-nots!”

He could hear Eliott chuckle from behind the camera. “Yeah! They caught my eye when I was at the store today. I was between them and a hydrangea.”

“What made you choose the forget-me-not?”

The camera flipped around and... was that a blush coating Eliott’s cheeks? “Well, it reminded me of someone,” his eyes found sudden interest in anything except the camera.

Holy shit this boy will be the death of him, “they’re really pretty.” Lucas said, trying to make his heart calm down. Doesn’t help that his heat is upon him, making everything that Eliott says, everything that Eliott does, resonate inside him. “Uh, anyways, why did you want to video chat?”

Eliott shrugs again and licks his lips briefly. Lucas feels victimized by the action. “I don’t know...I mean it’s lonely here in Japan,” Eliott laughs, “I guess I wanted a taste of back home. Oh!” Eliott exclaimed, nearly spooking Lucas, “I met a fan on the street and look what they gave me!” When Eliott came back into frame he was wearing a fluffy white bunny hat. And...were the ears flopping? Lucas felt like he was going to implode from cuteness overload.

Lucas bursts into laughter. But after Eliott places the hat back down, Lucas’s eyes soften. He can totally relate to the feeling when you’re far from home. When he goes out on tours, within the first couple weeks he already begins to feel homesick. “Well, if there is anything I can do to help you feel better...”

Eliott moves again, this time through a couple sets of doors and flops down on a...bed? “Would you sing me something?” Even though the bottom half of Eliott’s face is covered by a pillow, Lucas can still see the smile taking over his face and the crinkle of his eyes into half crescents.

Lucas feels anxious, stomach churning, palms sweating. “I...don’t know. My voice isn’t the best right now.”

“Then could you play something on an instrument for me?”

Lucas pauses, “sure. What instrument?”

Eliott shrugs again, “whatever is fine.”

Lucas nods and places his computer off his lap. He reaches for the closest instrument which happens to be his acoustic guitar. When he positions himself in front of the camera again, his heart is racing. He tries to avoid Eliott’s eyes, but it’s so damn hard when he keeps looking at him like that. Lucas strums a couple chords, and neither of them say a word to each other. It’s a perfect silence.

Lucas decides to play his rendition of City of Stars he had written for the guitar when the movie first came out. He was going to post it as a video, but decided against it. Once he finished he was finally able to look back up and meet the searing gaze that had watched him with the utmost interest throughout the entire song.

“That was...” Eliott began, but let his sentence trail off into an amused breath-y laugh.

Lucas shrugged, licking his lips as he put his guitar back. “It was okay. I haven’t practiced the piece in a while.”

“That was much better than okay! That was like, I don’t even know! Putain, Lucas!” Eliott exclaimed and ran a hand through his hair.

There was a silence that passed over them as Lucas looked down at his blanket, taking sudden interest in pulling at the tassels coming off. Finally Lucas asked, “what are you going to name your new flower?”

Eliott took his time to reply. And in that short period Lucas kept thinking how nice it would feel to have Eliott run his hand through his hair and maybe pull on it. Both in a kinky and non-kinky way. Lucas thought about how soft Eliott’s lips looked, and how he had natural bedroom eyes... “...Lucas?”

Oh shit, he had completely zoned out. Maybe the next phase of his heat was coming soon. “Ah, sorry. What did you say?”

Eliott chuckled, “I was saying I don’t really have any ideas. Do you? I mean I already have flowers named after all the seven dwarfs from Snow White, right? So I can’t name it after any of them. I could name it like...”

“Susan.” Lucas said plainly, which made Eliott burst into laughter.

“Susan?!”

Lucas shrugged, a smile spreading across his face. “Yeah, it’s my guitars name.”

That made Eliott freeze, “you name your instruments?”

“Don’t make it seem weird! I don’t name my plants!”

Eliott laughed again, and Lucas felt like he was getting high off the sound. “Fair enough. But you know,” Eliott pauses, “I was thinking of a name more along the lines of Lucas.” Eliott’s eyes flick up for a second to capture Lucas’s.

Lucas feels like he can’t breathe, and he tries to joke it off, “awe I’m getting a plant named after me! How sweet.”

Eliott smiles happily. Lucas swears he can practically see his tail wagging.

Lucas takes a quick glance at the time. The next phase of his heat will probably start in an hour or so, so he should end the conversation in about thirty minutes which will give him enough time to rebuild his nest and prepare...other things...

Eliott’s laughter pulls him out of his train of thought, “what?” Lucas asks.

Eliott shrugs, “you’re just so cute when you’re deep in thought.”

That’s something a boyfriend would say! Lucas dismisses the thought as soon as it enters his head. He clears his throat, “so, what about you, pretty boy. Do you have any other hobbies? Besides drawing.” Lucas meant for the “pretty boy” to come out more patronizing than it had.

“Awe you just called me pretty boy!” Eliott exclaimed and Lucas rolls his eyes. “Uh, but to answer you question, not really? I mean-“ there was a sudden ringing coming from Eliott’s phone which made his image freeze and flicker. “Shoot, Lucas, I have to go. Talk again soon?”

“Talk again soon.” Lucas said reassuringly and then, “two weeks and ten hours.”

Eliott smiled and his eyes turned up into little crescents. “Two weeks and nine hours and fifty-seven minutes.”

It was Lucas’s time to smile like an idiot, “just go, Eliott.”

“Bye, Lulu!” Eliott got out quickly before ending the FaceTime.

——

Phase two of Lucas’ heat felt like a tornado. Sometimes his mind couldn’t keep up with his body, and other times his body couldn’t keep up with his mind. He felt detached from himself every time another series of hormones hit him like a wave. Dragging him under, leaving him gasping for breath by the end.

Lucas would never admit it, but the only thing that kept him sane was imagining what Eliott would smell like. What it would feel like if Eliott’s nimble fingers grazed his scent gland. How it would feel if Eliott were to massage it until Lucas was puddy in his hands. Lucas wondered what it would be like to watch Eliott’s pupil expand until the very edges of his iris if he happened to breathe in Lucas’s heat scent. Lucas wondered if he would feel frozen in place, if he would be scared or perhaps excited. He imagined Eliott would have control of his Alpha instincts on a regular basis, but Lucas imagined Eliott perhaps letting go of the control in front of him, letting himself succumb to his dominating instincts. And Lucas imagined the after hours, after the heat between them died down. How it would feel to be spooned from behind, Eliott’s nose resting in the crook between Lucas’s neck and shoulder, mere centimeters away from his scent gland. His hands would pull Lucas close until all air between them vanished, as if trying to mold them permanently together.

[robbie-lee-zombie]

Random thing, will be edited and added on when Robbie finds more of the random stuff Robbie has sent to @thetickleeraven

Adding a ‘Keep Reading’ because this will get VERY Long. Might copy/edit/paste this post with every add on so it won’t glitch out too much, and if you’d already seen the first few paragraphs of an idea, just scroll until you see one of the numbers (like #2) that you haven’t seen before! 

Hope that helps, anyways enjoy the rambling of HCs and Ideas

Edit/Add-On #1 

Taking place in Raven’s recent couple of fics with Prince Roman and the magical Logan (since we can’t spell mid-evil) that AU. HC: Pat is either 1. The king of the place, and Roman’s dad figure still. OR 2. (HC I use more) Patton is the news-reporter-writer-helper-etc guy. He orders the seeds for farms, sets up meetings for Roman and other lands, making sure things work and stay kinda organized. You’d never think of someone so dad-like to have that kind of job, you know? Good HC tbh-

Imagine Patton’s first couple of lessons were a tour and knowing the potions and ingredients around the place. He writes everything down, admitting to Logan that he’d have a bad memory if he didn’t write it down. He was trying, though, and Logan respects that to the fullest. When Logan flips through the beginners spells, the one Roman had used caught Patton, of all people’s, eye. He smiles. “Mirth brought to light? Aw, that sounds adorable! Making people happy is the best spell I’d say! But you don’t need magic for that!” He glances up at Logan. “What do you mean, Pat?” “I have you to make me happy, you dork!” Commence Logan to be slightly flustered as he continues to flip through and explain the spells. Including the Mirth of Light one. “So it just makes people more aware of how ticklish they are? Gosh, that sounds amazing!” “How so?” “Well, it doesn’t hurt anybody, and it could probably be used on thieves or villains instead of slaughtering them, you know? Have them cough up where the money is!” “That’s… rather childish, but pacifistic, I must say.” “Good thing I’m no criminal! I’m insanely ticklish.” Okay, wow, no one probably met someone so blunt and honest with statements like those. “Really? You say that to everyone you meet?” “Hush! It’s not that bad!” “Not that bad? You mean you enjoy the sensation?” “You mean tickling??” “Yes. That.” “Of course!” Logan paused, giving him a puzzled look. “Why wouldn’t I? What’s not to like?” Patton’s eyes lit up. Not like the time he first saw the room of potions, or when Logan drones on, but still lit up with joy. Huh. Never thought this would happen, Logan thought.

~Continuation type deal of the first paragraph of ideas~

Patton is the town/castle news/reporter type deal at first, running around making sure everyone has everything they need (surprising Virge didn’t have that job-) and that’s when Logan saw that sparkle of look in Patton’s eyes when things got done. Patton never showed his whole adoration and appreciation of work and order much, since he felt geeky. Logan took a step up to Pat as the dad took the pencil out from behind his ear to write a few things down in his note-pad, scribbling random messy ideas. “You. Come with me.” Logan orders him to follow. Once they make it to Logan’s specific tower, You can just… tell. Patton looked at every potion with detail, even drawing a few mini sketches of each one to take notes like ‘purple round potion bottle:’ and 'blue triangle bottle’ and etc. Patton’s eyes just… light up! You’d never expect someone so loving and innocent outside the castle to be into such geeky and dorky stuuuuff, clearly Logan thought it wasn’t geeky… much. “You. You’re going to be my assistant from here on out. I will teach you everything I know, and even after that we will continue to work together. What’s your name, sir?” “Sir?? I’m not that old, not even much older than you, but a lot of people think I’m Roman’s father, how funny is that??” Patton giggles, holding out his hand. “I’m Patton, the castle reporter and document-er!” “Big job, huh?” “Eh, I mostly just take care of the village complaints and problems, order stuff like seeds for the farms, plan the meetings, boring stuff-” “It’s not boring, it’s very intriguing. Tell me more.” Patton’s eyes lit up again. No one’s ever wanted to hear him talk this much before.

Edit/Add-On #2

“It Came From The Trees” Gives me so many little t-fic ideas like, Virgil would hang upside down from a branch right when Princey is heading back to the treehouse since “I caught a fish by myself omg Virgil will be so happy-” Virgil’s face is right in front of him popping down. “SUPER-CALA-FRAGI-FUCKER–” And Virgil’s just laughing.

Imagine the life style of him and Roman over the time in the woods!!!!!

“I found these little red berries they look like cherries they can’t be that bad-” ate two Virge is carving a stick with his blade he’s had for years, not looking up. “They’re poisonous, Ro” Roman freaks out and almost faints, tossing them all away and sitting on the ground like “that’s a relief-” “…Dude I was kidding they’re just little red berries, I’ve ate them for years-” “I will destroy you-”

Raven’s fics of Roman being that one Prince and Virgil being his guard, what if WHAT IF HOLY CRAP- What if It Came From The Trees is set like, waaay before Virgil was his guard??? And when Roman came back to the Palace, maybe even 2 years later (He’s wearing whole other clothes Virgil’s taught him how to sew) and Pat (king or intern or whatever he wants to be) Is just like “HOLY CRAP MAN WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN WE THOUGHT YOU DIED-” Logan, ironically, is also freaking out. He’s doing that classic thing in cartoons where they’re at his arms, legs, checking him for bites or scratches and etc, like a mother (ha-) and he’s like “Guys, really- it’s cool-” But Virgil’s still at the Tree House, since Virge thought they’d think 'hOLY CRAP ROMAN WHO’S THAT WE GOTTA KILL HIM-’ so Roman said “I’m just going to go tell them I’m alive, K? I’ll be back. Promise.” A day-ish later, he comes back to Virgil who got jump-scared when he did, not expecting the PRINCE to be so good at sneaking around in the dark, so it was startling. He’s rambling about how he’s told his closest friends about Virgil and that he’s allowed to apply for a position in the village, whichever position he wants! Virge thinks about it for maybe a week and is like 'dude, what if you were my guard? You kind of saved my ass seven times when we first met!’ “It’s not my fault you’re so fancy-” “Excuse me-” “You had NO IDEA what you were doing-” “I’ll have you know–” “You thought the leaves growled in the wind~” “…Okay, yeah, whatever-” Anyways, Virgil works up the courage to jump through the trees, Roman still not the best at it, but able to keep up with Virgil to do so, and they jump to the walls of Roman’s land. “You sure I’m… allowed in? They won’t attack me?” “Of course!” Getting through the gate, of course, Logan and Pat are both there waiting for Roman, and Logan (like with Roman) examines and pokes and prods at Virgil with questions and his eraser/pencil, Virgil’s slightly pink like “YOU SAID THEY WOULDN’T ATTACK ME!” “He’s not! ..Specs, please get out of his mouth, he has one row of teeth-” Since that nickname, before Virge knew their real names, he called them nicknames for months never asking them 'what’s your name?’ since Roman told them to go with it and it was hilariously cute. When Virge first found out Logan’s name he glared at Roman like “Wait so his name isn’t Specs?” “Nope.” “It’s not Nerd either? Not Four-Eyes, Harry Potter, Geek-a-zoid, none of those??” “Nope.” “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME-” “Because it was cute watching you get used to it~” “…Is it too late to be an outcast again-”

~Continued of the last mess of a paragraph thingy, yes, very aware of some grammar mistakes and mess ups. If it says ‘you/your’ when it shouldn’t, it’s probably because these were just copy pasted when I rambled to @thetickleeraven and said ‘you/your’ to them so don’t freak out about that~

Pass a week or two, put Virgil in that one dorm area you talked about where he almost died in that fic I can’t remember the name of- maybe it wasn’t your fic I don’t remember– Anyways- Put him in the dorms area, he got used to it, even let Roman help him decorate with so so so many things he’s like “Dude I don’t need posters they’re just paper, you could’ve used that for something else-” “It’s not a crime to treat yourself, Virge. Plus you love the Nightmare Before Christmas!” “..True-” And even when he first signed up to be a guardsman he had to go through the training. Since he lived in the woods for so long, he passed the agility and strength tests no problem. The hardest part was the test that most guards are good at. This was the hard test Virgil knew he’d fail at as soon as he heard it. Endurance Test. Not only did they have to stand in a line, A-Z, standing up straight and all (ouch for his back-) but Roman was the judge of the test. He walked to people randomly, doing anything he saw fit to make the others 'snap out of character’ like laugh, smile, the smallest thing would make Roman grin with victory. It’s not that it was a bad thing, of course, but first hearing the TEST part, Virgil did EVERYTHING HE COULD not to fricken mess this up. So as SOON AS ROMAN GOT TO VIRGIL, he just gave him that snarky little face of a grin and raised eyebrows. They had… so many inside jokes, it was easy for him. “Remember that time I tried to eat your shirt in my sleep because I hadn’t learned how to catch a fish yet?” Okay, Virgil snickered. Quietly though. Roman noticed, however, and he was going to focus on Virgil now. Once someone broke completely, they stepped off to the benches or bathrooms for a break, but Virgil, with Joan and Talyn, were the last three still 'Mature’ or in this case in the Test. Virgil was in the middle of the other two, and you can sense the other two thinking “Wow, what’s their story?” Roman continued. “Remember I tried to eat a worm? You told me if I couldn’t climb that tree in 30 seconds that would be my dinner. I had it in my mouth, you pleb!” He put a hand on his chest, dramatically, going on and on about how Virgil almost 'made him’ do these things. Luckily, Roman didn’t eat the worm, he got real dinner, but Virgil got a kick out of watching him try and almost release it into the wild with a “Virge, this thing has a family, come on-”. Virgil let out a snort, okay, it was super hard. ROMAN STOP BEING FUNNY! WIPE THAT SMIRK OFF YOUR FACE! Since Roman didn’t know Virgil was ticklish (until the potions fics) he relied on his cunning charm and humor to spite Virgil, which of course was the same Virgil did to Roman. It was so close, he could pass the test! He’d make the guard if only- “Remember the porcupine incident?” Virgil fell to his knees laughing, it was so stupid and unfair! The others had no idea what Roman said, since they couldn’t hear, but Talyn and Joan shared a look like “?????” along with a look of “..awww they’re friends-” Virgil, the next day, thought he failed. Roman came back with the results. “Virgil, Talyn, and Joan. You three are the head of squads A, B, and C.” Virgil was shocked. After Roman finished, everyone but them two left, and Virgil was like “But- But I thought if we weren’t serious enough we’d fail-” “Oh please! You think I’d fail you just because you laughed at something I said?? Virgil, I don’t want my guards to be losers! I don’t want them so stuck up about the rules and court, the way we do things, that stuff is so boring! I want guards who are more than just that, they can /have a sense of humor!/” Virgil was about to tear up before he turned bright red and glared at him. “YOU LITTLE SHI- YOU MADE ME LAUGH IN FRONT OF EVERYONE WHY–” “It was adorable, stormcloud!” “Storm..cloud?” “..Do you not-” “Nah, it’s actually cool. I’ll keep that nickname over pleb, thanks.”

Edit/Add-On #3 Not Yet Here

~This little area will change when edited, so refresh if you need to to check if it’s newer~

[the-gedonelune-times]

Darkness Awakens Ch. 1

Hello, hello everyone! Holy crap it’s been quite a while since I last posted a story, but I hope you’ll all enjoy the first chapter of this two (possibly three) part series. I gave a little teaser in the past, about a new OC and about how I would try to include the Night Class into my writing.

Well, it took a while, but I finally managed to get it done! I’m honestly really excited to see how this will go in the future, because I would like to expand my writing, especially for this fandom. I really hope you guys enjoy this story as much as I had fun writing it.

As always, comments and suggestions are extremely welcomed here. Also, thank you for taking the time to read this story, it really means a lot, so even if you don’t reblog, like or leave a comment, I just want to say that I acknowledge you and truly do love you guys! xoxoxo

"So this is the famous Academy? The one that almost every single wizard and wizardess was talking about in the town? It sure doesn't seem to amount to much in all honesty. And the gossip in town says it's not all it's cracked up to be." A young woman ended her sentence with the click of her tongue, clearly showing a distaste for the place,

"Excuse me,young lady, have some more manners! Especially now that you've been enrolled into this school!"

Another voice had entered the picture, and the young woman reached into her bag, unzipping it and pulled out a letter.

"Wow, you really don't know when to shut up, do you?"

"Why, I never! Such a terrible attitude! Why, I'd say you're just as bad as another one of the Night Class students here."

With a roll of her eyes, the young woman stuffed the letter back into her bag and began to walk, the muffling sounds coming from her bag made her snicker as she continued to make her way through the town. Unfortunately for her, she had arrived into the town at a rather bad time. The sun was high in the sky and so most of the townsfolk were up and about, causing her a bit of challenge, as she now had to attempt to navigate her way through not only a crowd of people, but also, through a town that she had not been to before.

As she continued walking, she made it to a clearing and noticed a large fountain and moved closer, taking a seat on the edge of it. Letting out a sigh, she took a good look at her surroundings, she wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she truly felt uneasy and nervous with the whole situation. Here she was, lost in a town she knew nothing of, trying to find her way to the Academy. Of course, she was certain that from the station, it'd be a straight shot to the entrance gate of the Academy,

Unfortunately, due to her arrival time, she was pushed off course by the crowd of people and had lost her way. Now she was really in a pickle. Just then, a thought popped into her head, and she quickly unzipped her bag and pulled out the letter once more.

"Alright, let's see if that loud mouth of yours can do something more than annoy me."

"Pardon?!"

"You heard me. Look, we both don't want to deal with anyone, longer than what we have to, so please, let's do a little cooperation so we can briskly part ways." The letter let out what sounded like a heavy sigh, before speaking. "Alright then, proceed with whatever question you may have."

"Right. Now you're supposed to help guide or give information about/getting to the Academy right? So I need you to give me directions to the gate or whatever the entrance is."

"Well now, young lady, getting to the entrance should be common knowledge."

"I knew keeping you sealed in the bag was a good idea." Just as she was about to return the letter back to its place in her bag, the letter began to speak up, rather loudly.

"N-now now! No need to be so rash, listen to what I have to say. For every new student being enrolled to the academy, there should be a prefect that will come to greet you by, or somewhere around the station. Now, considering the time in which we have arrived, I'd wager that the one meant to greet you, may have been caught up in the flow of people. Your only options you have now, is to either wait here and see if they mange to locate you, or attempt to navigate the way, by yourself."

The young woman looked down and huffed slightly.

"Fine, whatever, I'll wait here, but just for a few minutes, after that I'll get up and try to find my way through this blasted town." She began to gently rub her fingers on her temple, before speaking again. "This whole situation has given me a headache."

"Perhaps you should attempt to keep a level head."

"Ugh! And you're giving me the biggest headache of all, when you open that mouth of yours!"

The young woman roughly stuffed the letter back into her bag, hearing muffled irritated screams immediately erupting after closing her bag up. Her only response to that, was to cross her legs while sitting and hope that whoever it was, that she was supposed to meet, would find her. She waited and waited, yet there was no sight of this supposed prefect, that was to come and meet her.

"Grahh this is hopeless!" the young woman bolted up from her sitting position and stood upright with her hands on her hips.

"What's hopeless? If I may ask?"

A soft voice behind her, made the young woman quickly spin around and look at the figure before her. He had a red and white cloak draped over his shoulders, which held bottles, quill pens and what seemed to be quite a few notes tucked away in the pockets. Her eyes traveled upwards and she noticed his soft facial features, golden locks of hair and soft light amethyst eyes. He was quite the sight, and stood out from apart the crowd of people that she had seen so far. "Who are you?"

"Haha, hey! I asked you a question first." Huffing softly, she shook her head "You asked what was hopeless right? Well, I'm supposed to have some prefect escort me to the Academy, but they haven't shown up. Guess they're taking their oh so precious time."

"Well, to be fair, it was quite hard for me to find you." The young man ended his sentence with a chuckle and the young woman's face went a soft red.

"Wait....You mean, you're...you're the person who's supposed to escort me?!"

"That would be me. The name's Alfonse and I'm one of the Day Class prefects for this Academy."

Oh god, what have I done? The young woman felt her face grow hotter in embarrassment by the second and she turned her back towards Alfonse, hiding her embarrassment.

"Well, miss Onyx, I'd say we best get going. You still have to meet the headmaster, find where your room will be and where your classes will be held."

"Right...wait...how do you know my last name?" "Well, I am a prefect, knowing the students here is a part of this job."

"I see..."

Alfonse gave a smile and began walking away, leading the way to the Academy grounds, with the young woman in tow. Oddly enough, the entrance to the Academy wasn't too far from where she was stationed at, while waiting for her escort. The moment that the gate came into view, the young woman's eyes went wide, standing before her, was the massive building. From the train station, it really didn't look that big, but now that she was up closer, she just couldn't take her eyes off the sight!

Alfonse noticed her gaze and gave a tender smile, followed by a soft chuckle.

"It really is something, isn't it?"

"Y..yeah"

That was the only word that could escape her mouth, perhaps the gossip that she had heard from the neighboring Academies while in her hometown, were wrong. She didn't have much time to get lost her in own thoughts, because Alfonse began to walk forward, leaving her to follow once again, only this time, she remained at his side.

"So tell me, Alfonse, what's so great about this Academy?"

"Well, many things. For one, we have a Dragonkin as our headmaster, and another big thing, is the Night Class. Only a handful of students are accepted into the Night Class and almost every single one, is a prodigy, in their own unique way. Oh, that reminds me, Do you know what class you'll be a part of?"

"From my understanding, I was to be put into the Night Class."

"Well, if you're unsure, take out that handy acceptance letter and have a look, it should tell you."

"It's best for the both of us, if we don't bring him out, he's quite the headache inducer."

Just then, a muffled scream of displeasure came from inside of the young woman's school bag, she ignored it and kept walking along Aflonse, but after a few more minutes she was at her breaking point.

"Alright, alright already I'll let you out, yeesh."

The moment she unzipped her bag, the acceptance letter bolted into the air. If it had a face, the young woman was certain she'd be receiving a glare right about now.

"Why, I never! You have the indecency to throw me into a cramped bag, badmouth me, and have such a sharp and unladylike tongued remarks towards me. Yes, I would very well say you're part of the Night Class."

The acceptance letter gave a loud displeased huff and floated above the two of them.

"I see you two have both had some quality time with one another."

"More like he gave me a headache."

"The same thing, applies to you, just as well!"

"Listen here you piece of scrap pap-"

"Alright, alright, enough you two! Come on, we still have a little ways to go. Now is not the time to stop and fight, need I remind you, it's still class hours and I still have prefect work to do."

With that, Alfonse continued to lead the way, and a little while later, they had had navigated their way through the Academy, and were now ascending the stairs, to a hallway, where they were greeted by an exquisite door. Knocking on the door softly, a few times, Alfonse asked for permission to enter, stating that he had the new student with him. Once the permission was granted, he gently opened the door, revealing a very handsome and tall man.

His hair jet black, long and beautiful with many waves, his beautiful shining eyes were like that of a Siren's song, drawing one in for a closer look, and his porcelain looking skin only made the young woman think of him as one thing: captivating.

"Headmaster, here she is, the new student to the Academy."

"Finally, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Onyx. I hope your travel here wasn't too bad."

She wanted to go off about how annoying the acceptance letter was, but instead, she held her tongue and tried to search for the words that she wanted to say.

"Not at all. I did a little more waiting then what I would like, but that was on my part. Alfonse here helped me out tremendously.”

“Is that so? I’m very pleased to hear that. Now, I ask that you bring your letter to me.”

“With pleasure.”

Grabbing the acceptance letter, the young woman quickly hands it over to the headmaster. The moment his hands touched the letter, it erupted into a shimmering mist of sparkles, right above the young woman’s head. Then, as if on cue, the headmaster brought out a a box and slid it over to her from his desk.

“The contents are the school uniform. I ask that once you leave this office, you go to your dorm room, change into the uniform and head onto class. I know that this is a bit much for your first day here, but today is a very special conjoined class lesson, and I feel that it would be good to have you take part. I also understand, that with it still being daylight out and with you being up for so long and traveling, you must be exhausted. Which is why, I’ll have you exempted from all class lectured for the Night Class today.”

“Yes sir, but there’s one thing I’m not sure of.”

”Ah, and what is that?”

“Well, I have no idea where the dorms are....”

“Not to worry, I’ve sent for a female Night Class student, who will lead you to the dorms. Do you have any other questions?”

“No sir.”

“Very well. Alfonse, you may return back to your prefect work. And Millie”

The headmaster called out a name, his eyes staring directly at the door, while a smile appeared on his face. A few seconds later, a shy and timid girl opened it up, she wore a black and blue robe adorned with little jewels on the end of the ribbon like ropes on the cloak.

“Y..yes sir?”

“Please lead Miss Onyx here to the dorms, she’s new here and she’ll be your roommate from now on.”

“Yes sir ri..right away sir!”

Millie turned to face the young woman and bowed softly.

“Right this way please!”

The two women walked in silence for a few minutes, before Millie spoke up.

“So, how was your trip up here?”

“It could have better if the acceptance letter wasn’t so annoying. Other than that, things went pretty smoothly.”

“Ah, that is nice to hear.”

“So...Millie, right? How long have you been here at the school?”

“Well, close to when the Night Class was first  introduced to this Academy. So...I’d wager about a few months.”

“I see...” 

The conversation ended there, as neither of the women knew what to talk about next. A few minutes, they endured this eerie silence, before Millie led the way straight down to the Night Class dorms. 

“Here we are, I’ll lead you to the room so you can get changed and then we can leave for class together.”

Millie gave a timid smile and bowed softly, just like in the Headmaster’s office and led the way straight to their room, where Millie opened the door softly. 

“I’ll wait right out here for you.”

“Alright, it shouldn’t take long for me to change.”

Just as the young woman said; it didn’t take but a couple of minutes for her to change out of her clothes and into the school uniform, which she thought suited herself very well. She fixed her hair a little and straightened everything out before exiting the room.

“Ah, look at you! You look well in the uniform!”

“You...think so?”

“Absolutely!”

“Thanks...”

“Alright, we should really get a move on, I think the one teaching the conjoined lessons we have is Klaus Goldstein.”

“Klaus Goldstein? Who’s that?”

“Wait...don’t tell me you don’t know who that is?!”

“Not a clue.”

Millie began walking, which prompted the young woman to follow her lead and trail closely behind her.

“You see, Klaus comes from a very noble family here, his father, Walter, is a big wig for the Ministry and has created a countless number of amazing magical tools! He has three sons, his youngest is a deputy prefect for the Day Class, and is always top of his class! He passes every spell and test with flying colours, and if you ask me, I think he could make it big in his future, it’s in his blood. Klaus is the second eldest and I hear he used to be this Academy’s prefect and he was an Elite Magical Knight! He was always top of his class, and he’s even made it to the Ministry! As part of his duties, he comes here and take on a professor’s role, and teach the classes.”

“Wow, you sure do know a lot about some of the students that go here.”

“Haha, I guess. I just like to get to know everyone better and find out things about everyone I guess.”

“I do have a question though now.”

Giving a soft hum, Millie glanced my way “Oh? What might the question be?”

“You said there were three sons right? What happened to the last one?”

“That’s a good question...to be quite honest with you, nobody really knows. It’s like he was wiped off the pages of history, he just up and left one day and never came back, from what I’ve heard.”

“I see...”

As the two of them walked, the young woman couldn’t help but feel closer to the one called Millie. Sure, she was a timid and shy girl, but boy, did she know her stuff. Not only that, but she was certain that she had made Millie come out of her shell, even if it was just a little bit.

“Oh um..hey..I never did catch your name y’know.”

“Oh, well, my name is Persephone.”

“Oh yeah? That’s a really pretty name!”

“Thank you...”

The two of them continued to talk as they walked to their destination and this time, the conversation didn’t turn to silence, except for the moment where they entered the classroom. Inside were a bunch of different students, some were from the Night Class and the other were from the Day Class. Suddenly, a roaring voice made the two women jump.

“I see we have two students, who believe that tardiness is acceptable. You two, can write a report after class is over and hand it in tomorrow. I expect it to be well written and appropriate.”

Persephone let out a groan and went to an empty seat, great, her first class ever here at the Academy, and she was already getting in trouble. She could only imagined what kind of other bad luck awaited her this day, but all she could do now, was sit and brace herself for whatever it is that was to happen next.

[megamanx1994]

Xenoforce II Chapter 12

(Before we get into the story I just wanna make an update. I will not be posting 2 story posts per day now. No longer will you have to wait to see what happens in the next chapter in a story! Enjoy)

Chapter 13: Upgrade time (Disclaimer! I own nothing of Xenoblade or Ratchet or Clank!!) There was a celebration for our paintball team winning the championship. A cake was made in my honor for leading the team to victory. Ej poured a drink all over me. “Great job dude!” he said. “Thanks,” I said. Denise noticed that my electric batons had a bit of an upgrade. “Where did you get those new batons?” she asked. “Nowhere special,” I said, “Just a little place called Future Industries!” “But that’s all the way in Republic City,” said Denise. “There’s more industries in other areas on the Earth thanks to Asami Sato,” I said. (To the 4th wall) True fact. “Where’s Ratchet?” asked Bryan. “Grim’s having him repair some cars,” I said, “But its ok.” I suddenly had a vision. A car was about to hit the building and hit Denise. Acting quickly I pushed her out of the way. “What the hell was that?” she asked. It was him. Mumkhar. He was traveling via a mechon. “Michael Morrison,” he said, “And the rat pack.” “What do you want?” I asked. One of the mechon tentacles grabbed me and brought me near him. “I want you to find your friend Xenoblade, and tell him to meet me at the abandoned warehouse tomorrow at 5,” said Mumkhar, “And tell him to come alone.” He looked at Maddi, Denise, Ej and Bryan. “Or this will be the last day you see your friends as humans,” he said. “If you lay one finger on them….” I said. “You’ll do what?” asked Mumkhar. He threw me at a wall and I hit my head and was unconscious. Through a few blinks I saw my friends being taken away. I heard a voice calling my name. “Michael!” she said. I woke up and saw Micah. “Michael what happned?” she asked. “Mumkhar…. My friends…. Ambush….” I said. I gained back consciousness and explained the whole situation to her. We ran off to the garage where Anela was. “Mumkhar’s back!” I said, “And he’s got the rest of the team hostage.” “What’s his play?” asked Anela. “Something about evolution through mechons,” I said, “He wants to force humans into machines to build a new world order.” “Whatever that means it can’t be good,” said Micah, “We gotta stop him!” “Good thing the suit’s ready,” she said. She pressed a button and a capsule came out. From within it was my new Xeno-suit. It had a green and orange color instead of blue and orange. “Nice!” I said. It had an upgraded monado and the digital headband. “I think you’ll like this headband a lot better,” said Anela. I tried it out and the effects looked more real than usual. “What kind of power source did you use for this?” I asked. “Well I don’t mean to brag, but I got that bionis crystal from Professor Elvin Gadd himself.” “Wait…. You got that thing from Elvin Gadd?” I asked. She nodded. “WHAT?!” I asked, “How, when, who?!” “Professor E,” said Anela. “WHAT?!” I asked, “How, when?!” “At the science fair,” said Anela. “WHAT?!” I asked, “How?!” “It was in the gift bag,” said Anela. “WHAT?!” I asked. “Michael I think you know what!!!” she said. “Ok, enough jab,” I said, “Its time to suit up.” I started to suit up and get my suit on. “Also you’ll need these,” said Anela, “Since mechons are machines, it’ll take some EMP powered bullets to shut them down.” She gave Micah a shotgun emp gun, and gave me a rifle and 2 pistols. “Now we’re playing with power,” I said, “Now to pick up some more candidates.” I rushed over to Grimroth’s Autoshop to get Ratchet, Clank, and Cara. I was about to open the door but Cara already got it. She had a similar hairstyle to a cartoon character. “Kari, from Digimon Adventure!” I said. She just looked at me with a bored expression. “Christ, you’re old,” she responded. I did a fake laugh. “Fake laugh, hiding real pain,” I said, “Go get Cricket and Crank.” “You guys going to get some donuts?” asked Cara Lynn. “No, you know that metal head that was terrorizing Los Angeles?” I asked, “He’s got my friends, and I need you guy’s help to save them.” “Michael, is that you?” asked Grim. “Yeah, I need to borrow your employees for a while,” I said, “We’re on a mission to save the world!” “Michael, let’s move!” said Micah, “Its mechon scrambling time!” “I’m gonna wait outside,” I said, “It’s a big place, and its strange seeing only you guys. Its almost as if…. The author couldn’t afford another Ratchet and Clank character.” We were later in a ship that Ratchet built. “How fast did you say this would get us to the abandoned warehouse?” I asked. “10 minutes,” said Ratchet, “I may not look it, but I can build a ship in a matter of minutes.” “Nice,” I said. “Guys, I don’t mean to interrupt your nerd talk, but it looks like we got company,” said Micah. I looked down and saw Mechons barricading the doors. (To the 4th wall) Time to put this suit to good use. I jumped down from the plane. Ratchet landed it next to me. The mechons looked at me. “State your prime objective,” said one of them. “4 kids here to kick the ass of a Fredrick Mumkhar,” I said. “Intruder alert,” said the other one, “Prepare to fight.” “Wow, you guys seem tough but I’m saving myself for Mumkhar,” I said, “That’s why I brought them.”  “Alright let’s kick some tail,” said Ratchet. The mechon pushed Ratchet away. “This might take a while!” he said. “I mean that’s why I brought her?” I said. I turned to Cara who was doing some instagram of tweet. “Knock em dead girl,” I said. She did a move similar to Pikachu’s volt tackle and knocked one of the mechons out cold. (To the 4th wall) I so pity the guy who pressured her into a Pokémon battle. “Michael let’s move!” said Micah, “Its metal scramblin’ time!” I followed her inside. Meanwhile Mumkhar was on a mechon planning a trap. Some kids were on a balcony ride and saw him. “Super cool!” said someone. Mumkhar commanded a mechon to fire a missle at a control and the ride started to fall. Mumkhar caught it and took the kids hostage. Some mechons were coming near us. “WAIT!!!” I said, “You may be wondering what’s with the ghetto costume. Well that’s so bad guys can’t see how I do my tricks.” They just looked at me. “Now if you’ll excuse me I gotta go save my friends,” I said. I was about to take a step but one of them attacked me. “Ok, I can see you won’t let me through without a fight,” I said. (To the 4th wall). Any of you seen Deadpool? Spoiler alert! “Let’s see how many bullets it takes to take these assholes down,” I said. I jumped up and shot a bullet at a mechon and it was shut down. I then did a flip and shot two bullets at two mechons. “Holy shit!” said Micah. I switched to the machine gun mode and shot multiple bullets at a mechon shutting it down. One of them was speeding around me. “Shit,” I said, “22, 23. Crap! Bad Xenoblade.” I saw one near me. “24,” I said as I shot the mechon, “Good Xenoblade.” 4 of them came near me. “25, 26, 27, 28!” I said as I shot them down. I shot one of them an extra time. “29,” I said, “STUPID! But worth it.” The speedy mechon came at me again. I jumped up and shot it and it shut down. “30,” I said. We all freed the humans from the machine. (To the 4th wall) I’m feeling good today. “I’ll help Ratchet and Cara,” said Micah, “You go save the others!” “Got it,” I said. I got on my skateboard and raced to the top of the abandoned warehouse. “Xenoblade!” said Mumkhar. He had my friends in a cage on one side and the innocent children on another side. “This is why only a fool would decide to be a hero, because you never know when a supervillain would force them to make a sadistic choice,” said Mumkhar, “Let die your closest friends, or suffer the little children?” People were watching. “And look,” said Mumkhar, “A lot of people are here to witness the true person you really are! So make your choice and see how the world sees you.” “Don’t do this Mumkhar!” I said. “We are who we choose to be,” said Mumkhar, “Now choose!” He dropped them both. I was left with a choice. Who was I gonna save? Both of them of course! I jumped on my skateboard and caught the cage and threw it to the top of the building, then I caught the carrier and brought it down gently so the kids could get out safe and sound. The crowd cheered for me. I went back up to confront Mumkhar. “Well that was fun and all, but your little charade ends now,” I said. “You really think you can take me on and save the world?” asked Mumkhar. “I may have had a few setbacks here and then,” I said, “But now I’m here to put an end to the bad guys scheme and give Los Angeles a bright future!” The crowd was starting to worry. “What the….” I said. “SETBACKS?!” shouted someone. It was a stranger in a mask. He chased after me but I was able to hold my own for a while. He then used some kind of telepath power to stop me in place and bring me near him. “Were my wife and son, ‘setbacks’?” he asked. He removed his mask. “Professor Freeman?” I asked , “I…. Your wife and son, I saved….�� “NO!” he said, “You were too busy that you didn’t notice them in the crossfire. My family is gone because of you!!!” He pressed a button unleashing mechons from all around the city. People were starting to run away. “What are you doing?” I asked. “You took everything from me when you left my family to die,” said Professor Freeman, “So now I’m gonna return the favor and take everything from you!” Mechons were coming near my friends. “No, don’t do this!” I said. “You’re going to watch everybody you care about be destroyed,” said Freeman pulling me closer, “Then its your turn.” “Professor!” said someone. It was Kitty. “Don’t do this!” she said. “Kitty…” said Professor Freeman. “This isn’t you,” said Kitty, “Is this what your family would’ve wanted?” “They’re dead because of him!” said Professor Freeman. “Xenoblade may make mistakes, but they’re to learn from,” said Kitty. “I’m sorry Kitty but this has to be done,” said Professor Freeman. Kitty got in the way. “I’m not gonna let you do it!” “Very well,” said Professor Freeman, “I’ll have to kill you both!” He was about to attack when someone froze him in his tracks. It was Micah. “Ice of you to drop by,” said Denise. “Ha,” said Micah, “Never heard that one before.” I used my monado to cut them free. “Now all we have to do is find out where and how Mumkhar is controlling all of these things,” said Maddi. “Guys, try the floating island,” said Micah, “How are we gonna get up there?” “Why not take a lift?” asked someone. It was Principal Gibson in a giant ship. “Turns out that article in Paranormal activity happened to be true,” he said, “Took a lot of scientists to get this out of the water. Its dusty but I think it’ll get the job done.” “Gibson you badass mutha fucker,” said Bryan. “Ooooohhh, you kiss your mother with that mouth?” asked Principal Gibson.

[serlymurly]

A RANT ABOUT CHARACTERS, CREATION, AND THE PROCESS OF BEING INSANE

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Let’s have a rant. A good, old fashioned rant about something that’s been nagging at my mind. First, paint the scene;

It’s 6 in the morning. The sun is rising outside. The love of my life is asleep in bed, our cat is in a box lined with a fuzzy blanket that I could have draped around my shoulders because frankly, it’s a bit cold. We have no creamer, and I think coffee wouldn’t help this headache that’s pounding away at my skull - and I have four people talking in my head.

Did I lose you yet? Probably not. It’s pretty straight forward. First - the puppy nailed to the wall. Four people talking in my head, what? Well - technically, I think they’re all me. But on a different level, only two of them are me. Got it?

One of me is going on about how this is all, in fact, a terrible idea and that to post any of this is to admit to a certain kind of insanity that I really shouldn’t be admitting to. This isn’t normal, on any level; I’ve never heard people talk about it, and the only person that I’m aware is actually on point with how I do things in writing is asleep.

The other part of me really wants banana bread, and frankly, I can’t fault that. Can you? Of course you fucking can’t, unless you’re allergic to bananas. Fuck yeah, banana bread.

Then, there’s the other two. One is a face that people who follow me are familiar with; James Oaklen. Don’t know who he is? Probably not! I’ll talk about him later. And he’s having a lovely conversation with this newest creation, this newest part of my intracranial house - Aeslen. But I won’t talk about her. Not yet.

So, yes. Four people. All adamantly talking their points, all actively going on and doing their own thing; existing in some level on a scene that I’ve always had in my head. Let’s explain that bit, shall we? Sorry this is disjointed - again, no coffee.

Flash back I don’t know how many years, and I was a young, young boy. I barely had any understanding of how to type; I’d never played a game outside of Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64, games that required a controller.

I will spare the dirty details, but life at home was not perfect. There was yelling; there was hitting, there was strife, and a family that was slowly tearing itself apart. I could see the writing on the wall when I was 7, that’s how bad it was. So - my mom decides it’s a good idea to introduce me to this game she plays.

A game called Ultima Online.

And holy crap, that was amazing! I spent hours doing nothing of any importance on her computer, on our shitty internet in that crappy home in Ohio, just exploring this world with a character that I had created with my own two hands in a whole other world. This was a concept that I had never experienced; this was a new and exciting frontier for me. I named him Krill because that’s a COOL name and it sounds COOL. I gave him flaming red hair, I made him a paladin, and I spent hours just trying to kill skeletons in a really easy area at the start of the game because I kept forgetting how to fight things.

And then, one day, everything changed. UO, it turns out, maybe just the server I was on - had a very active community of this thing called ‘Role Players’. Weird, right? People who actively played out their characters as real, living things - in this world. Personalities, histories, everything. I stumbled on them by accident when I got lost in the big castle in the main town of the game.

There, at the time, was a bunch of high-end guilds. One was the Orcs (it was just people with orc masks on, but they pretended to be orcs and they rocked at it). There was the Highlanders (they wore kilts and I REALLY WANTED TO BE ONE). There was a merchant guild, and - all these other guilds I feel bad not remembering. And I was just this little seven-year old kid with a character named Krill with flaming red hair that walks into the middle of this big, IC meeting they were having. Imagine them responding to me with actual respect?

Imagine them actually… explaining what they were doing? With respect? I was so awestruck, I asked if I could play. They made me door guard. Boy, LET ME TELL YOU, I took that job so seriously. I stood just outside the meeting and I could see all their little talk, all while making sure nobody entered without permission. I was so hyped.

That, that stuck with me. Okay? Remember that. The idea - the concept that they had presented to me, this way that you could live another life through a digital form. That stuck with me.

But - well, things change. People. Lives. I never really got into the RP scene on that game; I wandered around and pretended to be part of things, but it was mostly them politely recognising me and letting me watch them do stuff. I only had an hour each day online, so it just - wasn’t enough. Eventually, my mom stopped paying for her UO account due to issues. So - back to the nintendo and other things.

Flash forward. Divorce imminent between the two parents. The world is collapsing around us children. My sisters are massive assholes, my brother and I feel like we’re alone together in a sea. So… in a desperate attempt to keep his spirits up, I introduce him to the concept. “Let’s pretend to be Link and go slay invisible monsters!”

Stupid, right? So we pick up sticks and start staying as far away from our house as we could. We’d talk about all the things we were fighting, we’d hit each other with ‘swords’, we’d drag our local friends into it! We just - disassociated. I think for him, it was mostly the swinging the sticks that was interesting; always fighting, always smacking things. But for me? I was using my mind to, you know. Envision such grandiose and wondrous things for us to be fighting! I was imagining landscapes, unspeakable monsters, and the type of person that I would be!

That evolved. Stuff happened again. We moved from where we’d been living to a new environment; Michigan. I like Michigan, don’t get me wrong; fucking love it there. But, well - we were young. I didn’t know anyone, and it was 5th grade. And then - more stuff happened.

I won’t go into nitty details, but one of my sister’s had a major incident occur. This lead to the family being put under more strain, which eventually finally snapped the cord. Grandparents died. One suddenly, one from cancer shortly after. A nasty, nasty divorce that left me feeling horrible. I was convinced that I could have stopped it - all of it. I was convinced that I should have; since I wanted to be that big hero, remember? Since I wanted to shoulder all the burdens.

I took it upon myself to never show any problems outwardly, after that point. I just smiled and acted silly and nobody really paid me much mind. “Oh, he’s always fine!” It’s about this time I got into (GASP) UO again. Freeservers, this time; technically, I think that was illegal, but who cares. I got deep into it; I made my first *real* RP character, who was of course a massive dork. Leone, a grey elf ranger that ate lemons - because I’d convinced *myself* that if you ate enough lemons, you could spit caustic spit? I don’t know, I was weird.

Leone would be my staple character for a long time. So long, in fact, that I began to wonder - as maybe we all do - where he stopped and I began. Sure, he was an elf with magic and grey skin - but personality wise, I felt he was a lot like me!

Then I learned that was a cardinal sin of roleplay. Apparently, you should never - EVER - make a character like yourself. You become too attached - which I did. You become too personally involved - which I did.

Games change, years move on. I went to SWG, I played a new character - Stodosmo Oci (horrible name I know). He was a security officer at a hospital! It was great. I loved it. It was a long, boring time of just sitting and watching doctors RP it out with patients in Mos Entha. And then.. I don’t know. Things. Again.

Went from there to WoW. Technically, I’d been in WoW since Vanilla - but the lore had never struck me as interesting enough to roleplay in seriously until just before BC released. I had a series of characters there, all sharing the same last name; Rodetan. Eventually, as Wrath came to a close, I decided to consolidate them into one large family tree.

WoW’s timeline sucks. That’s all you need to know about that.

Who remembers the early days of WRA? Alliance-side, there was a guild called ‘Stormwind’s Army’. Yes, it was just another military RP guild. Yes, we did a lot of patrolling and policing. It was fun, though; my character rose from an unwashed bum to chief recruitment officer. And then - drama happened. The guild split. I followed the ‘rebels’, and we formed the Vanguard of the Alliance (VotA). That was also fun.

Anyways, I’m sparing you all the nitty-gritty details - but this is where the story, once more, becomes interesting. After so long, VotA eventually fell apart. We all went our separate ways, and eventually three of the officers let me know that they’re still RPing in-game with this new group - Blood of Arathor, I think it was called. I’m asked if I want to join them. I say - sure, but not on the character I’d been using.

At the time, I was - kind of embarrassed of that character. I still am. He’s my best success story, yes, but he felt - I don’t know. Too close to me, in some ways that I won’t get into. So I thought - why not make a NEW character?!

OH BOY.

But there was a problem. And this is what most of this rant was building up to.

I had to build a new character.

From scratch.

Alright, that doesn’t sound so bad, does it? - Except somewhere along the line of creating him - he came alive. In designing him, in creating his personality - I suddenly found that I was physically talking to myself - and in my mind, this quiet man was responding. James Oaklen, Knight of Stromgarde, was telling me about himself.

His goals. His life. His loves. His interests. All about himself; his world. How he felt about certain foods, how he felt about everything.

At the time - I had very, very acute problems in the real world. I was taking drugs, drinking heavily, I was obnoxiously depressed to the point of being borderline suicidal - and… well, this happened. What did it mean?

Don’t answer that. It’s not a real question, because it doesn’t matter.

I accepted that he was who he was - and he’s become one of my favorite recurring personalities in my characters. And he’s not the only one, anymore. At some point, this - new way of creation, this way to create characters that exist in my own mind - just, settled in.

So.. I wanted to document how it works. Sort of. Maybe you at home can replicate it?

I start by closing my eyes. I think about what races there are to choose from, what classes or skillsets; and then I just… start to see a person. Whoa, weird, huh? Just an outline. A faint outline.

So, we reach out with our mind, and we call to them; and they slowly come forward. We get an imprint, a basic idea for what they look like, in our minds. So - we go to the creator and we try to do that. As close as possible.

Then we look at the character. Scars; how did they get them? Each scar is a story in itself, and as you look - they begin to tell you about each one. As if just explaining casually. James has a scar along his neck, which he earned when he almost died defending his Lady - something that he constantly thinks about as a time that he failed.

Or, other big features? James - again, using him as an example - has a large, bushy black moustache. It’s his family’s staple, a sign of their masculinity and proof that an Oaklen has come of age.

And so on. Then, by the time we get to the point where we have to name them, they’ve already told us the most important things. We don’t just have a vague outline in our little mind shack; now, we have a PERSON. And the name? Well… That’s a limitation of the system, baby. Pick something as close to what resembles the name they called themselves, and stick to it.

I could go into more depth. I could go into the process of creating a video where I create a character, but - well, why? It’s just this vague idea that I want to get across right now. I really doubt anyone will read this five-to-seven page long spiel all the way through. But it’s just - interesting, to me. It constantly is there, this - process, these characters, these people. And not just them; worlds come just as easily. Is that the product of an over-active imagination from a man that was desperately seeking to avoid reality and paint a better fiction for himself to sit in? Probably.

But… I don’t know. When it boils down to it, I just let it happen. I get ideas in my head all the time for wondrous worlds, characters and things - but the most agonizing problem is that they can never seem to translate into text or print. I can’t paint worth a damn, I can barely draw - and the one medium I have for escape, Roleplay, is something that I barely do anymore.

So - how do I make it stop? Do I want to make it stop? Should I? How do I harness this? How do I focus it into something specific?

If you made it this far, congratulations. I don’t know how to end it, so I’m just tagging all the mmo’s I’ve ever played or remember playing for giggles. Kudos if you get all of them!

[takesuhigher]

I found a text file I made of an email I sent someone after “Alex Riley” called me on the phone on January 16, 2015.

@5:10 pm in the private message he said: What's ur #?

@5:18 pm I said: my #? you want to talk to me on the phone??

@5:53 pm He said: Yes

@5:54 pm I said: okay then... (and included my phone number)

I immediately felt like I needed to pee, but couldn't go to the bathroom in case he called! lol

Then I waited all nervous and excited and about 40 minutes later @6:35 pm I included: btw, my name's Becky

At 6:42 pm my phone rang. I was expecting an 813 area code since I used to live in Tampa, but it came up with another number. I picked up all brave-like and said Hello.

He said something like Hi Becky, it's Alex. I don't really remember what exactly because all I could think of was how different his voice sounded on the phone so, I guess in a nervous-tick kind of way, I interrupted him and said, "Oh my god, your voice sounds so different on the phone."

Then he said something that I couldn't understand and then he said, "It's probably because I had you on speaker phone."

He had since taken me off speaker phone, thank God. Even if no one else was around him, I'd rather not be on blast like that. Plus, I could definitely hear him better. He still sounded different but I let him think he was right about the speaker phone lol

I obviously can't say the conversation verbatum UNFORTUNATELY but I'll do my best to mention everything I can remember.

I know he said my name again, and I could hear it nice and clear and that made me really happy. (I can't wait for the day when Miz says my name. Maybe he'll talk about Becky Lynch one day!)

Alex said, I wanted to thank you for the video and tell you how much I appreciated it. It was really beautiful (yes, he said BEAUTIFUL!) and I know that must have taken you a long time and was a lot of work.

I said wow, thank you.

He said it's exactly the kind of thing he's going for (like, the image he has for himself going forward). And that he sent the video to Triple H and Stephanie.

I was like, omg, you did?

He was pretty professional sounding, like he was talking to a collegue and not a fan, so that was cool. He gave no time for me to gush...he was doing the gushing really, but it all came down to him basically wanting me to help him push this #FreeRiley thing.

He wasn't really sure what exactly he wanted, or what I could actually do for him, so at one point he kinda wanted me to change the end of the video.

He was like, I don't know if you've seen what I've been doing with this Free Riley thing on twitter, but I've been putting these pictures of me behind bars with the hashtag Free Riley.

I was thinking, ofc I know what you've been doing. The whole reason I made the video is because of the stuff he's been saying on twitter! Not sure how that went over his head...but then again, that proved that he didn't read the description box under the video on youtube. If he had, he wouldn't have had to rehash all of the obvious.

So, he was like, it would be cool if at the end of the video--

OH he LOVED how I included the last clip at the end with him walking out of the curtain. And I knew he would! The whole video was FOR him after all. The first time I watched it after putting the very end together (because I make my vids all out of order and the end was one of the first things I did) I teared up and thought, he's gonna love this.

So, he thought it would be cool if at the end I had him behind bars and it raising and him walking out to the ring.

I told him that was my original plan for the gif I made him. I don't know if you saw the gif, but I sent it to you.

He was confused about the word gif. So I said it slower and spelled it G-I-F, you know, the moving pictures.

Oh, right, right.

Yeah, the gif I made you was of you walking out to the ring and then the fire phoenix appears and it has the hashtag Free Riley on it, but the original plan was to have the jail cell bars lift up instead of the phoenix. So, you want me to change the end of the video?

If it's not, I mean, what you did was really great--- Basically he wanted me to change it but felt bad about asking me and didn't know if it was hard. And I kind of chimed in and told him that it really all depends on what's available online for me to use. A picture is easy, but to find an animation might be harder.

When he was talking about sending the vid to Triple H and how this is the kind of thing he's going for, he thanked me for doing what he couldn't, basically. He was like Thank YOU and I was like, no, thank YOU, it's all YOU and he pushed back and said, no, no it's YOU, and I said, no, it's really YOU because of everything you say on twitter and how motivated you are and talking about how you're a phoenix rising from the ashes, that's the whole reason I made the vid, because all I wanted to do was make a gif and when I looked up a phoenix from the ashes trying to find an animation, I found this song, so it's because of you.

I'm not sure if I got my point across the way I would have liked to, but it's literally ALL FOR HIM and BECAUSE of him. I put the puzzle together, he took the picture. He's the photographer. He's the one.

So, he really, I think, was trying to give me credit for getting his career going in the right direction. But ofc, we have to see if Triple H will look at it and see what us A-Ry fans have always seen. I hope he at least reads the description box because in it I mention the crowd reaction to Alex. The crowd went fucking nuts for this guy!

Okay, so when he was talking about the jail cell stuff, I interrupted him with something I've been wanting to tell him but didn't want to put it on twitter where other people could see. I hope he wasn't offended, but this is what happened.

I interrupted and said, I'm gonna say something blunt.

He was still trying to talk. EEEEK how dare I interrupt A-Ry! So, I'm pretty sure when he stopped talking, I repeated myself, because I really wanted to preface what I was gonna say so he knew that I knew I was possibly being rude.

Then I started to say what I wanted, then paused and said, I can't believe I'm gonna say this to you, and then said it.

You know, I kinda get worried when you post those pictures of you behind bars because it reminds me of when you got your DUI. (HOLY CRAP AM I CRAZY?!)

He was super surprised and was like, Oh really? I don't even think people think about that anymore.

And like, when you use Free Riley, I'm always afraid they'll take it the wrong way like you want to be released.

Then he said, Well, my contract is coming up soon (my heart dropped) and I really have to do whatever I can at this point, so if they want to fire me over doing whatever I can to get my message across then so be it.

I understand. I really respect you for that. If I was in your position, I'd be doing the same exact thing.

That was near the end of the call. I hope I didn't piss him off. He didn't sound angry. He just sounded like a man on a mission. Like it was do or die and he was gonna go out fighting for what he wants.

He said if I have any ideas how to really push this #FreeRiley thing to "CALL HIM OR TEXT HIM"!!!!!!!!

After that, the call was clearly coming to an end. I think he thanked me again for the vid and because I had already thanked him TWICE instead of saying you're welcome, I consciously told myself, you better say you're welcome and then said, You're very welcome.

I don't know how I arrived at "Bye," but I did and hung up immediately. I hope I didn't hang up too soon.

I jumped on twitter and sent him a tweet lol

So, basically it looks like he wants me to really help promote him.

And he left no room to talk about anything other than the vid/promoting him, which was fine by me. It was also smart of him because I could have easily been recording the conversation for all he knows. But I wouldn't do that to him...plus, I don't have a smart phone. I think a smart phone can do that, I don't even know lol

Is that whole thing not the absolutely craziest/coolest thing you've ever heard?! It was exciting as hell, that's for sure!

If I remember anything else, I'll let you know because I'm sure something will pop in my head randomly.

[taaroko]

Post-IW MCU Rewatch: The Incredible Hulk

Okay, time for The Incredible Hulk. This is only my second time watching it. The first time was during my pre-Ultron marathon. I remember basically nothing.

I really like the way the origin story is covered in the intro montage. Universal figured out what Sony did not: if we’ve already had the origin story within the last decade or so, we don’t need it again. Plus the montage is just good visual storytelling, and I’m always on board for that.

He’s watching Sesame Street to improve his Portuguese!

Holy crap that dude can do really unsettling things with his stomach.

Part of me feels like I’m watching the story of what Oz was doing after he left Sunnydale to learn how to deal with his wolf side. This is great.

The intensity with which Bruce tries to make sure none of his blood gets anywhere is really interesting. This is all continuing to be very visual, which is awesome.

Hey, there, Mr. Blue. (I have no idea who Mr. Blue is.)

Loving all this science.

Aww, it was the Stan Lee cameo who got Bruce’s blood-spiked soda?

Oh hey, Tim Roth. Forgot he was in this.

Man, a city with this kind of layout really is perfect for parkour.

Ooh, nice use of shadows to conceal the full Hulk reveal as long as possible.

Is it...cold in this rainforest?

Hahaha, he’s deliberately finding the stretchiest possible pants.

Tim Roth’s character is scary.

Bruce is such a Ravenclaw, guys. None of the other houses are this quiet for this long.

Nice trick with the pizzas.

“Dr. Elizabeth Ross” is her username? That’s not a username. That’s a name.

Whoops! Betty saw you! Sucks to be her current boyfriend. That is some intense emotion.

ARGH THEY DID THE RUN AND HUG THING!

What the heck is this serum? Is it anything like the one that made Steve Captain America?

The shots of them in their separate beds reminds me of this.

Wow I am not okay with those bone marrow sample sound effects.

Bruce has such soulful eyes.

Holy crap Tim Roth definitely got an upgrade.

Hahaha, nice place to store the data. Gross, though. And...wouldn’t his stomach acid ruin that drive?

Ooh, father/daughter confrontation, Tiananmen Square style.

Nooo, don’t break this school! It’s too pretty!

I definitely prefer the way the Hulk looks from Avengers onward.

After all the effort Bruce went through to acquire stretchy pants, these sure look like jeans.

Wow, Tim Roth is insane. (Yeah I’m probably never going to remember the character’s name.)

Ooh, sonic cannons?

Aww, Hulk’s gonna fight through it for his girl.

Blonsky. Emil Blonsky. Okay. And dang that was brutal.

HE ATTAC HE PROTEC

Hahaha, even the bland new boyfriend won’t help Betty’s dad.

*lightning strikes Hulk* Hey leave him alone, Thor. He’s had a bad day. You’re being a really bad friend.

I guess it’s a good thing that USB drive didn’t make it farther than his stomach.

I really like all these quiet soft moments between Bruce and Betty. Stupid heart rate.

Okay, Blonsky healed creepily fast, but at least now I don’t have to listen to the sound of his burned, broken fingers clenching.

Dang, SHIELD has creepy effective servers.

My least favorite thing about both Arwen and Betty Ross is Liv Tyler’s tendency towards being overly breathy when she talks. So it’s super refreshing when she shrieks at that horrific cabbie.

Tim Roth’s supersoldier body is really creepy and weird. Was that a mo-cap suit and CGI? I feel like they went for the wrong physique. His head’s too big compared to his torso. They should’ve gone more barrel-chested, I think. Also EW HIS SPINE.

ARGH THIS IS SO PAINFUL TO WATCH. I do not like this movie’s sound designers. They are far too good at their jobs and my ears are not enjoying it.

Kinda bitter that General Ross is the only one who got to be in another movie. He’s the worst.

I have some...anatomy questions about Abomination. I mean, I know steroids can make certain things shrink, but this stuff took it a step further and turned Blonsky into a sexless golem. They really should’ve just given him improbably stretchy pants too so I wouldn’t have to think about it.

Poor Harlem.

Oookay, they should not have let him talk. That makes it so much dumber.

Man that would’ve been a really horrible death for Bruce.

OWWWW. Sharp elbows!

Whoa! That was a cool way to douse the flames!

Wait since when does Hulk actually call himself that? I thought it was just those college guys who came up with the name. I feel like that needed to have been established better before he started using it as his own name.

Seriously, Betty? You’re telling him to stop? This would definitely be a case of justifiable homicide, and he’s the only one capable of doing it. What the heck are they going to do with a live Abomination?

Wow, is that a real location in British Colombia? It’s beautiful!

Okay, I like that ending. It helps tie in with “That’s my secret. I’m always angry.” He’s learning how to access the Hulk at will now, not just suppress him forever. But that doesn’t mean there won’t still be involuntary episodes.

“That supersoldier program was put on ice for a reason.” Rude, Tony.

I tend to dismiss The Incredible Hulk purely out of a bias in Mark Ruffalo’s favor (I saw Avengers first, so he’s Bruce for me). I’m not sure his Bruce is quite the same character as Norton’s. I can’t even imagine Norton’s Bruce chumming it up with Thor in Ragnarok, for instance, and I’m not sure I can imagine him being Science Bros with Tony either. But this is actually a pretty good movie, and I do like this Bruce. My only real issues are with Abomination being able to talk and Betty stopping Hulk from finishing him off. I like Bruce being carefully on the run, I like Betty helping him, I like the conflict between science and military. Science cannot surge forward unfettered because there are people who would use that to wage war. It’s almost like Bruce is both a nuclear bomb and the guy who first created them. He has to live with the consequences of his research trapped inside his skin, and he’s only barely beginning to come to terms with that.

I’m pretty okay with this being the only MCU Hulk movie. And not just because I have no interest in seeing where things might go with that scientist dude whose brain gets bigger because Bruce’s blood landed on him. That’s a step too far towards comic book silliness for me. The main reason I’m okay with it is that Bruce has managed to have a good character arc just being in ensemble films, and his personality type lends itself well to making the most progress in these group settings. He can’t just hole up on his own; that’s how he ended up stagnating for five years while he was in hiding. It’s a shame Betty Ross got benched, though. I do think Bruce/Natasha is cute, but he and Betty were really intense and sweet, and I prefer Bucky/Nat for her.

Anyway, I liked this enough that I might cave and actually buy the DVD to complete my set. It’s the only one I don’t currently own.