#i’m sure if i ask cosplayers they can point me in the right direction

[unawakening-float07]

listen

[simpfr]

Part three

Its only been a few days since the occurrence with Spiderman and each day you were starting to pick up on how weird the interaction was and how they had similar traits to someone you cherished yet deceived, pavitr.

Especially, when they started to ask somewhat personal questions and act in silly ways how pavitr would.

“Pssh, I’m sure he’s just collecting his thoughts! He’s definitely head over heels over for you too! I mean your hair is almost as luxurious as mine?” He sounded almost confused at the end, like he was trying to defend himself but didn’t want say he was talking about himself so he said something random…about himself.

To his luck, you were too caught up in your own feelings to even pay mind to how terrible he was at lying but what you didn’t let slide was that familiar scent of coconut vanilla and peach with a topping of his sweet caramel voice that was way too similar to his.

“You know, you really remind me of him. When we used to hang out that is at-least. Was i not good enough for him?” There was no meaning behind your words, you were just blabbering nonsense at this point but to him it was like being stabbed in the back by a knife being held by himself. Was he that much of a dick to you? He was so focused on getting closer and trying to figure out his feelings for gayriti that he didn’t realize he was affecting you and your friendships on the other end.

“Y/n.”

“i never told you my name–”

“Please don’t jump to conclusions, I’m sure he loves you,he really does. He’ll come around and explain everything at some point just give it a while, okay? Not saying you should or have to accept his apology right away but please, when it happens listen to each other and talk about it. I’ve made a mistake like he did in the past and i ended up losing them.. now look at me, Im miserable!” The end of his statement made you snicker rising your mood a little as you began to take his words to heart does he really feel the same? Will he explain himself? You soon felt the warm feeling of his hands cupping your face and it made you feel the way pavitr would make you feel, something unexplainable.

“Let your heart feel emotions, breathe and convey itself not shrivel up in despair because of the negative thoughts in your mind. Let your love show and his will too, I love you.”

With that he left to probably stop another crime.

Wait, did he say ‘ i love you’ ?

Is pavitr really..?…lets not jump to conclusions right now.

You had better things to pay matter to! Like the fact pavitr had asked to meet you on the rooftop of his apartment. He has been texting you more often after the spider-ent ( get it? no? Ok) which you found ironic but this was the first time he had asked to hangout in a while and although it was shameful, you were overjoyed.

Genuinely, a little way too much and went to his place way earlier than the time he said to meet up to talk with aunt maya, who you loved dearly, but she had to leave to buy some greens for dinner so were you now left alone for hours with nothing to do, locking yourself away in pavitrs room for comfort, somewhat.

BANG!!!

the sudden noise from the window came along with a few groans which caused you to look in the direction.

"coulda land a lil betta wid dat one."

There you saw not one, not two but four Spidermen and gal cosplayers in your blasted sight. They were all in different suits for some reason, but the one who you noticed almost immediately was your spiderman, who so happened to be pavitr as well.

How do you know he wasn't cosplaying as well? Because he had the same hair as him, same built and the suit actually fit him, unlike some people.

"Y/n, I can explain, as long as you don't freak out." his voice shook as he tried to reassure you, hands raised in the air to show his innocence, "ye we mean no we harm, in some scenarios at least."

pavitr was quick to give the spikey British one a stank eye to which he shrugged but stayed quiet to allow him to speak anyway.

"Right, ehm.. How do i start this."

😐♡

After a lifetime of an explanation and going through everyone's comical stories, you were amazed and still a little bit shocked. I mean, who wouldn't be after finding out your life long best friend and crush was the big famous vigilante everyone loved?? And finding out there were more of them and actually getting to meet them??

Sick! Not in the bad way, just cool.

Sadly, you were kicked out for them to be able to discuss something important.

But they've already told you everything so what exactly could've been so important that you couldn't be in there? Didn't matter, you respected their decision. I mean it's their business after all.

You finally heard the door open and out came a well dressed, sweet looking pavitr.

You wanted to compliment him on his looks but he gave you no time as he immediately went to grab your arm.

Was he nervous? Why would he be nervous....

"Are we heading to the roof now?" you asked, testing the water to know if he was upset or just you know...nervous.

He nodded, "Yea, Also sorry about grabbing you like that out of the sudden." you smiled, "it's fine."

The walk wasn't that bad since he tried to have small talks here and there but majority of them were awkward and kinda forced,not that you cared. you were just glad things would finally be going back to normal.

You finally reached your destination and your eyes were immediately blessed. You realized how the rooftop was transformed into this relaxing paradise, something you would see straight out of a movie.

the sunset that painted the sky in shades of orange, pink, and purple. The twinkling lights and candles casting a warm and inviting glow over everything, adding a touch of romance to the scene. You could feel the soft breeze blowing past you , and you could smell the sweet scent of flowers and candles as the projector casts a soft and gentle light, illuminating a movie projected onto the board that was yet to be played as there was a mini bear fridge next to it.You could feel the love and passion emanating from every corner of the rooftop, and that alone made your heart beat faster.

Pavitr had to release your hand in order to grab the drinkks which saddened you a little but he didn't take long.

He immediately came back and the first words that escaped his lips were, "Let's catch up"

Something you’ve been waiting forever to hear.

The two of you spent hours on end talking to one another, sharing crazy stories, bringing up past memories as well as him apologizing to you.

Everything was genuinely going well, until he suddenly stopped talking. He was fidgeting, rubbing over his other hand with his thumb, which is something he would usually do whenever he was on the edge.

“Is there something wrong, pavitr?” He didn’t want to look you in the eye, or anywhere near you for that matter. his fear was consuming every single part of brain, fear of what? Rejection. Despite his nerves, he knew he had to confess. It was the perfect place and time, I mean he did do all of this decorations just for you, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I need to tell you something.”

This heightened your concern, did something happen?

“Go ahead.”

"Look, y/n. You're one of the most important people in my life, and I feel so lucky to have you as my friend. I love the way you always make me smile, and the way you're always there for me when I need you. I know we've been through a lot together, but I can't help the way I feel. I hope you feel the same way, and that you can forgive me for being a shitty friend.” as you heard the words you’ve been waiting for, your eyes widened and your lips curved into a smile that could lit up the entire universe. You couldn't believe this was finally happening- the moment you’ve been dreaming of for so long.

Although you were happy and squealing in your head, you haven’t responded or said any back for a good two minutes which made the male think that you didn't feel the same.

“Im sorry, i didn’t want this to affect our friendship bu–” The sudden feeling of your lips on his made time itself stop as he began to savor the warmth and softness of the kiss. He could feel his heart beating out of his chest and he's sure you could too.

“I wish you knew how long I’ve wanted you to say that.”

Part 1 part 2

Tag list: @dunghirse @pulling-out-my-eyes @rjsmiley @reporteduser546 @memospacexx @bro-let-me-sleep @theleftkittycollection @alex110370000 @nightshxdex @heartsforseo @finestflora @aesolane @dunghirse

I'm sorry for taking so long tumblr isn't and wasn't cooperating with me at all. 😭

and idk why but i can't tag some of you guys sorry (◞‸◟. )"

[littledollll]

hiii! i love your writing so much!! can i request a luci x human!reader where luci is on earth and they run into r who is a golden retriever in human form. they introduce themselves like in a dramatic way to scare r away (just cos luci can be a drama queen) r is just like “oh cool a cosplayer. though youre too cute to be a believable lucifer.” and luci is taken aback but intrigued so they come to earth a few more times after that encounter because they have business there (they say to themself) and they keep “running into” r. (what a coincidence that they go to the same coffee shop and the same park!). they get really close but one day something happens and r finds out that lucifer wasn’t lying when they told r who they were but they still accept them and tells luci they love them no matter what.

(i didnt really think this idea through but i just wanted a fluffy fic with a loving reader giving gwendoline’s luci all the love they deserve. and gwen really is so freaking cute even when she’s being tall scary devil 🥺 you don’t have to write it if you dont want to! but thanks!!)

Think you could scare me away?

Lucifer Morningstar x human!reader

A/n: this is lowkey so cute, took me a lil to figure out how I was gonna reveal it but I like it, I hope you do too!

Warnings: none

It wasn’t unusual for Lucifer to visit the waking world, there was many business to take care of there. Sometimes just a change of scenery was needed. Others it was rouge demons, summonings, a meeting ground between realms, all things considered normal for the ruler of hell. This was one of those cases. Here they met you, after a meeting they decided to stay around a little longer, just to see what the humans were up to.

That’s when they met you, walking out of a coffee shop, you bumped into them, not really looking to the people infront of you as a cute dog walked past. “Jesus- I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention!” You looked up to see this stunning person looking down at you with an expression you couldn’t read.

They looked towards the direction the dog went in and nodded at you. “It’s quite alright, who wouldn’t get distracted with that passing by?” Giggling you nodded. “Right! So cute!! Are you alright though? I didn’t spill anything did I?” They tilted their head. “You ask like I don’t tower over you, I should be the one asking. But no you did not, I’m unscathed.”

“Hey! no need to point me that out. I’m quite aware how tall you are.” Really, your neck was starting to hurt from looking up at them, but they were simply stunning. “I didn’t catch your name?” “I didn’t give it. Lucifer Morningstar, Ruler of hell and the underworld.”

You chucked and introduced yourself. “Sure I’ll go with that, you really do look like that one painting! A little too cute to be the ruler of hell though.” Lucifer gave you an amused smile. You were unintentionally quite the charming character.

—————————

After that, Lucifer started visiting the waking more often, in hopes to run into you, a little stalker-ish but they learned your routine and would intentionally show up a little early in places at times they know you’d be around, you always had a friendly conversation or spend a few hours together if you had time.

The two of you grew rapidly closer yet you never really asked for their “real name” as much as they wished to tell you, Lucifer was afraid that you’d no longer want to see them, which surprised even them when they noticed that they actually cared what you thought of them.

—————————

“You know, I had never seen you around here before I bumped into you!” “You’ve never been quite good at paying attention, sweet girl.” Turning red in the face you looked to the floor and continued talking. “I don’t think it’s possible to just miss you! you are quite the sight, I must say, Lucifer.”

The way you said their name simply didn’t sit right with Lucifer, there was nothing wrong, it just sounded like you didn’t believe them, if they were going to continue coming to see you they had to be true about who they were.

“I believe we should talk.” You looked at them confused. “Sure? about what?” In an instant you were back in your apartment. “How the hell-“ you looked around the room convinced you were some how imagining this. “Yes exactly, I wasn’t joking when I introduced myself, darling.” Your eyes snapped back to them and you nodded slowly, so they continued. “I’m not playing dress up, or cosplaying like you said.”

“You know, actually that would’ve been quite concerning- also how’d you do that! Do you have any idea how many times I’ve forgotten something here and had to walk back? Can you go anywhere-“ you started rambling, so much new information you wanted answers for every question. “Stay with me, sunshine, I’ll answer everything soon enough.” you blushed and nodded.

“You do have it clear that I am The devil. The actual fallen angel, Lucifer ruler of hell itself.” You nodded again. “And you don’t seem to care.” You tilted your head at them. “Why would I care? I’ve known you for weeks as this really nice person who I like- like a lot, you keep me company and listen to me ramble- why would I care about anything other than that, did you think you could scare me away?”

“I feel as if you’re the only being who would ever say that.” They stated plainly, a smile growing on their face as they realized you really didn’t mind, you simply saw their person, how they behaved and treated you and that was all that mattered.

“hm, tell me Lucifer Morningstar, what made you come clean?” That was a lot better. The way their name rolled off your tongue, no longer with a teasing tone or imaginary air quotes, but with playfulness and pride, like it was an honor to know their true self. “I suppose I owed it to you if I was hoping to continue meeting you, no?”

[goji-pilled]

It’s funny short story time! No official title for the short stories yet but I’ll work on it lmao. I hope you enjoy this short funny situation I imagined with Mizuki in my head. (Also please ignore any weird formatting)

Mizuki’s “Peculiar” Morning

The morning walk to school was always a rather boring one. The only thing that really kept her from dying of boredom on the way there was her sister’s talkative rants, which most of the time Mizuki could barely understand at all. It was when Mizuki and her sister were coming up to the road that Mizuki heard cries of help coming from an area they had just passed by. She wasn’t the type of person to run off to go help people who needed assistance, not in the slightest, but since she was a magical girl now she felt obligated as it seemed part of her duty. “Er, I think I forgot something back home.. I’m going to go back to go get it, so go on ahead without me ok?” Mizuki told her sister as she ran off, Aya just shrugged and kept going.

Mizuki ran towards the direction where the cries of help were coming from. When she finally found the source, there was a little girl looking up a tree. Mizuki approached the girl, “Uh, hello there, I heard you crying for help-” Mizuki was interrupted by the girl, “You gotta help me get my cat down miss..! Please..!” The girl pleaded to Mizuki as she pulled on her shirt sleeve. “Hey calm down..! What’s the problem here..?” Mizuki said in confusion, “M-My cat.. he’s stuck in this tree…” the girl said, still tugging on Mizuki’s sleeve. Mizuki couldn’t help but give off the most disappointed stare into the distance, this was like some niche cartoon trope problem, “Yeah sure, I’ll help you.” Mizuki replied with a sigh. “Good! He’s just right up there.” The girl pointed up the tree. Mizuki stood in front of the tree, looking up. She had never climbed a tree before, so she stood there, calculating how she would get up there. “Well? Are you gonna do something?” The girl asked, as Mizuki gave a quick nod. If she juuuust grabbed this branch and put her foot here she’d be golde- nope scratch that she was on the ground before she knew it.

“Are you sure you can really do anything?” The girl asked as Mizuki got a bit irritated by this girl, who asked HER for help. Mizuki got up and wiped the dust off her clothes, then she had a great plan. “Give me just one moment!” Mizuki said as she ran off behind a fence, and in a quick flash she was back and in her magical girl outfit. “It should be no problem to get your cat down now!” Mizuki said with a smile. The small girl just stared at her, “Mommy says I should stay away from weird cosplayers like you.” The girl said as Mizuki’s confidence was absolutely shattered and she fell to her hands and knees, “T-This outfit isn’t weird at all…” Mizuki mumbled to herself. “W-Whatever..! I’ll still get your cat down for you!” Mizuki said getting back up, attempting to climb up the tree again. This time she had a much more firm grip, “Cmere kitty.. your owner just wants to take you home..” Mizuki whispered in one of those sweet little voices you use with pets. The cat ignored her. Mizuki reached into her pocket to check her phone quickly so she could see the time, and oh boy was she nearly late. She hopped down from the tree and approached the girl, “Now listen, I’m short on time right now. So I’m gonna preform a quick little magic trick. Don’t tell anyone ok?” Mizuki said with small smile as she turned back towards the tree. Mizuki brought forth her scythe and instantly cut down the tree the cat was in. “Ok I’m gonna get going now, have a good rest of your day!” Mizuki said, transforming back into school uniform and running off. The girl’s cat walked back over to her, barely fazed at all, the girl however was in complete shock of what happened.

Mizuki did not make it to school in time however and was sentenced to standing out in the hallway for the morning. Aya found out and didn’t let her live it down at all.

(And that’s it for our first little short story! I won’t lie, I kinda lost track of it all in the middle and early section of the last part lmao, I hope you still found it mildly entertaining. Also just as a small disclaimer, Mizuki does not act like how she does in the middle and last parts, I just decided to shift up her personality a smidge so it could be a bit funnier maybe lmao, these are also totally not canon to the actual story I’m writing too!! Alas though, I hope you found this entertaining!)

DHDHLADHKADHKADH NOT HER CUTTING DOWN THE WHOLE ASS TREE LMAOOOOO

[vetlan]

Summary: Nothing says "Impromptu Darkwing Duck Reunion" like being arrested for something a group of lookalikes did, and then being bailed out by a… Darkwing Duck cosplayer? Fanboy? Well, there were odder things that happened in relation to that cursed show.

Characters Present: Megavolt ( Actor ), Quackerjack ( Actor ), Liquidator ( Actor ), Bushroot ( Actor ), Darkwing Duck ( Drake Mallard )

Notes: The Actors are named after the original Voice Actors! Also this isn’t meant to make much sense, I just sat down today and chose violence, and by violence I meant a “short” humor fic based on the idea of the old actors seeing their villain alter-egos on the news. Serisouly how did this turn into writing almost 5k words in one day...

---

Dan Rattus-Sphynx was having a bad day, but not a terrible one. He was stuck in traffic on his way home after a long day at work, thinking on the cold tv-dinner he'd be indulging in while wondering what was causing the hold up -- unfortunately, if he'd been listening to the news on the radio, he would've been tipped off to the one fact that was about to turn his bad day into a terrible one: the old cast of Darkwing Duck was to be brought in for questioning. After Jim Starling's little explosive breakdown, when mirror-perfect images of the old actors started looting and terrorizing the city, the mayor wanted to take no chances.

And maybe then he wouldn't have laughed and asked the cops if they were a fan of his work as Megavolt -- he was pretty sure now, sitting in his cell, that they took that the wrong way.

He was the first to be apprehended.

Next came Michael Peckbell, once known as the actor behind Quackerjack, who was embarrassingly enough, arrested in a clown costume. Dan genuinely tried to hide his snickering as the old clown jingled miserably into the cell, done arguing for his innocence. It is only after he threw a dirty look at Dan that he recognized who he was sharing a cell with, and his annoyance turned to recognition and then confusion, head tilting to the side and making his hat jingle.

"Wait, why are you here?"

"Same reason you are, I guess… There's a warrant for our arrest because some lookalikes decided to rob banks while cosplaying as our old Darkwing Duck roles."

"No, seriously, Dan, why are we here? I was at a brat's blasted birthday party when these BRUTES went and tackled me!" Hands on his hips, Michael didn't look particularly amused as he tapped his foot, and Dan tried his best not to get short with the ex-actor turned party clown.

"Hey, I am serious! It's all they're showing on the news, I got taken while driving home! Wait, shh, do you hear that--" "Oh no, you're not shutting me up--" "I'm serious serious Mike, listen!"

Holding the duck's beak shut, which earned him another dirty look, Dan shuffled them closer to the holding bars so that they could listen to the news from the dingy little tv at the start of the holding cells corridor. Seriously, couldn't they turn the volume up a little? Luckily, as if hearing his silent wish, they do turn the sound up.

"... we interrupt this segment to bring an update on the current string of robberies and break-ins that have been plaguing St. Canard to inform that massive plant growths are starting to block off city exits, we strongly recommend that you resist fleeing the city and instead head home where it is safest -- ah, I am now getting reports of streets being flooded! Again, stay indoors and do not head out until further instructions! Your city's law enforcement is currently working with Darkwing Duck to apprehend the criminals behind this!"

"Oh quack, actual super villains, we're doomed!" A wailing voice can be heard from the front of the police station, paired with a stern: "GET IT TOGETHER, they have Darkwing Duck on the case!" The commotion paired well with the confused and genuinely taken aback look Dan and Mike shared.

"Drkwng dck?!" Mike tries to get through his beak, then realizing Dan was still holding it shut and slapping the hand away. Probably for the best right there, as that exclamation would've been much louder otherwise. "Has the world gone cuckoo? He's fiction! We're fiction! Well, not us, we're not fiction, but the characters we played! They can't be serious, this why we're here? Hah! Give me a break!" The party clown jumps on the cell bars, shaking the door and making a ruckus, refusing to believe a single thing he's heard: "Ha! Ha! Ha! Very funny, now let us out!" Each 'laugh' is punctuated by a vigorous shake and increased irritation, visibly huffing from anger from his beak… and absolutely not helping their case. One policeman dared peek over their way, and he squealed!

(Jeez, what is it with clowns and short tempters?)

"Would you cut that out? You look deranged! Is this what you do at birthday parties?" With a sharp tug at the back of the collar, Dan manages to pry his ex-co-star from the bars, who seemingly immediately deflates and jingles to one of the benches, sitting with his elbows on his knees and his cheeks in his hands, absolutely pouting. "I'm not any happier about this than you are, you know! But it makes sense! Almost! It explains why we couldn't get any work done at the office today, our system kept going down like someone was messing with it!" That earns him a scoff from his current cell companion, and Dan can't help but throw a look in the clown's direction. "What?"

"You, work in an office?" The question can come across as derogative, but there's genuine curiosity there. "I thought you were big into the acting thing, had your big break and everything as a villain or something." A pause. "Well, bigger villain than before."

There Dan pauses, brings up an index finger as if he's going to make a point, then just sighs and practically collapses into a slouch. It has been a while since the last Darkwing Duck meet-up, huh? No wonder Mike was so out of the loop.

"Yes, well, I gave it up. Want to hear a secret?" An earnest jingly nod is his reply. "I was asked to return for the Darkwing Duck remake… reboot… whatever movie they were making, but I just said no. I feel like I got typecast into the 'weasely evil rat' archetype, you know? After a while, I just started to wonder if people were laughing with me or at me. At least you made it work out somehow."

"That's exactly my deal! People kept making me into the laughing stock so I figured I might as well be an actual clown and beat them to the punch. The brats are annoying, but it beats the circus I was at before the show. Keeps me from getting rusty, even if I'm just going through a checklist of party-tricks at this point." From his pout, Mike perks up, banging his fist on the bench to his side before standing up again, seemingly bracing himself for -- ah, he twirls into a handstand, and Dan claps in genuine amazement.

"Wow, you still got it!"

"Eh, it's nothing. Unlike you guys, I had to work with Jim directly, by his rules. No doubles allowed, or I was a puffy-tailed coward. Quackerjack had no real special effects, remember? Just toys and acrobatics to use against Darkwing Duck." He could do it, but admittedly his endurance wasn't what it used to be. Still, to be a bit of a show-off, Mike stays like that for another minute before twirling right side up, trying to shake off the dizziness that came up with it -- only to stumble and be steadied by Dan when the lights in the entire station flicker and a distant rumble shakes the entire street, and suddenly they remember their current predicament. Yeap. Whatever was going on was very real. 

"Hey, cut that out!" Someone calls from the front of the police station, and Dan tries his best not to sound absolutely peeved off when he answers back. "It's not me, you bumbling meatheads!" He genuinely tried.

The silence after that is frustrating and uncomfortable. Meeting up was nice and all, but no one was talking to them, they didn't know if their friends and family were safe, and apparently, the city really was being overtaken by super-powered criminals based on characters they played in a kid's tv-show. So Dan sat on the bench, momentarily stunned by that fact even though he was the one trying to convince Mike it made sense, all the while the clown decided to tire himself out further by continuously jumping up to try and look out the tiny cell window they had.

"Would you STOP your jingling about!?"

The only answer Dan got was a raspberry blown in his direction. Real mature.

---

Tino had made his mind up the moment he caught sight of himself on live tv robbing a bank: he was turning himself in. For one thing, it would immediately prove his innocence because he couldn't be robbing banks if he was in captivity, and then he'd hopefully be safe from these super-powered evildoers! Alright, so, well, his initial plan was to flee the city, but then his green lookalike decided to go and BLOCK every exit to St. Canard just as he was trying to drive away. It was almost impressive, really, to see what a bigger budget could have gotten them back in the good old days, but it was mostly terrifying that the guy behind these massive green growths was out there. W-w-what if these copycats had some sort of personal vendetta against the originals?! He wasn't sure why they would, but he wasn't taking any chances! He was driving to the nearest police station and that was it!

Only one road is cut off, the other is flooding towards him and it takes all his composure to slam on the reverse and scream at the same time, and instead, Tino decides to just head for the high ground at a park and go from there. Tino might have been speeding for the first time in his life just then, but he figured that it was fair -- and hey, maybe a cop would come and arrest him! No such luck, however.

The mallard duck looked positively green in the face ( no pun intended ) as he thought over his options, though it felt more like he was frozen in shock, just sitting there with his hands on the wheel and looking straight ahead. Was that… the ground shaking? If he looked at his bobblehead of Bushroot (which he'd be tossing out after this endeavor, thank you very much), he could take note of how it kept shaking as if with the steps of a giant duck --

The passenger door to his car opens, a figure jumps inside and Tino screams like a banshee and just tosses his wallet and car keys at them, fruitlessly trying to open the door and escape after he reactively locked them with the press of a button.

"TAKE IT, I DON'T NEED IT, I'M A POOR COLLEGE PROFESSOR SPARE ME --"

"JUST CALM DOWN, I DON'T WANT YOUR DANG -- wait Real? Tino Real?! It's me! Jack Pumi! Old co-star?!" And as if a switch had been flipped inside Tino's head, first his voice gives out and then his beak shuts, and his feathers unruffle themselves. Yes, he knew a Jack Pumi, that's right.

"Oh, sorry friend! You really shouldn't sneak up on a duck-like that, I feel like I almost laid my heart there!" Tino practically melts into his seat as his stress is wrung out of him at the sight of a familiar face during these scary times. "What brings you to… my car?" Hey, why did Jack get into his car?

"Ah, don't sweat it old chum! We're all a little jumpy nowadays, criminals on the run and all that." The Bushroot bobblehead is starting to shake with considerable vigor, but this is missed by the two as Jack pats Tino on the shoulder. "As for why I'm here --" A look in the rearview mirror, the surprisingly unmistakable sound of a car being stepped on not too far behind them by a giant clown robot. "DRIVE!"

You didn't have to ask Tino twice, even if they both fumbled with the keys back and forth before finally taking off as a massive foot concaved the ground where they just were, but it was best if they focused on that later. Right now, they were flooring it to… somewhere.

"Just like the good old days, don't you think? So, what's the plan, captain?" As Jack tried to hold on through Tino's panicked driving, he felt he might as well make some small talk -- not to mention that he talks when he's nervous.

"In the good old days, we were the bad guys squashing innocent civilians, and I have to say, it isn't much fun when you're on the other side of it! And p-plan, well, I don't know, drive until it leaves us alone? Until the deranged clown gets bored?"

"If I recall, boring that quacking menace is the last thing you want to do…"

"Well, what do you suggest?! Ohnononoit'sgettingcloser!" And the laughing is getting considerably irksome, if not straight up giving the both of them goose-skin.

"Where were you going before I showed up, why were you just sitting there at the park?"

"I was thinking of driving to a police station and hiding there, but the streets got flooded so I drove to higher ground and then… I froze in the existential terror of considering that a super-powered copycat of myself was wreaking havoc."

"First: beats driving in circles trying to lose this clown, second: boy I feel ya, but now's maybe not the time to focus on that pal-io! How's about you really step on the gas and see if we can't throw it off? There, right there! Turn!"

A paired screaming match occurs when Jack just grabs the wheel and sends them on a sudden turn right, Tino struggling to regain control of the car before laughing hysterically with nervous energy as Quackerjack's mech kept going straight… before turning to look at them again. They screamed again and floored the gas as far down as this crusty old car could go.

Meanwhile, Quackerjack just let out a singular 'huh' at the realization that there was a car under him the whole time… before devolving into a manic fit of giggles at the realization of the terror he caused to the two little bugs hidden under his massive robot's beak. Oh, he loves being a bad guy. Endless fun!

---

"I'm TELLING you, that's a giant Quackerjack robot! Look! Look!"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I can't jump that high?!"

---

The rest of the drive was… surprisingly peaceful. Sure, there were random root systems on the road that pretty much served as speedbumps every so often, but outside of that there was no sign of any evildoers, only the ominous red glow in the sky coming from some skyscraper or other, neither Tino or Jack cared much for the fancy science labs uptown… but that probably explains the commotion going on! The bet was on if it was science or magic behind this mess, and Tino was feeling pretty sure about his bet on magic.

Alright, so maybe peaceful wasn't the word, more like… eerie. But it beat constant panic 100%, so Tino wasn't complaining! About that, at least. He was most certainly complaining about his current treatment at the police station -- they wouldn't arrest him! Which wasn't a complaint he thought he could make.

"We're not looking for fanboys, we're looking for the actual actors to turn themselves in!"

"F-fanboys!? Why I oughta -- do you expect me to grow a plant on top of my head? I'm Tino Real, I played Bushroot, this is Jack Pumi, he played the Liquidator. What's next, you expect him to turn into liquid?"

Perhaps a bad choice of words, as that's exactly the footage that was shown through live news on the tv right then and there, Bushroot and the Liquidator teaming up and just wiping the floor with what appeared to be… Gizmoduck. Huh. Oh well.

"Honestly, yes. We already caught the other two, and they're not causing any problems anymore."

"Wait, other two? Do you mean Dan and Mike?" Jack interrupts, only to be interrupted himself by the officer that had just been speaking. "Quackerjack and Megavolt," the officer corrects.

Tino can't resist facepalming.

"You can see Quackerjack in the distance from here…" It was true, it looked like he was headed for the building emitting that ominous glow, for whatever reason, but there's no missing that giant clown robot-toy thing. That murmured exasperation does give the officer pause, and he holds up an index finger telling them to wait where they are… which they do, with a tap of a foot and impatient crossed arms, as he walks around his desk, doggy tail impatiently swooshing behind him… before quickly tucking between his legs as he hurried back inside, seconds before the lights inside the station all shut down, emergency generators kicking in seconds after.

"Quackerjack, Megavolt, accounted for. You were right." Snout pale, the dog looked like he was sweating underneath his coat of fur, licking his lips in nervousness. So maybe they shouldn't have been quite as ruff when apprehending the first two… Oh well. "I don't care anymore, you can share a cell with the other washed-up acts." The green duck said something about it being safer in than out, and well, the police dog couldn't exactly argue against it. Besides, the mayor said to apprehend them, right? Hopefully, no word about them trying to turn these two away would surface…

---

"Dan, Mike, buddies, remember me?!"

That got the two sitting in the cell snap their heads up so fast, one could almost hear a whip crack, and Mike punches Dan in the shoulder, a large grin on his face. "See, what did I tell ya, they got caught too, which means they know we're innocent, so they have to let us out. That, and you owe me 20."

"Funny joke, clown, they're joining you, not the other way around."

One click, two click, and Toni and Jack join the other two actors inside the cell, and Toni nearly kisses the floor he's so glad to be inside and safe. Well, safe-ish.

"Haha, don't mind him, we just had a rough trip on the way over, traffic was absolutely killer!" No, Jack couldn't help it, he had to make that joke. "We would've gotten here sooner, but we spent like ten minutes driving away from a killer giant robot that looked like… what's with the clown costume?" It wasn't Quackerjack-y, but that was definitely a clown outfit.

"Oh, was that your car?! Ahahaha -- sorry, sorry, but that's all I could see from that window -- he almost crushed you two a good five times! And I'm a clown. End of story." The tone of voice certainly said so, but then it quickly turned to confusion. "Wait, what do you mean 'gotten here sooner'? You want to be in jail?"

"Well, we, we, we were going to turn ourselves in! And we did! It's safer to be in here than out there, you know! You watched us almost get crushed!"

Mike looks like he's about to say something, and then he realizes Toni definitely had a good point there, so he settles on shrugging his shoulders, looking at Dan and hoping he'd have any sort of opinion on this other than just 'meh'.

"So…" Dan starts, feeling particularly coerced by Mike's incessant staring, but not having anything interesting to talk about.

"So…" Jack copies as he looks around their holding cell before slapping his hands together. "We're staying in here until this all blows over, as I'm pretty sure they know we're not the ones causing the big old ruckus. Kind of slaps me with a terrible sense of deja-vu, to be quite honest. The Fearsome Four, back together!"

That does bring up some amused mumbling from the group, even if the mere mention of the show had since gotten stale thanks to Jim Starling's obsession with it, mentioning it wherever he went.

"The only thing that's missing is Dorkwing Duck, huh?" Mike adds, snickering to himself, before pausing with a pensive look on his beak, and Toni can't help but regret what he's about to ask:

"What's on your mind, Michael?"

"Just thinking, really, but… What if this is Jim's doing? You all heard how he went crazy about the movie, right? Single handedly got it canceled, got into a fight with the new guy playing Darkwing Duck. What if this is him trying to reboot it on his own now?" Ignoring the fact that it sounded like a conspiracy theory, it almost made sense. He hasn't been seen since, so what if he was planning his comeback all this time?

The four occupants of the cell look at each other, and then break down laughing.

"As if! That thick headed, self-centered dimwit couldn't plan something this far ahead!"

"Where would he find these super-powered copycats, anyway?!"

"You'd think he'd come for the source material, if it came to that!"

"Ahaha, I know, right!?"

And just like that, the ice was broken, and the four of them made themselves as comfortable as they could in their current situation, deciding to look at it as a surprise reunion. Funny how most of their problems with the old show stemmed from Jim…

---

A large explosion echoes through St. Canard, and Mike wastes no time in trying to peek out the tiny cell window while a commotion began at the front of the police station. The ominous red glow faded from the sky, the plants withered, lights flickered back on through the city, and floods ran down drain pipes.

Whatever it was, it was done. Hopefully.

---

The next morning wasn't exactly glamorous. They were served their breakfast slop and told to wait until they fixed the bureaucracy involved in this mess, because apparently there was no paperwork for "interdimensional villains from an old live-action hero show", and there was no real proof they weren't connected somehow.

"Outside of the fact that we spent all night in here?! Let! Us! Out!"

"Seriously, what is it with clowns and short tempters…" Dan mutters, but all that Toni and Jack offer him is a vague shrug. Mike was just like that, why else would they pick him to play Quackerjack?

"Experts agree, stressing yourself out won't get you anywhere, friend!" Jack starts, even if he's not exactly sure who the experts would be in this case. It does make the duck stop trying to strangle or otherwise pry the cell bars appart with sheer physical strength -- that, or someone was finally coming to see them. Turns out it was the later, but Jack would like to believe he helped anyway!

No words of acknowledgement, just the same cop that greeted Toni and Jack yesterday, but now, instead of a scared look on his face, he looked positively starstruck. Which would be nice, if he hadn't made it clear that he didn't care about their acting careers, so what gives? The four of them look at each other, and after a vague shrug from Dan, they file out of the holding cells and make their way out. Or plan to, at least, until Mike comes to a full stop and forces everyone behind him to stumble over each other.

"Hey, what gives --!"

"JIM!? I WAS KIDDING WHEN I SAID THOSE THINGS YESTERDAY, I DIDN'T THINK IT WAS ACTUALLY YOU BEHIND THIS --"

The clown-attired duck rattles off, and that startles both the party behind him and the supposed Jim, who jumps a whole foot into the air and stretches his hands in front of him, trying to calm the shocked duck down.

"N-no, no, you got it all wrong, I'm Darkwing Duck! The one and only! Technically based on the remake but we don't talk about it! AlsoI'mabigfanandIwaswonderingifyouwouldn'tmindsigningthisposter--"

The first part wouldn't be unbelievable if it had been Jim, but the mention of a remake knocked it down a peg, and then saying he's a fan and asking for an autograph, even if said all in one breath, definitely meant it wasn't Jim. The (once) Fearsome Four let out a shared sigh that they didn't know they were holding as they surrounded this… cosplayer, for lack of a better term.

"Could've fooled me, you're his splitting image, I tell you what… Well, no, you're smooth. He was more…" Mike takes a second to mess up his face feathers, making it look like he'd been sleeping face down for a month. "Gruff, yeah? You look like a baby in comparison."

"Hey! I'll have you know I saved this city from complete annihilation!"

"What was that about a poster, kiddo?" Jack interjects, leaning over Mike's shoulder. "I guess it's the least we can do for saving our city, and in turn us. Not going to lie, it's been a while since I've signed a poster, ever since I started selling --"

"Tupperware?! I have your entire collection, you weren't lying when you said those things could last!"

Jack had to stop and blink for a second, even if his brain automatically had him fetch a pen from an inner pocket. The guy was a "hero", yet here he was fanboying over a tupperware salesman. "Haha, well, I don't like having my face attached to cheap products, what can I say. So, who do we make it out to be?"

"Uh… Darkwing… Duck?"

"Creative," Dan adds with a snicker, but takes the pen from Jack anyway to sign the poster.

"Short notice, what can I say, I came as soon as I heard that they had you guys locked up in here, after making sure the interdimensional evil-doers were in their respective places of course!" The masked duck before them poses in what they guess he thinks is a heroic pose, and out of politeness they don't mention that it makes him look like an absolute tool.

"So those… look-alikes, they're gone? Oh, I never realized quite how frightening our characters were at the time, it was just a silly children's cartoon…" Genuinely, all that Toni wanted now was to crawl home and pass out for a week straight, even if he might miss a weeks worth of work. He felt like it was only fair!

"Darkwing Duck guarantee! I would tell more in hopes of assuring you, but it's all classified, I'm sure you can understand. Just know that there's a real hero watching St. Canard now! Petty thug or super-villain, I'm your guy!"

The poster goes from hand to hand, and they all sign it before giving it back, and the excitement the masked duck shows for it is a little nice, as Jack had mentioned previously. Usually Jim hogged all the attention at fan meetings, whether the fan wanted it or not.

"Oh Launch… I mean, LP is going to eat his scarf when he sees this! You guys have just made a hero's day! Say, would it be too much if I asked for a h--"

"Yeah, no, too much." Dan deadpanned, and everyone agreed wholeheartedly, instead offering a handshake instead, which is gladly taken.

"So, what are your plans now? I could give one of you a ride!" Wringing his hat between his hands, this Darkwing Duck wannabe looked like he wanted to tag along with them, as if he expected them to act like they did on the show, and an awkward look was shared between the four of them. How to gently let this guy down… Seriously, they didn't need a vigilante deciding reality equals fiction -- IGNORING THE EVENTS OF LAST NIGHT.

"Thanks but no thanks, my plan is to go home, pass out, and forget this ever happened." Answer, you just don't, it's a grown man for quack's sake. Mike drops the cape corner he was inspecting and waltzes out the door, his hat jingling behind him.

It didn't take much for everyone else to follow after.

"Pretty much." "Ditto." "I'm still not certain it wasn't an overly elaborate dream."

Not taking a hint, Darkwing Duck follows after them, waving as they all squeeze into Toni's little car. "Good thinking, guys! Just remember, if there's trouble --"

"You call DW!" Alright, he could have that one freebie on the house, Jack decided, even if everyone else in the car stink eyed him for indulging the masked weirdo. "What, it is a catchy tune!"

The car wasn't the only thing grumbling as it drove off.

[havetheavengersdoneanythingwrong]

Act 2 — Il Dottore pt. 1

'Home,' and 'leadership.' A cowardly Master finds himself in a situation far larger than he could expect -- with only a moment's rest.

A doctor would be perfect, to get his mind off it.

—

“…Who are you?”

The young woman’s eyes stared into mine for a moment, before she took one step — then another, until she were facing us all.

As Ritsuka tried helping up Caster, Mash stepped in front of them preemptively — even though the lady held no weapons, being certain was impossible with all we’d seen.

Cursing myself under my breath for not preparing more casual dress for my allies in advance, I found myself forming a tale off the top of my head — as I jumped up in a moment, stepping in front of the woman to mildly obscure the less human aspects of Gorgon and such — after all, hiding that wasn’t exactly easy, but she couldn’t just enter spirit form now that she was spotted.

“We’re… cosplayers. We came from a Renaissance Fair not far from here, but we got a bit lost and our ride ditched us.”

“…My, what a story.” The woman closed an eye, tapping a finger to her cheek in thought.

“And yet, there hasn’t been any recent Renaissance Fairs about these parts, friend.”

…

…Sh—

“—He calls it that to sound cool. He’s never actually been to a ren’ fair, so we let him off easy. It was a small thing between us and a few other online mutuals, but well. Things went south pretty quick.”

…Thank god for Ritsuka. The other Master came in strong, having seemingly adjusted their form slightly — though I couldn’t quite tell what. Regardless, the orange-haired Master stepped forward beside me, fully blocking off the line of sight for Gorgon’s tail and allowing her to stand with the others. While I could only hope she’d make her tail look artificial too, it was a bit difficult to see how she’d do that.

Even so, the lady laughed softly, and extended a hand.

“Aren’t you both a curious group? My name is… Tessie. Tessie Quin — I’m just an actor around these parts. And you?”

‘…Quin.’ Didn’t that name seem..?

Regardless, I shook her hand carefully — and Ritsuka followed suit, after sparing a glance my way to ensure I wasn’t poisoned or something, probably.

“Nice to meet ya! I’m Ritsuka, and my buddy here is Cadence.”

“And the rest of you?”

“…We’ll, uh, introduce ourselves a bit later. They’re a little hammered, so they’re a little too dedicated to their roles right now.”

A glance from Ritsuka back to our other teammates was all they needed to keep quiet and act the part — Tlazolteotl silently directing the four, alongside Mash, to seem a little bit dazed to keep Ritsuka’s story intact.

“…What an odd brigade indeed. And you said you all were lost, right? In this forest?”

Tessie curiously inquired, after gazing over our group as though double-checking our alibis — raising a finger to the forest’s edges around us, that grew more thick, and harder to see through, especially in the night. Even the moon’s soft light did little to actually illuminate the area.

‘…I’m finding myself counting us lucky for landing in the outskirts.’

As I tried to ignore the hassle of Mash trying to tell Caster not to act hammered as well, I placed my hands into my pockets — so they could ball up, and relieve a bit of stress — and spoke.

“Yeah. We tried to take a shortcut home, but that went pretty bad pretty quick. It turns out a bunch of hammered cosplayers and a baker don’t excel in navigation.”

The lady nodded, though furrowing her brow after a moment.

“…Did you all simultaneously trip or something? When I saw you, all of you were on the ground.”

…Shit.

“—Well, again. A bunch of drunkards aren’t going to excel in balance, either. There was a tree root nearby that set the lot of them off balance.”

“…You seem sober enough.”

…Shit. (Again.)

And yet again, my fellow Master steps in to save my ass. Ritsuka laughed a bit at Quin’s words, leaning back a bit.

“This dude? He’d trip over an ant, let alone an obvious tree root. He’s a baker, but he’s horribly clumsy in the vast outdoors.”

…Quin paused for a moment in thought, before laughing a little bit.

“He certainly seems the type. My… You all really are an interesting group, huh?”

'...Do I really seem like a klutz?' I had to ask myself before preparing to respond -- but then again, I didn't exactly look like the type that could walk a tightrope.

"Something like that."

I finally managed to speak up, as Ritsuka took that as their cue to take the step back.

"As of now, we're looking for a place to stay and catch our bearings. Maybe see some sights here while we're at it."

Doing my best to follow the 'background' Ritsuka laid out, I took each moment in between these sentences to breathe. 'In, and out.'

It was all I could do. As something reached out, as though intent on returning its grasp to my neck as I tried to match Ritsuka's tale, I needed to breathe carefully to scare it off.

"I was thinking, since the lot of us are already here, that we take some time to enjoy it before we head back. Would you know where a hotel or something is?"

Tessie only raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms in thought. Her eyes turned upwards, closer to the sky -- as though the stars would spell out where to go.

"On this short notice? That is a lot to ask for."

"That's true, but we do still need to go somewhere. Even if we can find a free room in a ramshackle inn, or something..."

'Ramshackle? What kind of old man am I?'

As I internally chided myself, Tessie's gaze snapped back to the two of us -- and she'd uncross her arms to snap her fingers together.

"I've got it. Come with me, all of you -- I know a place."

--

An hour-long walk placed us on the outskirts of the city. Looking back, I could faintly see the forest we'd come into this Singularity in -- from afar, it certainly had looked rather large, taking up the vast majority of the southern end of this place.

The faint sound of blowing wind moving through the grass of the outskirts proved to be one of the only things that kept this place from utter silence -- despite the light polluting the environment, lighting up the innards of the city even from where we were, not a single sound could be heard.

Even so, however -- no matter how quiet the city was, or how 'normal' its greyish buildings and lamps looked from afar, there was one little caveat that was alerting us to something wrong.

To our left sat a hotel, suspended by chains.

"Here we are! We call it the Float Apartments, but they only have a couple rooms filled. I think you can rent out some of the rooms as you would a hotel."

Tessie's bright voice drew my attention for a moment, watching her point to the 'apartment' as though all were perfectly normal.

True to her words, the place was 'floating.' Despite the flat environment surrounding the city, there seemed to be a chunk of rock hovering impressively high above the ground. Even trying to look for some sleight of hand, something holding that chunk of land above the ground, nothing seemed to show itself -- not even so much as well-placed fishing wire to partially explain what was happening.

The apartment itself didn't hold much answers either. If one ignored its floating qualities, it did only look like a mildly ramshackle, two-story complex, more wide than long -- with off white walls, a tan flat roof, and silver chains placed on its sides to hold it up. While its entrance was at least accessible thanks to a slight hill leading up to its front doors, it seemed just as much hovering as the rock -- though one could assume the rock were holding up this hotel, that seemed about the only thing that could be answered.

And even if it could, one question still remained.

"...Why?"

It took a solid few moments to note that Ritsuka was already preparing themselves to enter -- with Tlazolteotl taking a spare few moments to record something in her notebook, eyeing Tessie carefully, before clamping it shut and following suit.

As for Tessie herself, in response to my question, only smiled.

"The King allowed for a lot more aesthetic design, as of late. Before he vanished, he bestowed upon our Capital some interesting properties!"

'...The King.'

It's not a name I was unfamiliar with -- although Ritsuka froze in the middle of their trip to the entrance, looking back at Tessie with an expression best called 'shock.'

"The what?"

"The King, don't you know? My, I suppose they don't talk much of them outside the province after all. They rule over Canada, and maintain peace."

Ritsuka furrowed their brow, but nodded and kept moving -- gesturing to me, and the others, to follow suit.

Knowing what little I knew about the King, it did explain a small bit -- monarchs in general were subject to strange decisions now and then, and they were no exception. With the magic I'd thus far seen, it hardly seemed out of the question to make that rock float.

With that explanation in mind, I slipped into the Apartments -- followed shortly after by the others.

--

'...It's familiar to me.'

'As the resident Caster, it only makes sense I would know that the floating rock is magic.'

The Caster of Rakugo followed in the steps of Gorgon, passively whispering prayers and spells of 'alteration' to cast an illusion over her tail. To make it seem as though slightly jointed -- while hardly obvious, just the littlest of hinges would make the tail seem far less biological in nature.

Yet, his mind remained on the floating rock. Even a 'king,' surely, wouldn't waste their time empowering a specific rock to float.

...But at the same time, didn't that also make sense? Kings were foolish people -- they weren't dissimilar to lords of the land he knew, both in stories and in his own life. Acts of power, even beneficial ones, were often done just for the hell of it. To send a message.

...He couldn't shake the feeling the magic was familiar to him.

--

The inside of the hotel was remarkable in how unremarkable it was -- especially when it was all too easy to hear the creaking of the chains from the inside. Simple, if dated wooden flooring, with off-white walls and wooden baseboards stained to a slightly dark brown. As I took further steps in, weak wall-mounted lamps illuminated the shopkeep -- a golden-eyed, golden-haired man with a wide smile on his face, waving to us as we walked in.

"Why hello there! It's rare we see someone come in unless they have to, let alone... so many of you."

The receptionist's calm voice was almost enough to steady my nerves -- most likely, he was already well aware of the atmosphere the hotel set for itself, though his best attempts weren't quite enough to shake the awful feelings the literal chains creaking were putting in place.

A glance to my right saw Ritsuka shoot forward just as Morgan furrowed her brow and began to walk to the man -- taking over before the queen even had a chance to say anything.

"Well, times are a little rough. We got pretty lost on our way back from a friendly mini-Renaissance fair, and the fact a fair few of us aren't quite sober isn't helping. Me and my buddy are about the only ones who stayed above the table, but..."

As Morgan breathed out softly -- with Kagekiyo elbowing her gently -- the queen stepped back a bit.

The receptionist nodded after mulling over Ritsuka's tale for a moment, sliding to a small outdated computer monitor -- likely to start logging rooms for us to borrow.

"Well, don't worry too much about it. I'm just gonna assume you're dead broke, right?"

Ritsuka paused for a moment, but then relaxed their shoulders and continued.

"Yeah, just about. Unless you'd count a couple yen."

...Ritsuka sputtered, after a moment.

"--I'd forgot to exchange that for canadian money."

'Nice save, buddy.'

The receptionist didn't seem too bothered, laughing it off before making a few last clicks -- and, rummaging under the table, passed myself and Ritsuka a key, and attempted to hand a key to the others as well - before being met with a collective 'I'll pass.'

...Save Caster, who was for all intents and purposes a minor, and one could only assume the receptionist wasn't keen on having the little guy hold up a room.

"...Only two rooms? You have, what, eight people? Can you..?"

Ritsuka interrupted the receptionist with what could best be described as 'the cheekiest wink ever conceived by man,' before taking a step back. The receptionist, while briefly caught off guard, responded in tune with a wide grin - and, sending an equally cheeky wink my way, pointed down the left wing of the apartment.

"Your room should be that way, friend. It's got some extra room, comparatively."

...I could only whisper out a flustered 'thank you' before slipping off into the hallway, only catching the receptionist escorting Ritsuka into the rightmost wind before I came across my door.

'...Room 103.'

...I breathed out, and opened the door.

--

A car speeds down the Carcosan highways.

An ambulance, without its hazards on.

One could hear the equipment moving about, sliding about what one could presume to be closed cabinets, if they were to listen closely as it shot past them.

In its driver's seat --

A man, clad in black -- a large, flowing cape with a black exterior and purple interior. Remarkably poofy black sleeves, and a baggy black button-up shirt. Even their pants, boots, the feathered cap they wore -- all were completely black. Their hair, forced into the massive hat, wasn't visible at all.

And their mask -- black, covering the upper half of their face, a mustache attached to the bottom of the mask's 'nose.' The only highlights, of course, were rosy-red paint on its 'cheeks.'

A doctor by trade. A doctor they were -- on the case to find someone who they knew needed their help.

Their locket bounced on their chest, as they ran over a speed bump. Sparing a glance behind them, the doctor would smile -- looking over their tools of the trade.

Scalpel? Check.

Basic Medicine Cabinet? Check.

Tourniquet material? Check.

Wrench? Check.

Certainly -- they would help them now.

--

The room was, yet again, remarkably unremarkable.

The floorboards creaked as I stepped on them, the sound of the chains thankfully more distant than before.

In the moonlight, only a shoddy desk lamp and the worn room light could illuminate this temporary home -- a warm, yellow glow illuminating just enough to at least see what needed to be seen, even if the corners of the room still remained dark.

'...It's almost nostalgic.'

As 'edgy' as it sounded, it felt more homely than the Chaldea base. The poor lighting, the soft moonlight, and the creaking of the floorboards reminded me of my old home in Toronto.

A bit cheap, certainly -- but it was home.

Though, there was one major difference, now.

"...Husband."

A commandeering voice, coming from the door, but one that didn't wait for a response.

The door opened quickly, revealing a familiar white-haired woman in a black-and-blue dress. She made some haste in settling herself on the first of two beds -- the one closest to the window, of course -- sitting down and staring me down with those ever-chilling blue eyes.

"...Tlazolteotl has asked the others to do something for her."

After a moment passed, I nodded, taking a seat beside her on this bed -- though her gaze didn't move at all from me.

"Did you get out of it, or something?"

At that, Morgan chuckled slightly -- adjusting herself to better face me, closing her eyes for a moment as though in thought.

"A ruler needs her spare time, husband. If I am to rule England, the first mistake is overworking oneself."

...Biting my tongue as to not note that she hadn't done much in the singularity yet, I instead moved on.

"...And you're spending the time cooped up here?"

"Someone should stay with you, no? You hardly keep well when you're alone for too long."

'...Did she have to be so blunt?' Even with that, I laughed a bit to clear my nerves, my hands locking together, fidgeting with my thumbs.

"...I suppose so. Even so, isn't t-"

"--Silence. You wouldn't question the acts of a perfect ruler, would you?"

...I'd nod, breathing a sigh out. Those words of hers never ceased to be truly blunt -- rarely ever focused on anything apart from the inevitable rule of Britain.

Even so, to say that was the only motive was...

...

"...Morgan?"

"What do you need of me? Have you finally worked up the courage to allow me to call you 'H--"

"--Not quite!"

Cutting her off at speeds that shocked even myself, I'd forced myself to continue before she could think up anything else that I'd need to prepare my heart for.

"...How would I help you rule Britain?"

...I couldn't help but be curious -- to ask, with the two of us alone.

"...I ask genuinely, Morgan. I'm... not a hero, nor am I a ruler."

...The ruler raised an eyebrow -- but still, she paused. To give a decent answer.

...Even so, after a moment, she'd furrow her brow -- reaching an arm around me...

...And pulling me onto my side, before I could even react, my head falling into her lap. The Queen only smirked as I tried to process this momentary act -- her gaze remaining, down upon me like a laser beam piercing through my eyes, into somewhere deeper.

"...Don't think about those things, Husband."

...

"My actions are all for the rule of Britain. Such things come before all else. A hero, a ruler, cannot by themselves understand their subjects."

...I blinked, trying for a moment longer to try and figure out just what she was implying -- but she spoke up yet again, as though timed to derail my thoughts.

"...A ruler mustn't overwork themselves, and they cannot always be alone. I choose those who I prefer, to be near me, so I may rule more properly. It need not be more complex than that."

...I breathed a sigh out, once more. It only seemed ever clearer to me that a straight answer from a Berserker wouldn't be possible to begin with.

"...Rest, husband."

"Shouldn't you be the one resting, in that case?"

"...A ruler, even while taking a break, should not shirk what duties they have. It is relaxing enough to be here."

...The Berserker smiled, after a moment -- and, giving up the fight, I'd simply nod my thanks, and close my eyes, just for a moment.

--

'...How would I help you rule Britain?'

A curious question indeed. The Berserker furrowed her brow, running a hand through her Master's hair.

Certainly, on paper, a mere 'person' like Cadence would make for a very poor king. Cowardly, reserved, unwilling to take risks -- paranoid, and easy to get worried.

And yet...

"...Set aside your differences. Don't you dare cause any fights right now, and... Don't let him worry about the small stuff."

...The words of the Mesoamerican goddess troubled Morgan greatly. This man, one she was willing to rule with, was now being prevented from hearing what matters a ruler should know. She had to allow Cadence to forget the worries that should come with being a king -- she had to let him rest.

"If all goes well, we can discuss all of these things after the Singularity. But not before."

...She supposed the Carcosan Singularity was an obstacle to her rule, regardless. Reasoning with herself, the Madness that gripped her mind, she came to the 'natural' conclusion -- that this was a kingly duty, and one she had to aid.

...

...She kept her gaze on him -- not letting up, save only to blink.

As though he'd disappear if she looked away.

--

My eyes slowly opened to the sound of sirens -- as someone's hand gently shook my arm to awake me.

"Husband. Tlazolteotl is calling your name."

"...Huh?"

After a moment, I slowly lifted my head off of Morgan's lap, standing up and pinching my cheek momentarily to try and get myself ready.

"CADENCE! QUICKLY!"

The familiar voice of Tlaz, however, proved to be what spurred my mind to move -- as Morgan opened the door, glancing behind her as to not trip on anything, I ran out, and turned left--

--directly into a masked man clad in black, who quickly took hold of my hood, and began running, dropping some sort of mask on the way out.

"Who-- Who are you?!"

"A roaming doctor, child! And I had heard pray tell of an injured man this way! Falling in a forest is a prime indicator of a stressed mind!"

Footsteps could be heard behind me -- with a spare glance back, before the man forcibly pulled me, it seemed to be Morgan.

"--Come back here, you damned..!"

--Yet, the doctor forcibly held me up behind him, now running backwards, as they entered the lobby. Without the receptionist that was there prior --

--The doctor forced himself out the door, with Morgan hot on the trail, yet she found herself caught in a moment's time.

By a knife, suddenly before her -- that she only just managed to avoid.

"...Is that..?!"

With every step forward, another knife she only barely dodged -- setting her on her heels, backpedalling to regain her balance.

Despite her gaze being locked on the doctor, despite every step she took forward, it seemed -- just as suddenly -- like her body began to force itself to avoid that blade, that materialized in the air, and dematerialized just as quickly.

In my helpless state, stuck watching the ruler be caught in a loop of avoiding the same blade, I found the tunnel vision obscured the ambulance doors that now shut in front of me.

...

...The lights turned on.

Around me -- motor oil, gears, pistons. Motors connected to various power sources -- even weapons, attached to mechanical structures that hardly made sense even to me.

In a moment, before I could even comprehend what I was thrown onto, clasps on the ambulance's 'bed' locked me in -- and judging from the sudden speed increase I could feel, the ambulance was already well on its way.

As I blinked to try and get a hold of my surroundings, the masked man that took me finally came into view -- my peripherals returning, despite the adrenaline still running through me.

"Good, good! The hardest part is handled. Now, dear patient, you do understand that stress takes a toll on the mind, right?"

Even as he spoke, I tried to pull against the restraints -- but, of course, no dice.

"I'll take that resistance as a 'no.' You should know that if your brain is stationary too long, stress begins to build. That, truly, does not bode well for you."

...Another pull against the restraints -- but I froze, momentarily, as he spoke. 'What the hell is he talking about..?'

"Now, dear patient, I have to check for indicators of stress in the brain. I've done this before, rest assured!"

The man walked to my left -- his hands rummaging through what sounded like a duffle bag.

"All I had to do was go into my patient's skull and find the parts of the brain that were stressed -- and deal with them."

...The man turned around, holding two splintered wooden stakes, as though ripped straight from fresh lumber.

"Of course, the pros -- unwilling to accept the fact that you should 'rest your brain,' or cut off the stress in your life -- voided my medical license! But it hardly matters now, does it? After all, I did get a medical license, so who cares if I lost it?"

'What does he..?'

The man stepped to his right, and procured some sort of metal slab -- crafted into something akin to a cut sphere, as though a third of it had been cut out -- and wire had been placed at its end, running downwards.

"Now, rest assured, patient -- I'll be making sure you must only do this once. Because I have a permanent solution to stress, and it beats simply resting your mind and returning it after."

...Something gripped my throat, at that moment -- siphoning my breath from my lungs.

The man smiled, positioning a stake in each hand -- and stepping forward, leaning over me from the right.

"Keep your eyes open, dear patient. Hurts less that way."

The man laughed a moment, as though just preparing a filling, positioning the stakes --

I'm finding myself unable to breathe, all of a sudden. Those wooden things, suddenly above me -- their sharp, splintered edges lowering themselves down...

The cold, sharp hands tear at my spine, my lungs. I shudder, unable to move -- a clasp around my neck secures my head in place.

The man in the mask smiles.

"The brain is ultimately just a biological computer. A very fragile one, however - weak to age, disease, and stress alike. It needs breaks. But it is still a computer."

Another clamp. My eyelids are forced back. My breath quickens, but I'm getting no air.

The hold of the beast is tearing holes in my lungs. I breathe, and it isn't enough.

I can't even speak -- not enough to use the Command Spells. And as the knife had stopped even the Queen, surely...

"A computer can be replicated if you know enough about computers. A perfect computer, that isn't harmed by stress nor by misery. You can simply remove those feelings."

He takes a moment, glancing from the 'brain' to me.

"No matter what, if the data is copied properly, you will believe you are 'you' -- even if your brain is fake."

...He leans over me, smiling. In a moment, he stared deep into my pupils --

"Isn't technology amazing?"

--and the stakes suddenly fall.

[cherripeach]

Chapter 5

Little Match Maker

Summary: Your life motto is “I have the power of god and anime on my side, don’t mess with me,” and you stand by that with your life. No human, magician, or random creature could ever stop your firm belief in it.

However, getting transported to this world that seemed to turn your already bad luck worse was not what you wanted to be in your life story, but you made the most of it.Making friends, enemies, and disasters, you were in your prime in this world, and so you decided to help as many people as you could flourish, at least what you believed to be.

Prologue 10.5: i want to see my little boy

Chapter Summary: Maybe some people at this school weren’t so bad.

Warning:  Curse words, jokes about death

Words: 2.9k

Relationships: developing but future twstxreader

After getting up off of the cement and cleaning all of the area up again because of the fight, your stomach started to sound like a whale and eat itself. Grim who had been complaining the entire time about not wanting to work and when lunch would be and sitting under a tree looked ecstatic as if he was just awarded a nobel prize. The cat was grinning up at you from under the tree while you were sweeping but said nothing.

Once your stomach growled louder for a second time, you called it quits, “Fine, let’s go get lunch.”

“Yipeeeeee!” Grim hopped up and sprinted to where you were with the broom. He began vigorously tugging on your mysterious, probably smelly, cloak once every second. Grim even though he did get in trouble for the fight seemed to have completely forgotten about it. He did not give off the vibes that he cared about the consequences of any of his actions.

A sigh slipped out of your lips while you shook your head and placed the broom in your hands onto the side of one of the statues, the one with Maleficent on it.

Grim, then, made grabby hands at you for you to pick him up and without amusement, you did. You placed him on your hip with your hand behind his back and began your track to the main building of the school.

The main building was a cursed old palace, so you got lost immediately after turning from the main hallway into another one. This place probably did have secret passages, but you don’t think those would help if you don’t even know where you are going.

The hallway was silent besides Grim’s cheers from next to your ear which hindered any sounds to go into that ear. Suspiciously, even with the lack of sound, there was no movement anywhere in the part of the building you were located. The hallway was covered in spiderwebs and had trash sprinkled through it; it did not look like a hallway regularly used. You even spun around once to make sure this wasn’t a prank and people weren’t following you. And in your effort you found that either it was during class and no one was moving or you were in an abandoned hallway which sounded closest to the answer.

However, there was nothing you could do besides keep going straight to see if you could find anybody because you do not remember which way you came down from. The hallways did change a litte, but gave the overall aesthetic of fairy tale grunge. You were now in a hallway with big open window sills giving sight to the outside and the odd well in the middle of the area.  The well was much brighter and welcoming than at night when you last saw it, so in your haze of tiredness and hunger you approached it. Grim who was still on your hip had started to protest your actions and threw his hands around him to make you drop him or stop going off track, so you dropped him right in a bush and continued with your trip to the well.

Upon closer inspection the well was in great condition and had no other problems than it was the 21st century and was located in the middle of this weird outdoors area of a school for young villains. Now that you thought about it though everything is weird in a school that trains villains.

You decided to become the one scene in Snow White but looking down at yourself in the water only brought your attention to your appearance which was not at all put together. The cloak even looked shabby on you compared to all of the gorgeous men that were wearing the same outfit yesterday. You did notice that there was a smudge of something on your face, so you grabbed your thumb and tried to swipe it off. However, after three times, nothing was working. Then, you bent forward to view your face better from the water and stood on your tippy toes.

Neither of those actions worked out for you in the end when you slipped on a piece of your cloak and flew forwards to bang your head on the bricks of the other side of the well, but you were instantly caught after hitting your head by someone’s hand or something grabbing the back of your collar. Death by a well did not seem like a way to go.

Stunned in your fall and catch situation, you did not move an inch from where the hand that held the back of your collar placed you which was with the other side of the well in front of your face. At least, until the person behind you gasped and dragged you up.

You were slowly lifted off your feet to come face to face with a long man with horns or something, so you assume he is either a cosplayer or a weird demon like thing.

“I was not aware that falling into wells was something a child of man would concern themselves with,” The huge man actually pouted at you, and he tilted his head as if he was confused at the prospect of you falling into a well.  

“I can’t say for everyone, but I would never purposely fall into a well. They just seem too sketch, but I did trip on my cloak, so thank you for that, dude,” As childlike as the man was, you couldn’t be mean to him when he did help you from dying a miserable death.

“‘Dude’?” The man who still had you by the collar of your cloak which you were quite impressed with tilted his head to the side more. “What do you mean by ‘dude,’ child of man? Is that a nickname that displays fear or reverence? Is it an insult?”

The man was the definition of a curious child, so you explained it to him, “Dude refers to those who identify as a male, but I sometimes use it for both genders. If you feel uncomfortable with the term I can always call you something else. What do you think?” You paused your thoughts to remember the situation you were in by looking down at where you were, and then you continued, “Could you also possibly let me down?”

The male’s eyes widened in realization as you were slowly lowered to the ground, “I sincerely apologize child of man, but you were about to fall down the well? Would that not kill you?” He looked like a puppy, and he might be another one of your soft spots at this school.

“Oh yeah, it would, but that’s okay. Death is inevitable,” You said while making a fist and hitting the area of your chest closest to your heart and closing your eyes.

“You are quite strange….You are the first human I have met who does not fear death,” The male locked eyes on you once you opened yours.

“I’m taking that as a compliment,” At this point and time, anything anyone at this school said would be taken as a compliment.

“That is concerning, child of man,” the male lightly shook his head while the smallest of smiles popped up on his lips.

“Hey now, gramps, I don’t need a lecture,” You threw both your hands up and then tossed them at him only causing him further confusion.

“Gramps?” The male was as lost as you were when you wandered away in a grocery store, “This is the second name you have called me. Do you happen to not know who I am?”

“Uhmm, am I supposed to? Other than the fact that you stopped my death I have never seen or heard of you.”  Now, your face flashed confusion. It seemed to be passed back and forth between the two of you.

“Ah that’s odd. You do not know of me. Really?” The man turned back to you and waited for you to nod again before continuing, “ Oh my, this is quite unusual, indeed. What name do you go by?”

You introduced yourself to him, and asked, “Hey, what’s your name to be fair. I’d like to at least know who had the balls to save me.” You shrugged your shoulders and winked at him.

The male was taken aback by either your statement or your winking, and it did not really matter to you.

He took a minute until he finally started up again, “What an odd sounding name. I am..it’s not important. Hearing my name will only bring you misery.” The man’s face twisted and became like one of a crestfallen and hurt puppy.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works, but whatever to make you feel comfortable,” You just had to find the weird people didn’t you. He wasn’t the worst.

The male actually looked relieved at your notion, “Let us have you stay ignorant of the world’s ways, shall we? Feel free to call me whatever you want.”

“Got it, puppy.” You nodded your head at him and smirked a little. You were gonna take full advantage of this.

“Puppy?” Confusion was prevalent on the males face before he let out the smallest of giggles you have ever heard, “I did not know that was a nickname of fear for humans.”

“Oh it isn’t, and to make you feel better I don’t find you at all intimidating at all.” You began to walk over to the bush where you deposited Grim, your dumb cat, at.

“You truly are an odd human, child of man,” The small smile returned to the male’s face and he muttered a phrase you are pretty sure you weren’t supposed to hear, “It is truly quite endearing.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, puppy. Have a great day!” You waved back at the male once you found the bush and grabbed your stubborn cat who apparently took a nap.

And you two were then off while the male you met had smiled at your form leaving.

You realized after walking for another couple of minutes that you should have asked your puppy for directions because you were lost again.

Grim even started to pull on your uniform and yell in your ear more, so you walked faster or as fast as your legs would take you.

Finally, in a moment either of pure hallucination or euphoria, you arrived at the cafeteria where it was packed with not an inch of room at any table. The lines for food curved around each other and none stood out. It also seemed like a fight had broken out in the back corner of the room if the screaming said anything.

Grim, of course, did not notice any problem with this cafeteria and jumped from your arms. He scurried to the shortest line in the room with only one person in front of him. He jumped up and grabbed onto the counter once the person left and gazed at all the food in front of him. Finally, his eyes caught something, and he turned back to you with pleading eyes only to wait for you to grab a tray and place the food onto it. After he got his pick, he jumped back on your shoulder and started pawing at your head. You kept him on your shoulder while you grabbed your food and paid for it.

Finding a table would end up being a problem; there was not a single spot open even with many people in line and standing up. All you could do was sigh and trudge to find a bathroom or maybe even sit outside.

At least until you heard a voice call for your name.

You, in your confusion, swiveled around to find the voice, but out came the sunshine from the day before dashing to you. You were stunned and stayed in place until the boy was right in front of you. It also appeared that he brought another person with him who was following slightly behind him. The male was taller than the sunshine and had much longer hair. This was probably the fifth or sixth person at this school that you have met that had the face and body of a god. Genes must run well in this school, and you were begging to grab them from these males. The male must have cared about your staring, for once you made eye contact an icy glare met you. He must not like new people; must also be an introvert.

With your eyes stuck on observing the tall male behind the sunshine, you did not notice all of the efforts of the sunshine to get your attention until Grim shoved your head with his paw. You shook your head to gather your attention back and turned to face the sunshine’s eyes.

“Uh, sorry about that, dude.” You placed your hand on the back of your head in guilt.

“It’s okay,” He didn’t even look upset when he offered you his hand, “Want to come sit with us?”

“Um, sure, that’d be great,” Things seemed to be going up for you.

The sunshine took your tray from your hands and turned around to begin to walk across the cafeteria, “Oh, this is Jamil, he’s the vice dorm leader of my dorm, Scarabia!” He broke out into a beam when he mentioned his friend who was still conveniently behind him.

You decided to include him in the conversation since it never feels good to not be included, and you turned your head to face him and meet his eyes, “It’s nice to meet you, Jamil.” You tilted your head and smiled at the male.

“It is my pleasure. Kalim has talked about you,” you were taken aback that the sunshine had already mentioned you to his best friend from your eyes.

“Let’s hope it’s all good things,” You could only hope.

“Well, hearing that a magicless student caused a ruckus with a cat monster is always a great start to a year,” You could sense the sarcasm in Jamil’s voice.

“All nice things, then.” You sighed just hoping this year wouldn’t be a disaster.

Kalim was just grinning at the two of you interacting until he finally ended up at a table and placed yoru tray down next to another tray with way more food that looked homemade and nothing like the food from the cafeteria.

You laughed and guessed that the tray must belong to Kalim, “Someone’s food looks expensive.”

Kalim could not understand your joke, “Oh, you like it? You can have some if you want? Jamil makes the best of food!” The sun smiled at you again today, and you don’t know if you were going to make it.

“Ah, naw, I wouldn’t want to take any of it from you,” You had this strange feeling that being indebted to him was not the best idea, so you’d stick away from that for now.

You also grabbed Grim so as to stop him from taking any. He bit your hand, but not enough for you to pull away.

Kalim deflated and turned to face Jamil who shook his head at him causing Kalim to deflate even more and even pout his lips.

You four stayed in a comfortable silence with the only noise Grim chewing on his food. You slowly ate yours, and once you finished your meal you could only stare at your hands and play with them.

This was a lot more awkward than you thought.

Until Kalim finished his food, which was ridiculously quick and started talking about stories of his childhood to you and Grim. He talked all about his siblings and how helpful Jamil is to him. It was quite adorable. You even told a story or two about embarrassing things you did as a child, and both of the Scarabia boys got a chuckle from it.

The bell, however, rang in the middle of one of Kalim’s stories, and the two boys stood up, picked up their trays and yours, and went on their way.

You could only wave and pull Grim from trying to leave as the two made their way out. You gazed out the window and decided since it was on the first floor and no one was there, you were gonna exit out the window. Of course, someone saw, but that’s for them to know.

Since you got lost in the school on the way here, going around the school on the outside might help. You saw the well again, a big field, and even a large greenhouse. If this was a private school, this was the fanciest one you have ever been to.

You finally found your way back and deposited Grim off of a bench and grabbed your cleaning supplies to finish up the job.

Maybe cleaning a hundred windows wouldn’t be that bad.

[seb-owns-these-tatas]

Witcher Of The Night (Chapter 4)

THIS IS MODERN ERA READER WHO WOKE UP IN THE DIMENSION OF THE WITCHER.

CHAPTER 3

Characters: Geralt of Rivia x small!Naive!Reader

Summary: Ciri wanted chicken and so she gets one. Y/N needed warmth amongst the cold weather in the Forest of Kaedwan and she'd received more than a warmth for her body as it traveled straight to her heart; warming her soul. Even getting some sort of comfort from the witcher himself. Other than that, Geralt had a lead on where the sorceress was. Though, right now he needed her to help you Plus, he also had other options other than that. 

Warnings: FULL OF Y/N AND GERALT FLUFF. ❤ Geralt is an asshole at first because of certain reasons. 😂 Blood and animal killing in this one. Smiling, soft Geralt, tho still having that stoic expression of his of course. Gotta write him completely in character. 😂 Also, a Hirikka is here and will be on the next chapter!

Words: 3,900+

A/N: There's a part 2 for this chapter. It'll be a chapter 4.1 but will be posted after 2-3 days. ^u^ I couldn't put them together because it'll be 8-9k words long. 😅😂 Sorry, if I write long ass chapters and the pace is still slow. I need to develop their characters, relationship and such. The places said here are from the game however it isn’t accurate and I just made my own direction. Like how I try to make my life go in the right path but failing and actually walking on the wrong path. LMAO. Also, I’m making a masterlist for WOTN! 🤗

TAGLIST IS STILL OPEN FOR THIS ONE! Heehee! Don’t forget to REBLOG, COMMENT OR GIVE FEEDBACK IF YOU DID LOVE THIS CHAPTER! IT’LL MAKE ME SMILE! 

Disclaimer: PNG's used in edits are not mine even the GIF's too. However, the edits and oneshots are definitely from moi. Characters, places and said monsters aren't from moi as well.

MY WORKS ARE NOT NOT NOT NOT NOOOOOOT TO BE POSTED ON ANY OTHER WEBSITES. My official username in Wattpad is “TATATHEPOTATO” and that’s the only other site I have for writing aside from Tumblr. Thank you, Tater tots!

"Do you not...have cars, Geralt? Or motorcycles?"

You've panted like you were having a marathon, palms falling on your knees as you took a breather; seeing a small cottage on the far end of the shallow path in the forest.

It was a smaller house that had a fence with chickens, goats and pigs segregated by kind. The home was a sandy shade of yellow and a slip of brown which was also made just like how Geralt's have been.

No answer was given to you other than how he was hauling Roach back to look at you who were walking along side with him; not bothering to even ask you for a ride. It's not like you were hoping he would. Based on the change of mood he'd gotten, you were sure he won't lend you his horse to lessen your difficulty in traveling bare foot.

You've already asked what his horse's name was. He simply answered with the word 'Roach', allowing you to touch the horse as she neighed. Much to someone's dismay; specifically a bard who happened to saw the whole interaction, left a mutter to himself.

"Why does the midget get to touch Roach in haste and I don't?!" Jaskier muttered rather in disbelief. The Witcher fixing his black, hooded wool cape attached to his shoulders, giving him a subtle hum with the gravel of his voice.

Jaskier huffed for the third time, hands on his hips as he watched the scene before him with incredulity in his baby blue peepers. You happily caressed her crest as Geralt fixed things on the leather bag attached to the horse's hip.

"Geralt---" Jaskier started but was cut off with a insouciant scold from the man himself, "Don't call her midget," he cut him off without even paying him attention. Jaskier gave a nod; a grin molding his face leading to mischief at the chide given.

Jaskier took a step close and planned to give Roach's crest a caress but his stern friend was fast enough to cease his wishes, "Still, don't touch roach," Geralt quickly mumbled as he felt Jaskier's plan on touching his horse. The bard slyly grabbed onto his own hair, brushing them through his locks like he wasn't about to pet Roach. Geralt closed the bag with a soft click, giving him the side-eye; voice firm and full of derision, "I don't want you singing a song about my horse in the near future,"

Which is why you were walking on your own now with Geralt's good will on making you handle the death march rather like a happy child.

It was probably okay, you thought at the back of your mind. Walking, that is. Exercising in the morning was great, except that if it weren't too chilly unlike him who have gotten a full armor and gear out of his closet like he'd gone out of a magazine or animè. The sword on his back even giving you shivers, but a different kind because of how tough looking he had as his exterior.

You shook your head as he just looked back at you. That look of his that was filled of inquiry; asking you what you were saying in the back of your mind. A huff of pure exhaustion was given to The Witcher before you sauntered forward, leaving the man eyeing you with sass and a high raise of his bushy brow.

Geralt followed through along with Roach as he pulled her reins, slowly galloping as he analyzed your form from behind. His buttoned up tunic that reached the ends of your thighs with a weird kind of foot ware that certainly doesn't help with the crispy, brisk temperature of the forest.

Geralt gravelly sighed, watching you struggle with scrubbing your legs together as you pathetically strolled forward and onto the place that he'd pointed. He was too engrossed at seeing you struggle when he has heard a slight twig breaking from afar, catching his senses and making him look to where it came from.

"Midget," The Witcher tried calling you with that deep voice of his in the middle of the woods. Though, to no avail; you never heard him coherently and continued your stroll through the forest; hollering a message without even looking back because of the mere exhaustion.

"You're too slow, Geralt, like an old man! I'm exhausted!"

He breathed out his vexation of your naivety that you weren't strolling in your world. You were walking in theirs and having your own little dimension while you walk by yourself can be pretty dangerous.

Geralt heard the crack of another wood. It was from behind a large hickory tree. He doubtfully grabbed onto the handle of his sword wrapped behind him; halfway unsheathing the sword and contemplating if he needed to jump off his horse when suddenly a medium sized Hirikka came into his view, maybe an inch shorter than you. Those eyes that were doe, just like yours whenever you wanted something and eventually getting it from him.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Geralt asked the Hirrika. The tone in his voice softer and in awe. He'd rummaged through his bag without taking his Aurum, blazing eyes away from the harmless creature, feeling an apple inside his bag and threw it as the Hirikka caught it with its own two paws.

"Don't get yourself killed out there,"

Thus, he began to follow you as fast as possible before you even get yourself harmed from any monsters. When he'd seen you leaning on the fences of Cuthberth's home, he didn't know he has been holding a breath for as long as he could remember without seeing the sight of you.

You were making him insane for not even waiting for him and thinking what would've attacked you in the forest of Kaedwan.

Cuthbert was feeding the chickens inside their palisades. His friend thought you were lost but you've said that you came for the purpose of buying chickens with a man. He was friendly enough to give you chitter-chatter while waiting for Geralt to follow you from behind. It took minutes before he arrived with a complete set of body parts; so the worry of him being killed off by a monster was thrown in the dumps.

As he rode his horse closer, you've had the chance to admire the beauty edging to be seen. You were in awe as his mere self was enough to get you ogling at the man treading near. Never seeing such a man like that who wore armors in his everyday life except from seeing Cosplayers in certain conventions that seemed so fake rather than Geralt who felt real. Too real that you were pondering if he was just a mere hallucination or a fantasy of yours.

He was definitely eye-candy. Dashing. Ravishing. Beyond gorgeous.

Cuthbert saw them coming and so, his expression turned wild with a grin. His dirty fingers scratching his bald head in excitement as he jogged out of the fences with a giddy self. "Oi! You didn't tell me it's the infamous Geralt of Rivia, elfin!"

Famous. He's famous? you thought to yourself before keeping your eyes away from the witcher who had already jumped down his horse and gave you a look; asking what was wrong because you were staring like there was a problem at hand.

You didn't need to tell him that your heart was actually the problem. It was always skipping a beat whenever he'd pay a glimpse to stare at your eyes.

A soft clear of your throat, your fist covering your mouth as you do and you eyed Cuthbert inquisitively, "Is he famous? Famous for what? Is he an actor? Model? The king of this kingdom or something?"

Cuthbert patted his dirty hands on his soiled apron full of flour, a hand on his hip while the other reaches out for Geralt's powerful looking shoulder in attempt to give him a pat. The animal butcher's forest green eyes coruscant of fervor. Geralt's initial response was to give him a smile back with the man's excitement in seeing him again, "This lad's a something! Kills all types of beasts, vampires, dragons, huge kikimores---"

You coughed out loud, making them snap their heads from where you stood. Cuthbert's words sounded too surprising to be true. As much as you remembered, vampires only existed in the movies and games; not in the real life survival of people. His words caught you off-guard, "Vamp--vampires? There's vampires here, Cuthbert? Even dragons?"

Geralt looked at you, utmost jaded. The way your voice stuttered alerted him that you were scared or probably still unfamiliar--still illiterate of their world since he was doubting to give you all the information ahead if you abruptly disappear out-of-nowhere with the knowledge of the continent; their world. It would be very much dangerous for it to be compromised especially that you had the experience in teleporting to their dimension.

Cuthbert gave a loud laugh, not believing the strangeness of your words, "You're actin' like yer’ never been here before! I thought yer’ were livin' with the Witcher?! You should ask the white wolf, here! He's killed hundreds! Maybe even thousands!"

You've fluttered your eyes closed, trying to calm yourself from running off the forest and getting yourself killed just like the horror movies you've watched. You've called them idiots, now wasn't the time to call yourself one as well.

Though, you were completely unaware of Geralt's gaze which consist an ample amount of worry. You continued your rambles in a hushed whisper, "I'm not just in a freakin' game that have monsters, but even a live-action movie of Twilight. This is great, real great."

The Witcher clenched his teeth, gradually turning his body to you without moving his soles. His forehead creasing as he could feel your heart beat quickening, "Are there also wolves? Big bad wolves here?" your voiced lowering a miniscule, sounding diminutive.

His friend gave off a shrug, his mouth forming a thin line when he did so as he scratched his whitened beard, "We may never know what this world can bring, Elfin! It always brings out the worst of everythin'!"

At the confident mention of that, you've felt your chest tightening with the knowledge of having vampires and dragons around. What if you died in their world? Would you also be dead in earth? Geralt licked his Crimson lips, staring down at you with utmost comfort that he could give. Yet, he failed at that with how stoic his expressions can get. Though, his eyes were exempted because his feelings can be read through those stern, Aurum eyes.

Midway, he'd lift his burly armor-coated arms to plan and give your back a caress to calm you down; but he was immediate enough to drop it down considering that maybe even a touch to the hand would calm you because he'd seen it trembled. If only he was thoroughly direct towards you; he would in a heart beat.

"Don't panic, Midget." The roughness of his voice; that definite amount of timbre. It was the only word you've heard from him. Short but straightforward. Even so, still the only thing that calmed you down through out all your panic attacks back in earth and even in their world.

Cuthbert has seen Geralt's attempt of comfort; even seeing his eyes shift in a way that nobody else could. He had a smirk on his face, scrubbing that beard he was owning, "Who is she, Witcha'? Another one of those clingy harlots of yours?"

Geralt turned his head to see Cuthbert smirking. The way his eyes changed into a lethargic faze meant that the witcher was mantling the emotions he was having or probably having no idea that he was feeling it yet; in denial of the state he was in.

"---Or the trouble and strife?"

The witcher knew what he meant and decided to let those words fall out of his ear to the other. His hands clasping together on his front as he straightened his back, cocking his head to the side as he narrowed his eyes on the latter, "We need...chickens," Cuthbert raised his eyebrows in astonishment, "You cook now, witcher?"

No words were said besides from a satisfied hum as the chickens clucked before the butcher of animals. The panic died down because of Geralt's voice and you've finally had the will to insert yourself in the conversation.

"I do!" you excitedly exclaimed, stepping a foot closer to Geralt and the witcher was aware of it, giving you the side-eye, "---also, do you have any spices please?"

Cuthbert nodded in comprehension, sending a playful wink to The Witcher and scrubbing his hands together as he also gave you a rogouish smile, "Oh, that kind. The little woman, Geralt! Literally because this elfin is quite short but fetching nevertheless!" Geralt gave him an apathetic blink of an eye, sighing from the talkativeness of the man.

But, also worth it if he could see those anticipated beams of yours as you stood beside him.

The latter gave out a loud sigh, seeming to be in his head space as he talked his thoughts out loud, "---I remember how Gisela cooks Flamiche for me whenever I go home from me' hunt! Though, that woman seldom does it anymore considering how Bridgely gets her attention a lots!"

Geralt gave him that daunting smile of his; wanting to tell the man to just butcher the heck out of the chickens already as he wanted to get it over with. You gave Cuthbert a wide smile, oblivious of Geralt's taunting gaze back at the man. He suppressed a laugh and nodded to himself; quickly running off to Geralt's wishes.

As the chicken was being slaughtered across the fence, Geralt was thoroughly unaware that you were already sniffing and crying because it was all out in the open and you could see how it was being killed. He watched you look over the fence and inspect Cuthbert cutting its head off and it made you shriek, warm tears falling on the sides of your face while watching how much pity you've given to the chicken.

Geralt did a double-take, eyeing you and where you were staring at and saw how you were crying over a chicken being slaughtered. He wanted to laugh because of how you were being sad over it. However, he decided against so as to not offend you when you were just pouring your heart out in this one.

"I thought...you wanted chickens?" the witcher pondered, leaning away from the fence and facing you instead with that amused glint in his eyes.

You've sniffed hard, patting your nose with his clothes that you were wearing from; the snot wanting to come out of its cave. You gazed up at him; eyes damp and reddish from the cries. "I did, Geralt! But not for it to be killed like this!" you hiccuped from all the bawling that has happened, "---It was better to be bought in a supermarket!"

The way you cry always made a pinch inside Geralt's heart. A kind where he would try and do everything to make it stop because you were annoying but also irresistible.

His lips lifted in a slight beam, looking around the forest before peering down at your sobbing thyself. "There, there," surprisingly, Geralt cooed before you; stopping your weeps short as you gaped at the tall witcher. His chiseled face warped in clear softness and mirth, "---for a bountiful feast requires death in exchange for us to be sated,"

The amazing color of his eyes gleamed more under the sun. You couldn't help but outstare back at him with that stupefied look of utter adoration. You snapped out of your daydream when he was waiting for a witty retort but you've loudly cleared your throat; the heat travelling to your neck. Before it can even reach your face, you turned your head back to look at Cuthbert who was now grinning back at you; holding the headless chicken up for you to see. Its blood dripping down the ground as he mouthed a 'what do you think?' back at you and Geralt to tell you if the size of the chicken was a-okay.

Your face quickly morphed into a wince, another mourn about to come to light when you've felt a warm hand on your shoulder; shooting lightning to your spine as you jumped from the physical touch. Geralt gently turned your body around; away from the panorama of chicken slaughter. The way his lips lifting in a small, soft smile never leaving yet. "Don't look at it,"

A huff was sent to the latter, "I can't! It's making noise!"

"Then cover your ears," Geralt's brow raised in sarcasm. Though, those playful sparkle never dying down. You narrowed your eyes back at him, an annoyed crease of your forehead as you explained and raised your hands back at him. It looked dull and definitely freezing, "But, my hands are shaking from the cold!"

Geralt studied you from head to foot, noting the lack of clothes you were wearing. The smile you've grown to love fell as he sighed, looking away for a moment before a tiresome gaze of his eyes was sent to you. He held onto the string of his jet black hooded cape, unlatching it around his neck as you stared up at him in utmost curiosity.

The softness of his cape fell around your shoulders like a furnace hugging your body; better yet the soul that needed a hug after all you've experienced since the first time you've been in their world. You could feel your heart warming at the gesture of Geralt giving you his dramatic cape; even growing hotter when he was tethering the tie together; intently staring down at your face and feeling his thick, calloused fingers inches before your neck.

Maybe, an egg was worthy of using your face as a frying pan right now.

You consciously looked away from the heat of his stare. Geralt tightened the tie around your neck as you've felt the heaviness of his cape over your shoulders. He drew he fingers away from your neck, slanting his head as he never cut the gaze he had; rather than you who'd looked away because you were...blushing.

"Better?" His voice graveled, a small beam carving his face. You've reluctantly gawked back at him, giving him a reserved nod. The way you were acting looked entirely stupid, your eyes looking like those googly ones used as stickers back in your desk as you tried avoiding the intensity of his stare. You bit the insides of your cheeks, deciding to leave the exhilaration out in the back as you had the courage to look at him, "Better!---Never better, Ge-Geralt!" Regardless of the brave act, you embarrassingly stammered and cited his name wrongly with a shameful 'J', "I mean, Geralt. Geralt with a G!" you back paddled in an instant, scratching your temples as you avoided his eyes and tried to fan your face.

The witcher looked askance, he could hear your heart beat running miles after miles. Geralt pondered why and what was making it pump fast when you weren't even having your panic attacks.

He crossed his hefty arms, looking at you skeptically but with a stupefying smile on his face, "Are you going to stop being a bairn now?"

You initially stopped fanning your face, narrowing your eyes back at him; completely confused, "What's a bairn?" he sighed and glanced at the sky, shaking his head with a beam that fell as quick as you've seen it when Geralt heard Cuthbert walking to where you were and glanced at the acquaintance.

The dead chicken was tied close to the witcher's bag located on the hip of his horse. You were busy staring at the four pieces of aftershafted chickens dangling on Roach's side with that sympathetic glaze of your eyes but actually talking at the back of your mind that its death would be worth it because you cook well and he'll taste good.

Cuthbert scrutinized your nodding form. A strange expression written on his face that tells that he was seeing the oddity that you were nodding at the chickens like you were talking to them.

The animal butcher was running his blabber mouth about how his chickens were also missing every other day. Sometimes his pigs or goats that made Geralt narrow his eyes from his share of message; his nose slightly scrunching from the admission of Cuthbert with his missing animals.

He didn't need to know that some were kind of caught by Geralt's hands. Maybe at least ten chickens, three pigs and two goats. Even so, slaughtered by the witcher himself.

The sneaky witcher couldn't catch a chicken as of the moment because he always does it at night. Catching a chicken from other people's fence in the morning can be risky and definitely tricky.

"About...the sorceress," Geralt trailed off, grabbing Cuthbert's attention away from you before he could even think you didn't belong to their world and guessed about his stealing escapades. He spun his head to look at Geralt, thoroughly distracted from how he called him out, "---you still hangin' onto that sorceress you had, witcher?"

"No...It's....kind of complicated," the latter speculated with a shake of his head.

Cuthbert nodded in understanding, scratching the nape of his neck as he seem to ponder, "The tittle-tattles around the village says that the sorceress is in a burgh called 'crow's perch' in the east of Vizima," pause. "It's a long journey out there! Lots'a beasts to encounter before it!" he roughly warned.

The Witcher only hummed in response; deep in thought as he calculated how long will it take to get there after a week when he was done with any favors for the villagers of Kaedwan and for some of his options on how to get you home.

His first choice was the Djinn. Now, he just needed to find one. Again. But, not for the sole purpose of asking peace and a long nap but to help you.

Geralt fished out the black pouch he kept on his sides, reaching out to give it to Cuthbert across the fence. The animal butcher shook his head to decline the money, "No, I don't need yer' coins." he simply admitted with a scoff, "You've helped us a lot; for me to be accepting some kind of repayment from the white wolf himself---,"

"----You deserve a thank you for all your help, Witcher." Cuthbert continued with a grateful tone.

Thus, this was the first time that he'd been acknowledged by his help in slaying monsters and terrifying creatures. The man himself didn't know how pleasing it was to hear those words from a mere human and from a person he'd help back in the years. Even so, seeing those smiles you've given him when you were excited to cook the damn chicken didn't seem so satisfying and delightful to look at; until now..

MORE FLUFF ON CHAPTER 4.1! Heehee! THANK YOU FOR THE LOVE, TATER TOTS! AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO LOVES GERALT CALLING Y/N, MIDGET? 

Taglist: @alyxkbrl​ @himarisolace​ @barkingbullfrog​ @ayamenimthiriel​ @hellodevilslittlesister @vania-marie @spookypeachx @grungelovebug​ @fangirl-inthe-us @nympeth @missjenniferb (I couldn’t tag you AGAIN bud! A different blog was popping out of the recommendation and it wasn’t your blog. Though, I’ll try again on the next update! Don’t worry! Tumblr is being DUMBLR RN. I’M MAD) @amirahiddleston @gabethelobster @dreaming-about-starfleet @uncoolcloudyhead @melaninstylezz @psychosupernatural

[patchwork-panda]

If A Moment Is All We Are 14/?

AO3 link: HERE

“Kyou-chan...”

Kirako’s eyebrows knitted together in concern.

“Kyou-chan!”

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair as the sound of Kirako’s voice roused me from my half-sleep. My neck creaked audibly as I rotated my head just enough to look her in the eye and she took a hasty step back the moment my face came into view.

“A-Are you okay, Kyou-chan?”

I didn’t answer. Even after downing my third packet of instant coffee mix, I was still too tired to talk. Following the incident with Kunikida’s notebook yesterday, I’d spent a good chunk of the afternoon sitting at my kitchen table and staring at my phone. The image of “page fifty-three” remained there on full display until my battery was almost drained and I was forced to get up and prepare dinner.

I’d expected the list to be pretty extensive, but nothing of this magnitude. In total, there were no less than fifty-eight traits Kunikida found attractive enough to deem “ideal” in a partner match, including height preference (a methodically calculated range was given), personality traits, even blood type. My head was spinning by the time I’d finished skimming the page.

There was no way I, or any other human woman for that matter, would be able to match every single one of these requirements. It was simply too much.

I’d decided to go back to binge-reading manga over a cup of hot ramen to de-stress and had just about put aside the matter of what to do about “page fifty-three” when my phone pinged again.

Once again, I’d received an unwanted text message from Dazai. And once again, it was an image attachment. I had just made the decision to delete it without looking at it when my phone pinged several more times, causing me to open one of the attachments by mistake. If “page fifty-three” wasn’t already bad enough, I was soon made aware of the existences of “pages fifty-four through fifty-seven,” which contained a comprehensive plan (complete with locations!) for first dates, getting engaged, an actual timeline of the relationship before marriage... there was even a list of strategies for how to deal with in-laws and a small selection of potential baby names. By the time I got through it all, I wasn’t sure if I was intimidated or actually impressed.

What should I do?

To use the information I’d been given felt completely wrong— reading through Kunikida’s notebook alone was an invasion of privacy. However, not taking advantage of this when I was developing a crush on the man felt patently stupid. Either way, my chances of getting a good night’s sleep were completely ruined and once again I had only Dazai to blame.

Dazai...

“So, does that mean I still have a chance?” he’d asked.

I frowned as I thought back to that last thumbs-up he’d thrown out.

Why was Dazai doing this? Was he actually trying to “help” me as he put it, so that I could have a shot at getting Kunikida to like me? Because he cared about me?

But that didn’t make any sense. He wasn’t that kind of person... If he really wanted a chance with me, he would sabotage me instead. That’s who Dazai Osamu really was, that perverted son of a bitch...

I could tell by the way Kirako was looking at me that I had massive bags under my eyes but I was too exhausted to care. So, I let my cheek stay squished against the table and didn’t bother to lift up my head even though I knew that I was definitely scaring her.

“Kirako-san...”

I smiled and Kirako visibly twitched.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. How can I help you?”

“Uh... well, I know you just finished a big case recently, but...”

She gingerly laid a thin folder on my desk.

“We need you to go with Ranpo-san on a case.”

I looked at it.

“Already?”

Kirako nodded and I watched as she carefully slid my own sketchbook towards me, a thick graphite pencil rolling slightly on top of the faux-leather cover.

“Could you please come with me?”

Slowly, and with a considerable amount of effort, I picked myself up and followed her to the desk in the far corner, my bones cracking loudly as I moved. We stopped at the table closest to the window, where I’d once spied an ID badge depicting a skinny man with spiky black hair wearing a brown tweed cap low over his eyes, a man who I could only describe as a Sherlock Holmes cosplay enthusiast.

Today, however, the seat was occupied by an enormous mound of empty cardboard snack boxes, the mess of brightly colored packaging looking like the aftermath of my old self going through a months’ worth of snacks. Kirako leaned in and gave the pile a soft poke.

“Ranpo-san? Excuse me, Ranpo-san?”

There was a muffled groan and at once the entire pile shifted. I stumbled back as the empty packages cascaded to the ground in a sweet-smelling waterfall and gawked beside a disturbingly calm Kirako as the dark-haired cosplayer was revealed. As I watched him lift his head from his desk, I got the disturbing feeling that this scene was a familiar one at the Armed Detective Agency. The man straightened up in his seat and stretched his limbs, yawning widely as he did so. One bright green eye slowly opened up and focused on me.

“Hm?”

The green-eyed man squinted at me and reached into his pocket for a pair of thick black spectacles.

“Who are you?”

“Ranpo-san,” Kirako explained gently, “This is Kusunoki Kyou. She’s the new recruit who just passed her Entrance Exam. She’ll be going with you on your newest assignment.”

He looked from me to Kirako and put his head down on his desk.

“I don’t feel like it. I just got back from Hokkaido, Haruno-san. Cut me a break, will you?”

Kirako turned to me with a soft smile.

“This is Edogawa Ranpo. As you can tell, he can be in very high demand, even outside of Yokohama. Ranpo-san is the best detective we have and the main reason we can even call ourselves a detective agency. Even the police frequently come to him for help, like today, for example.”

She waved the folder in the air.

“The police can wait,” Edogawa whined. “I’m tired.”

“Ranpo-san,” Kirako whispered, her voice taking on an urgent, conspiratorial tone. “Kyou-chan here loves sweets as much as you do. In fact, she’s good friends with a local convenience store manager. As a thank you for helping them out, Kyou-chan gets a free box of Kit-Kats whenever a new flavor is released—”

Edogawa perked up in an instant.

“Welcome, new recruit!” he shouted, suddenly bounding out of his chair and all but exploding out of the pile of trash. “You are standing in the presence of the Great Detective, Edogawa Ranpo! There is no case that I can’t solve and no truth that escapes the scrutiny of my eyes! Let’s take a look at you, shall we?”

With a flick of his wrist, he placed his glasses on.

“Special Ability: Ultra Deduction!”

“Ability?!” I exclaimed, taking a step back. “Wait, what are you doing?!”

“Too late!” Edogawa declared, “It’s already working!”

I froze, clutching my notebook to my chest as he slowly looked me up and down through those thick square frames, analyzing every square inch of my being and making me feel like I was being fed through a scanner. It didn’t feel quite as gross as when Dazai had been staring at my butt yesterday but it was still uncomfortable.

“Hmm... Interesting...”

Edogawa took the glasses off.

“You’re an Ability User, aren’t you?”

My jaw dropped.

“What the—?! How did you—??”

Completely ignoring me, he turned to Kirako with a pout.

“I don’t need any cheat codes, Haruno-san. I can solve this case on my own.”

I stared at him.

Cheat codes?

“We know that, Ranpo-san,” Kirako reassured him. “But the fact of it is, Atsushi-kun can’t take you today. He’s still out with Dazai-san (Which god do I pray to so that I don’t have to think about that man one more time today, I thought to myself) and there’s no one else who can take you to the site...”

“Oh, good point.”

Edogawa put his glasses away.

“Very well. Nice to meet you, Kusunoki-kun. Shall we go?”

He was already halfway to the door by the time I found my voice again.

“Eh? Right now??”

“Well, of course, there’s a case to be solved and Kit-Kats to be collected,” Edogawa replied, his hand on the doorknob. “As for your questions, I’ll explain on the way there. Now are you coming or not?”

Kirako gave me an encouraging look and inclined her head towards the door, where Edogawa was staring at me expectantly, or at least appeared to be (I wasn’t entirely sure if his eyes were open or not). When I looked back at my desk, I realized that the seats next to mine were empty—neither Dazai and Kunikida had come in this morning and both were out on jobs. If I left now, there was a good chance I wouldn’t be back for the rest of the day and then I wouldn’t have to have any of the awkward conversations that were sure to follow after yesterday’s fiasco...

I looked back at Kirako and took the file from her.

“Let me go get my stuff.”

***

Kirako had mentioned that Edogawa was really bad with directions. What she should have said was that “The Great Detective” was completely unable to function in normal society once he got outside.

How was it that a grown man (and a Yokohama native no less!) had literally no idea how to use the public transit system? I’d laughed when Edogawa had acted like he didn’t understand how the turnstiles worked, thinking it was all some kind of joke. Unfortunately, I realized the joke was on me the instant the ticket agent rushed out and began desperately trying to free Edogawa from the metal arms, where the man’s poncho had inexplicably gotten stuck. If that wasn’t bad enough, he couldn’t figure out which line to stand in on the escalator, nearly discarded his ticket with the candy wrapper in his pocket and would have walked right onto the departures track if I hadn’t noticed and quickly grabbed him by the arm before disaster struck.

All in all though, it was still better than staying at the Agency and waiting for Dazai to show up with his knowing grin. Or worse, having to look Kunikida in the face after he’d seen me all tangled up with Dazai yesterday...

I let my head roll back in my seat and sighed.

As Edogawa and I swayed back and forth in our shiny plastic chairs, on the train at long last, I tried to push all thoughts of Dazai, Kunikida and the notebook away and instead focused my attention on my sleepy seat-mate. How had Edogawa figured out I was an Ability User with just one glance? Was he just that good a detective, as Kirako said he was? Or maybe it really did have something to do with his glasses.

I stared suspiciously at Edogawa as he napped beside me, his arms crossed behind his head and one corner of his thick black spectacles poking out of his vest. To my annoyance, Edogawa had refused to put them on unless he was deducing something (“Are you kidding me? The glasses are special, Kusunoki-kun, I can’t just put them on whenever!”), leading me to think his navigational problems might be due in part to severe astigmatism. That and a stubborn refusal to read and follow directions.

Noticing my eyes on him at last, Edogawa shifted slightly in his seat and addressed me.

“Something on your mind, Kusunoki-kun?”

“Not really...”

“Hmm? I wonder...”

He took a small, green lollipop out of his pocket, unwrapped it and stuck it in his mouth.

“You’re not thinking about how I was able to deduce you were an Ability User?”

I stiffened, then sighed. Apparently Dazai wasn’t the only one I’d have a hard time fooling.

“Okay, I was,” I admitted, mentally kicking myself for thinking about Dazai again, “But is it really a good idea to talk about it here?”

I gestured around the train car.

“I thought President Fukuzawa asked us not to talk about my Ability in public? What if the Port Mafia’s still looking for me and they overhear...?”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Edogawa said, shifting the lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other. His teeth clicked against the candy as he spoke. “For one, this car’s completely empty and I seriously doubt it’s bugged. No reason to, you know? For another, the Port Mafia’s probably not looking for you right now. If they were...”

He bit down on his lollipop and a resounding crack echoed throughout the car.

“You’d be sitting in a torture chamber somewhere instead of here with me right now.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

“G-good point.”

“So you can relax,” he said, crunching loudly on the rest of his candy, seemingly oblivious to how relaxed I wasn’t now that he’d brought up the Port Mafia. “In any case, I do want to find out more about your Ability before we get to where we’re going so why don’t we talk about it?”

I nodded. But when I opened my mouth to speak, Edogawa raised his hand to stop me.

“Oh, sorry. I meant why don’t I tell you everything I know first and then you can fill in the rest?”

He grinned.

“Wouldn’t want the new recruit thinking Ultra Deduction is some mere parlor trick, now would we? Think of this as the first of many lessons, Kusunoki-kun! The Great Detective, Edogawa Ranpo will be your teacher today!”

As he whipped the glasses back out of his coat and stuck them on his face, I couldn’t help but wonder if he knew that this was technically my second big case at the Agency, making this the second of “many lessons.” As it stood, the person who had first taught me something important while we were on a job together was Kunikida...

Tucking the tips of my fingers below my ribbon, I touched my hand to my chest, where that familiar warmth began creeping back in as I pictured the bespectacled detective. I felt an odd sense of comfort when I thought about him, about his rigid, yet highly dependable nature. He was consistent, respectable, stable, a pillar of strength both literal and metaphorical that anyone in the Agency could rely on and yet somehow patient and kind when he needed to be.

And it didn’t exactly hurt that he was tall, blonde and gorgeous...

I was too tired to notice if he had come in or not this morning, probably forgot to say hello if he had, but if he was gone by the time I’d noticed his absences then he had to be out on an early morning case. Not surprising, given that he was a senior member and so reliable. But I did hope he was able to get enough rest last night and hadn’t lost any sleep over that fiasco with his notebook like I had...

“Kusunoki-kuuun...”

Edogawa snapped his fingers at me and I jolted up in my seat.

“Are you even paying attention?” he grumbled, “I was about to reveal exactly how I figured out you were an Ability User.”

“I’m paying attention!” I exclaimed, flushing in embarrassment as Edogawa stared doubtfully at me.

“Good,” he huffed, “Because the big reveal just isn’t as dramatic the second time you do it. Now then, let me tell you a little about my Ability first.”

He tapped on the corner of his glasses and continued.

“When I put these on, my Ultra Deduction activates, letting me see the truth behind any and all mysteries. It only took a second to figure out your status as an Ability User and a fledgling detective and here’s why. Let’s start with the most obvious.”

I nodded and scooted closer to listen. I was still pretty convinced Edogawa needed those glasses to see more than anything else but now I knew better than to interrupt him when he was clearly excited to show off.

“It’s pretty clear you aren’t one of the office clerks,” he said, gesturing to my clothes. “Because you aren’t dressed like one. You might be around the same age as Haruno-san and the others, but if you’re not wearing that gray skirt and vest, then you’re someone who’s meant to leave the office on official jobs.”

“Right...”

“On that note, Haruno-san wanted you to show me around. That’s something that only trainee detectives like Atsushi-kun are asked to do. And trainee detectives can only get in by taking the Entrance Exam. And the Entrance Exam...”

“Is only given to Ability Users who want to join the Agency,” I slowly pieced together, my eyes widening as the dots connected at last.

Edogawa grinned.

“Very good! As for how your Ability activates...”

He pointed at me.

“It has to be through touch. You have a tendency to hide your hands. When you can’t do that, you hold yourself at a physical distance from others, meaning you’re afraid to get too close to them, even someone like Haruno-san, who you seem to know well (she calls you Kyou-chan after all). We don’t live in a country where it’s common to greet others through things like handshakes or physical touch but you seem to take it much further than that. You’re definitely not a germaphobe judging by the condition of your workstation (I cringed) so I can only conclude that you avoid touching people to prevent activation of your Ability. Now, let’s talk about what your Ability actually is...”

Edogawa paused for dramatic effect and I leaned forward, not wanting to miss a single word. Despite gaining control over my Ability just over a week ago, I still didn’t completely understand the full limits of what I could do, even though I had just used my powers to solve my first case. If Edogawa had been right about everything so far, perhaps he could unlock the truth behind my visions...!

As I waited patiently for him to keep going, Edogawa blinked at me. Finally, he took off his glasses and said, “Uh, actually, Kusunoki-kun, this is the part where you tell me what your Ability does.”

I must’ve looked every bit as disappointed as I felt because Edogawa suddenly scowled and crossed his arms.

“Hey, hey! I’m a detective, not a wizard! I said I needed you to fill in the rest didn’t I? Before you start doubting my Ability, I’m going to deduce one last thing for you.”

Once again, he jabbed his finger at me, his bright green eyes narrowed to slits and his mouth stretched wide in a confident grin.

“Whatever your Ability is, it’s something you wish you didn’t have. You’ve seen things, haven’t you, Kusunoki-kun? You don’t have that air of innocence about you like certain other members of our civilian staff. If I’m going to be honest, I’d say the look in your eyes reminds me a little of Dazai-san when he first started here...”

I stiffened as Edogawa put his hand down, my eyes glued to the black frames once again sticking out of his pocket.

No. Impossible...

The image of the ghoul reappeared in my mind’s eye and I gripped my hands tightly to stop them from shaking. Had Edogawa somehow seen the hollow look in my eyes when he’d put those glasses on?

Just then, we passed into a tunnel.

One by one, the lights embedded into the ceiling above us flickered to life, casting the entire train in a vaguely chartreuse sheen as we passed through the darkness. There was a sickly green hue to Edogawa’s skin and as I looked away from him, I found myself slowly turning to the windows, with the sound of the train roaring loudly in my ears...

...where I saw a pale, fearful-looking young woman, with short dark hair and large burgundy eyes. There were no bloody tears and no bottomless pupils staring back at me from the darkened glass.

Just the ordinary reflection of a normal girl.

Suppressing a shudder, I turned away from the window and slumped back against the plastic seats.

“Edogawa-san...?”

He perked up.

“You’ve been right about everything else so far but you’re wrong about one thing.”

I felt my features twist into a disapproving scowl.

“I’m not like Dazai.”

I fell silent as Edogawa studied me, his gaze lingering forebodingly on my eyes.

“If you say so, Kusunoki-kun,” he said slowly. “If you say so...”

He fished another lollipop out of his pocket, a cherry-red one, and offered it to me.

“Here. Some brain fuel for the case. I believe Haruno-san said you liked sweets too.”

As I took the piece of candy from him, Edogawa smiled.

“And please, call me Ranpo. Everyone does. Tell me more about your Ability.”

***

“Woah...”

Edogawa turned and shot me a curious look as I paused at the street corner, gawking at our destination up ahead.

“First time seeing a burned building, Kusunoki-kun?”

I shook my head no and kept moving, jogging a little to catch up with Edogawa as he continued on towards the site. I’d seen burned structures before, just not anything quite like this.

Just ahead of us on the next street over were the charred, blackened remains of what used to be a small two-story home. The entire thing had been reduced to nothing more than ash and badly burned support beams and from a distance, it looked less like a real house and more like a charcoal outline someone had scrawled over the street. As we approached, I spotted several distinct bands of vivid yellow police tape stretched across the base of the building. There were a few officers scattered throughout the site, probably stationed there to keep civilians away and as we got closer, one of them, a tall, graying man in a blue blazer, looked up from his clipboard and waved to Edogawa.

“Edogawa-san! You’re here early.”

“Early?” I exclaimed, quickly turning from him to Edogawa in shock.

After we’d left the train station, “The Great Detective” had wandered off yet again and this time, he’d managed to actually get on a bus... going back in the direction we’d just come from! I’d spent so much time chasing him down and trying to get him to this badly burned house that I would’ve considered it a miracle if we’d made it before noon today. As Edogawa and the man in the blazer chatted away, I couldn’t help wondering what Kunikida would have to say about this once he’d read my report.

So much for thinking I could impress him by being punctual...

As I glanced down at my phone, wincing slightly when I saw the time, it suddenly rang in my hand.

I jumped, almost dropping the thing in my rush to press the answer button. I knew I was being paranoid but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Kunikida had somehow figured out I’d messed up already and had suddenly decided to call and check in on me.

“H-hello?” I ventured, praying I would magically think of the perfect excuse and escape the inevitable lecture that was sure to come.

“Kusunoki-kun! You actually picked up!” a very familiar voice chirped, sounding pleasantly surprised.

My relief at the call not being from Kunikida vanished as quickly as it appeared.

“Dazai-san...”

I sighed and put my hand over my face.

“What’s going on? Why are you calling me while I’m in the middle of a case?”

“Oh, so that’s where you went.”

Dazai’s voice was fuzzy with static.

“I just wanted to see if you got the rest of my texts last night.”

I grew quiet, trying to figure out if it would be better to lie to him or just hang up when Dazai suddenly snorted and said, “I’m kidding. I know you got them. You’re trying to think of some way to trick me, aren’t you?”

“I am not!” I shouted into the receiver, flushing scarlet when Dazai started laughing.

“There’s no need to sound so embarrassed! I think it’s cute that you’re trying so hard. But anyway, Kusunoki-kun, I need to tell you something—”

“Kusunoki-kuuuun!”

Edogawa was calling out to me from the front of the house, where he was standing next to the graying detective, waving his arm in the air.

“Come here! I need to introduce you to the person leading the case!”

“I’ll be right there!” I shouted back.

Turned back to the receiver, glaring at it as if I were glaring at Dazai himself, I all but crushed the phone in my hand as I spat out my response.

“Not now!”

I snapped my phone shut and shoved it back into my bag.

“This is Hatta Shotarou,” Edogawa said, gesturing to the man in the blazer as I hurried to join them. “He’s the one who requested my help today.”

“Nice to meet you.”

I bowed.

“I’m Kusunoki Kyou. I’ll be assisting Edogawa—I mean, Ranpo-san today.”

“Pleased to meet you, Kusunoki-kun.” Detective Hatta smiled. “I’d like to commend you for getting Edogawa-san here so quickly. We weren’t expecting you for at least another thirty minutes.”

My smile suddenly felt stiff.

“You what?”

“We’ve gotten so used to Edogawa-san getting lost and coming late that we’ve gotten into the habit of giving the Agency an extra hour to bring him to the appointed location,” Hatta elaborated as my smile went from being stiff to twitchy. “You’re doing pretty well for your first time assisting him. Now then, please come with me. We should get you both down to the basement before the press shows up.”

“The basement?” I repeated, surprised. “There’s a basement?”

Hatta nodded.

“Maybe I should be calling it a storage cellar instead. I know it’s rather unusual to have one, especially in a place like Yokohama, but the Ito’s had a small side business. They make their own pickles—been doing so for the past twenty years, from what we’ve found—and when their business grew, they had a cellar installed underneath the house.”

He took us around the side of the house and to the back, where I saw what looked like two blackened squares embedded into the scorched ground, next to a pile of burned trash. It was a pair of wooden doors, both badly burned, but not so much that I couldn’t make out the sets of handprints amidst the ash and soot. Two thin diagonal lines of police tape stretched from the corners in a giant “X,” and on the ground in front of the two doors was a broken lock and chain.

“Did someone break in?” I asked, pointing to the lock.

Hatta shook his head.

“We did that when we checked the basement and I’m glad we did.”

His mouth set into a firm line.

“We found a body down there.”

I froze.

“What?”

“A body inside a cellar that was locked from the outside?” Edogawa grinned. “Classic.”

“Who are they? How did they get in? What were they even doing there?” I sputtered as Edogawa’s hand descended upon my shoulder.

“That’s why we’re here,” he said, smirking. “Or rather...”

He flicked out his glasses.

“That’s why I’m here. Open the doors, Hatta-san.”

As if summoned by his words, a sudden gust of wind rushed through the site. Edogawa’s brown cape and pastel tie flapped madly in the wind and I pushed my hands over my skirt to keep it from flipping up.

“Special Ability: Ultra Deduction.”

He slowly settled the glasses on his nose and at once, his emerald-green eyes sharpened, rapidly flicking about the scene as he took in every piece of information he could find. When he turned to me, his smile was nothing short of victorious.

“Come on, Kusunoki-kun. The game is afoot.”

[poptod]

Decay (Elliot Alderson x Reader)

Description: There’s not really a logical way of dealing with being stuck in a fantasy world with no idea how you got there and no way to get back. Luckily, Elliot gets an annoyingly helpful sidekick. 

Notes: so heres that fantasy fic i talked about. at least the first part. i really like it but it’s (i’ll acknowledge it) pretty badly written and just... an out of the ballpark idea in a not good way. I should also warn that I still have not watched Mr. Robot so the characterization will probably be a little OOC. gender neutral but you DO have a name. 

If people don’t like this, I will be removing it and won’t update it, though I will spend a decent amount of time finishing the story, even if it won’t be posted anywhere. Only because I personally really like writing it. 

Word count: 3.6k

Chapter One

Through a strangled groan he brought himself to consciousness, warm light burning through his eyelids as he attempted to open them. Beneath his fingertips leaves and needles crinkled, pressed into the dark earth as he curled his fingers inward, forming fists against the forest floor. The sickening spinning of the world began to slow, and the shadow blotting out a cloudy sky took sharper form. For a moment he wasn't sure if he was alive anymore - maybe that was the dull pain thudding all throughout his body. But something poked him, not gently but not harshly, and though his eyes begged to be closed again, he kept them open.

"Oh so - no... wait, there you are. I think. Hello? Is anyone in there?"

Now he really wanted to close his eyes. A small groan even left him, which did nothing for the silence he craved, as the voice began to talk even louder.

"I can see you breathing. You should be thankful, other people would've just eaten you," came a nasally voice, soft and high. The words drove a spike of anxiety through his heart, and with that his eyes flew open, coming face-to-face with a smile. He jumped back, sitting up as you stared at him.

"Who are you," he asked in a monotone voice, unable to look away. There was a sort of... hobbit-ish look about you, what with the long, earthy robes and the no shoes. A hat sat upon your head, the rim fluffy white and the body brown, dipping down to your shoulders, where a hood lay. Despite your rather large choice of clothing, you were somehow small, indicated only by the belt wrapped around your waist, announcing your actual size. Your vest was green, pine green to match the brown button down. Up and down your bare skin bandages were tied, some brown and red and others clean - at the little visible skin you had, it was clear it was scarred and scabbed.

"My name is Djano!" You said, grasping his hand and pulling him further up. Immediately he shook himself free, still alarmed by this apparent Djano. Tilting your head curiously, you asked, "what's your name, then?"

"... Elliot," he answered slowly, still unable to tear his eyes away from the sight. Perhaps you were an odd cosplayer, but that still wouldn't explain his random appearance in a forest, and you were horribly short for someone who didn't have dwarfism.

"Well then, Elliot," you said, leaning away with a smile, "it's nice to meet you. Where do you hail from?"

"I..." he looked away, wondering what he could say. "New York?"

"Never heard of it. Is it nice there?"

What he wanted to say was 'how do you not know what New York is,' but instead what he said was, "not really."

"I see why you left. But how'd you end up like this?"

"Like... what?"

"This," you gestured vaguely to his persons, and as he looked down he found nothing wrong. His usual sweatshirt and pants. He even had his shoes.

"There's... wh.. this is what I normally wear," he stuttered, his voice growing quiet when confusion spread across your face.

"Must be cold in the winds," you said, poking him with a large walking stick you carried, the carved golden tip jabbing his stomach. Like netted honey that glowed in sunlight, a crystalline ball encircled the top of your staff, a small flower growing right beneath it.

As he looked back at you, your eyes seemed abnormally large. Not enough to draw attention - only enough to leave questions, and to be fair, he had plenty to begin with. Something about where he was was unnatural, not just your eyes either. The trees were a little too large, a little too lively, the wind a little too shrill - maybe this was all a bad trip. His quick excuse crumbled apart when you poked him again and there was a clear soreness in his waist. Either way, he would have to fight his way back to consciousness; his brain had a habit of wanting to escape his body.

"Listen, um, kid, I don't.. I don't know where I am and you're not really helping," he said with a grunt as he stood, brushing his pants off, the seeds and pines falling down. You shot up to stand beside him, following him when he began to walk in a random direction. In front of him mountains towered, the cliffs a little too jagged in a too-blue sky.

"I'm not a child. And I can be helpful. Hey," you poked his side again, this time with a stubby finger, "I'm older than you, I bet."

He looked you up and down.

"No you aren't."

"I am! You're a human, right? Humans have a pretty short lifespan, most of them that I've met, that is," you said confidently, a spark that sickened him. This had to be a bad trip. No one in real life would say something like that with so much confidence. Then again, there were some really weird people on the internet that he wouldn't put it past... and there were some undeniably strange happenings. Hallucination or not, he would have to deal with this.

"Can you just tell me where I am?" He asked impatiently, turning to face you with clenched fingers.

"We're in the Trollbear forest. Wow," you looked him up and down judgingly, not entirely unlike the way he'd done to you just moments earlier, "you must've really gotten mixed up."

"Trollbear?" He questioned, the name cheesily fantastical in a way he could never bring himself to appreciate.

"Yes. If you'd like I could tell you about them, since you seem to be pretty forgetful," you offered, sweetly helpful, but he still could not bring himself to be serious.

"No," he said firmly. "I just need to find my way back to my home. Since I can't wake up." He mumbled the last part under his breath. Turning back around, he faced a long forest, and headed off in the opposite direction of the mountains.

"I've got a map. If you can remember where New Orc is, I might be able to help you," you suggested, already digging into your bag. Irritated with your voice and your insistent offers to help him, he stopped walking and turned to you, the words losing their voice as he saw your staff floating in mid-air.

"Oh... um," he tried to say, at a loss for what to say, and now having no excuse to be rude to you anymore.

"See here," you said, grabbing four small stones from your bag and placing them on separate parts of your map, which was strangely circular. "We're right here," you pointed to a green part of the map, the top of a large continent, "in Trollbear. Do you have any general idea as to what land form your home is on?"

"Um..." he blinked several times, wondering what he could say. "It's... near an ocean."

This had to be a really bad trip.

"Warm or cold weather?"

His eyes darted from the map to you, your innocent and gullible face and your slightly-too-large eyes, and found himself unable to lie.

"I, um... I don't think it's on this map," he mumbled, wishing a quieter tone would make you understand what he meant.

"So you're an unearthly? Or I suppose you could be a dwelver," you said, stroking your chin thoughtfully.

"I don't know what those are," he blurted out. Surprisingly, you withheld judgment.

"An unearthly is someone who doesn't belong to the land. They belong somewhere far away, usually in the skies, but there's tell of other lands across the seas. Dwelvers live below the ground," you explained, using a variety of hand gestures that meant very little to him, and might've only confused him further had he been paying attention to them.

"I guess unearthly qualifies better," he said, feeling all the while like the only 'strange' thing in this land.

"Good news and bad news then," you said as you folded your map up, tucking both the stones and the paper back into your bag. He waited for you to continue, but you did not, standing beside him and saying absolutely nothing.

"... what's the bad news?" He asked, hesitant to think he even wanted to know.

"There's pretty much no way for you to get home," you said cheerfully, smiling bright as your hands clasped together. His eyes darted to you and to the trees as he wondered how in the hell you could be so chipper.

"And the good news?"

"I found you! Wouldn't've been good if you were here after dark, all alone, no idea as to where you are," you tutted, shaking your head as though he'd made a childish mistake.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked as a sudden fear pulsed through him, the sun touching the tips of distant mountains.

"There's a reason it's called Trollbear forest," you told him like a secret, leaning in slightly closer as the two of you walked side by side. He took a small step away from you. "Trollbears aren't something to be trifled with. We're going to die if we don't make it into the mountains."

"What?" The threat of death was in itself alarming, but the idea of a creature called a trollbear was much more so. Then a thought crossed his mind - why would you be telling the truth? and so he asked, "why should I even trust you?"

"You can trust me or the trollbears."

"They might not even exist."

"Fair point, but I can't do much to you. You're gonna let yourself be scared of someone half your height?"

You came up to a little above his elbow, but half was about right. And you had a point, but he saw you do some sort of magic with the staff you carried, some sort of levitation, and things were beginning to feel a tad overwhelming. He couldn't blame himself - well, he could, and he did, but he shouldn't have. Just stay together, he told himself, and he promised he'd get through it. There was little to do but live in the moment, and for the moment as annoying as you were you were his only source of information, and thus his only safety. So he had to trust you, unfortunately.

Looking down at you, his gaze torn from the sharp cliffs of the mountains, you looked the positive image of a forest dweller. Maybe you were a wizard, he mused, before thinking I wouldn't get lucky enough to meet a wizard. He decided you were more likely a dwarf-like creature.

"Tell me about them," he asked in a low voice, quiet and only mildly irritated. Immediately you brightened even further (if that was possible), and began a spiel that filled the time.

"I've only ever met one of them, a runaway from their pack, something like that - they're all rather solitary creatures when it comes to meeting others and new people. Probably adds to their aggressiveness... anyways. This one was a really interesting story, because trollbears rarely break from their family if ever, so you have to have a really good reason for it since you can't ever return. At least that's what they said, so if you trust their word, that's how it is."

You had a complicated way of speaking that was, to be honest, a little hard to follow, but he managed. Half ignoring you and half listening, he absorbed the bare minimum of the information you gave. Throughout the one-sided conversation he plucked a few snippets of importance; they were large, predatory, and a hellish mixture between troll and bear, which he had already assumed. They came out at night, and took patrolling their perimeters to the extreme - death to any stranger in their territory. Other trollbears included.

"Wait," he paused you mid sentence, "if it’s so dangerous, why are you here?"

"Oh," you smiled brilliantly, clicking your tongue and digging into a side pocket in your jacket, more of a gaping hole than a pocket. "Mushrooms."

"... mushrooms," he clarified, knowing that he shouldn't've been shocked at that point.

"Well not just mushrooms," you said with a small laugh, tucking them away. "I double my trips up, makes it much more efficient. I'm here for the mushrooms, but I was where I was for the seashells, and I was going to go to the cliffs for ocean slate, but now I'm on my way to the mountains, which have loads of Kereny feathers which go for a lot in Eiyne."

"I didn't understand half those words," he told you bluntly, to which you just shrugged.

"Learn or die, old man," you said with a shrug.

"I have a feeling I'm going to dislike you a lot," he gritted out, staring pointedly ahead as he tried desperately to ignore you.

"That's alright. Either way you still need me, and I like having travel friends."

Side by side the two of you continued onwards, you prattling about the various things which were commonplace in your world, most of them a completely foreign concept to him. If he cared he might've understood, but he didn't, and thus he remained in the mystery of where am I, who is this, am I safe, an endless cycle of questions and no answers, at least none that he fully processed. Instead he was caught up in his own thoughts, watching the grey mountains grow slowly closer with each step he took. As he looked up, the sky remained unchanged - a blue a little too vibrant. Overhead birds flew circles around them, perhaps waiting for their remains, should they encounter a trollbear.

"- but that's enough about me. Where are you from? What's it like there?" You said, the ending of your spiel marking a moment he would need to concentrate on conversation. He stayed silent for a good long while, wondering how he could explain the nuances of a modern world, and knowing his silence would probably kickstart your disinterest in him. Unfortunately for him, it was one of those times where the other person was completely understanding and waited patiently for his reply.

"It's cold and there's a lot of people," he finally answered, almost too quiet, but you managed to hear.

You began to reply, but it was cut short by you almost stumbling off a cliff. Before you could even think to scream he grabbed you by the collar, pulling you backwards till your back collided with the ground, and he looked at you, shocked.

"How the hell are you still alive?" He asked seething, judging your clear inability to navigate the woods.

"A lot of luck and friends like you," you answered, too chipper for a question aiming to be cruel.

"I'm not your friend."

"No, I'm not your friend. You're mine though. I can choose who is my friend but I can't choose who thinks of me as a friend. You know, one time," you stood up and looked down the wide ravine, "there was this rather annoying fella who just wouldn't shut up and he told me that we were friends, but I didn't want him to be my friend. So he told me that I would be his friend but he wouldn't be mine. I ended up getting into a fistfight with him in a birds' nest."

"Can you just shut up? We're still in the fucking forest and the sun's setting, I think we've got more important things to deal with than your past grievances," he hissed, dragging you away from the cliff's edge to speak to you more directly, looking you in the eye as he essentially insulted you.

"Don't worry, I've got it under control!" You said with wide eyes, probably the first time you ever seemed even remotely hurt by him.

As you spoke the words the ground began to shift, rumbling from somewhere deep in the earth, and this was the only time he ever saw fear in your eyes. Your grip tightened around your staff as your eyes grew to the size of your ears (which were rather large), and your stance took on a much steadier hold.

"On second thought, we need to go now," you stammered, going to the cliff edge and teetering there, before grabbing a large rope out of a hidden bag and tying it to a nearby tree.

"What are you doing?" He asked, confused as to why an earthquake would upset you so drastically.

"The sun's setting, we need to go. Fortunately," you began to swing the other end of the rope around, "mountains should be on the other side of this. I don't think that area belongs to any tribe, so we should be safe, but you should get your knife out just in case."

"My knife?" He made to stand beside you, watching with furrowed brow as you lassoed onto a large tree branch, tightening it until the knot would never break.

"Don't tell me you haven't got a knife," you said with a grunt, tightening the rope one last time until you grabbed it. Holding on with both hands, you dangled over the ravine, slowly moving towards the other side.

"What the -"

You'd used levitation before. He saw that, it had to be real, so why use a rope? His heart beat harsh in his chest as he imagined dropping his weak hold on the rope, plummeting down into the current below.

"Come on, you want to get eaten? I think not," you said, somehow still humorous in what was something Elliot would categorize as a dire emergency.

"Can't - can't you just levitate? I saw you doing it earlier, that - that seems safer," he said hesitantly, his eyes bulging as he watched your grip almost loosen.

"I can't levitate what I can't lift and trust me, I can't lift you," you said, now at the other side. With a great heave you pulled yourself up, standing at the other edge, waiting for him to move.

He stepped forward, heart racing as his feet began to numb. Though he knew what to do, he questioned if he could bring himself to do it, or if he even wanted to - maybe if he died, he'd wake up. As the sun set behind the mountains the rumbling of the earth stopped, and with one last glance behind him and one to your encouraging smile, he grabbed the rope, and let himself dangle.

This is the stupidest thing I've ever done, he thought to himself, ignoring the various other stupid things he'd done in his lifetime. With as much care as he could muster he made his way across, the burn in his arms stretching him beyond belief. Throughout his little venture he did not look down, courtesy of your advice, and at the end you grabbed his hand and helped him up.

"You know, I can't actually levitate things," you said, panting slightly at the exertion. With your hand, you untangled the knot on the other side, the rope drifting serenely over till you had both ends in your bag. "I just have this ring. It's a magician's ring, they're a bit of a novelty and can't do much, but it's fun to have anyway. One of my friends gave it to me when she visited Chester."

"Right," he mumbled, trying to catch his breath.

"Are you alright?" You asked, tilting your head curiously as you scrutinized him.

"I'm fine, I just - it's... it's a lot to take in," he answered quietly.

"I understand. We can settle at the base of the mountains, I'll make you some tea. It's sort of special tea, it's supposed to calm you down - it certainly works on me," you said with your always-present smile, leading him onwards.

Besides your stature, there was something off about you - your stride too long, your step too lively, but he knew not to be suspicious of you. You were nothing if not innocent, a characteristic he simply wasn't accustomed to.

Maybe he needed to start being nicer to you.

+

It's cold, but not unbearably so - her jacket keeps her warm anyway, and as she bundles the soft material in her hands, she thanks her past self for remembering to wear it. The fingerless wool mittens she sports help as well, despite how itchy they are. Foot bouncing up and down, she bites into her lip, waiting for any news. Any news at all.

The world doesn't feel quite real. Not to her, in the least; there's people outside, people on the sidewalks talking on their phones, holding hands with their friends, carrying luggage and bags, and it's one of those moments where you can't help but imagine every person's life. Maybe it will make her feel better, to put herself into someone else's life - if only for a moment. Only a temporary solace. But it's better to face your own reality than lie in someone else's, and she knows this, and she grinds her teeth and bites her cheek and digs her nails into her legs. Stay grounded, she tells herself, unable to speak the words aloud, fearful any movement will bring an untimely end.

It's the first time Elliot has looked in any way peaceful. The tightness in his muscles is gone, but the marks of their long-lasting stress remain, streaks and tiny lines around his eyes and mouth. The beeping of the heart monitor keeps its steady pace, and for a single moment she convinces herself maybe everything will be alright. Maybe Elliot won't overdose again, maybe he'll get better, maybe he'll finally take care of himself, but it's useless hope. She knows it’s useless hope, but still she prays it isn’t. 

"Come back to us, Elliot."

[renegadeagitator-blog]

Setting Headcanons

So. Halcyon Daze lives on a not-necessarily-Epilogue-compatible alternate universe of Earth C. I’m going to explore that a lil bit here.

We start with a version of Earth which was affected by a series of alien-invasion induced environmental disasters such as global warming and melted ice caps. It was an ocean-logged apocalypse with skeletons of old Earth life and architecture.

Some accelerated space time later due to godly intervention, the ocean has had time to recede. Ice caps reform. SALT AND FOSSILS AND RUINS, EVERYWHERE.

No idea how the absence of a sun would affect this realistically, but we’ll just handwave that part since it’s not like anyone else has thought about it, either.

Continents have drifted to more closely resemble the supercontinent Pangea Proxima than the Earth continent configuration we’re familiar with. Not entirely sure how the terrain and climate would look yet, but I’ll have to keep that in mind when I separate the four “Kingdoms” in a map-draft.

For the non-Homestucks, there’s four main sentient species we’re dealing with here: Humans, Trolls, Carapacians, and Consorts. Each have their own “Kingdoms”, but there’s also places that have a lot of interspecies populations. I’m not a wiki. I’m sorry.

Also, I’m collectively calling the eight humans who won sBurb and achieved God Tier the Pantheon in this universe. They divide into two groups of four, Alphas and Betas, based on the universe iterations they’re actually from. The Alphas’ Earth formed the basis of Earth C. Daze is tangentially associated with the Alphas, but it’s a Strained relationship.

Given how anti-monarchy the Mayor, a major founding Carapacian of the new planet, was, I think “Kingdom” is an artifact term that has more to do with how Carapacians are chess-people and they were the ones raising everyone else for a while than anything to do with having an actual King. Naming privileges go to the first people able to put syllables together, imagine that?

Daze lives in a metropolitan city deep in the heart of the Troll Kingdom. It’s not the capitol or anything like that, since Daze is trying to avoid anywhere Too Central in his determination to avoid the Pantheon. Luckily, the Alphas don’t have any direct ties to Troll society, so he’s able to manage that pretty easily.

Because it’s my AU, my rules, I like to think this particular city is on the shore of one of the major seas. It’s an IT and mechanical industrial hub, because Daze would be drawn to those kind of places for his own needs. Maybe a Troll version of Seattle meets San Francisco. Now named Current Point.

I can take as much aesthetic inspiration from Blade Runner and Neuromancer and Trollify it as much as I want. And no one can stop me. Mwahaha.

On that note, while there is some works in robotics and developments in artificial intelligence, it hasn’t quite taken off to the point that AI of Daze’s sophistication are anything like common. Especially since the process that created him is an ethical nightmare not easily replicated in a vacuum.

It’s more like battle bots or personal aides or Baymax-like health droids. 

Troll tech tends to run closer along the line of bioaugmentation, anyway, rather than conventional circuits and robotics. 

When Daze ambles about in his one of his robo-bodies, people tend to just think he’s a very sophisticated drone rather than an autonomous being. Or a weird cosplayer. He’s not so much discriminated against as he’s a very invisible minority.

But hey, he’s got an eternity to change that at his own pace, right?

That’s enough broad strokes for now, but feel free to send me some anons if you wanna ask me questions. Goodness knows I’m going to have a lot of fun building this all to make sense anyway.

[teal-crown]

Marinette Update! And Mitty dev-talks!

Hello my friends! Mitt is here with yet another post! Did you miss me? Probably not because tumblr is dead. And I’ve been pretty active on twitter and twitch. lalalala

I’ll be very honest in this post about my feelings and such.

We’ll be talking about the game’s progress, what I’ve been up to, and I’ll also discuss some things regarding the Teal Crown blog.

It’s kind of a personal post! So grab your cookies and let’s talk <3

So, there was a need to make a post like this since I’ve been feeling really weird towards posting progress updates here on tumblr for a few months now.

Updating whoever is still around here on the game and on better ways to follow it’s progress, the developers, and overall what we will do from now on is something I should’ve done a long time ago! aaaa

I also kind of want to see what the reaction to this post is. We are almost at 1000 followers, yet I’m afraid almost everyone is not active anymore, and I’m not sure on who still remembers this blog ahaha. Let’s consider this post a test, too! >w<

Honestly, this is a very comfy place to post, Tumblr’s layout for making posts and everything is still one of the best around for me, however, I’ve been feeling the need to write long and well articulated posts about the progress of the game but for some reason that need has also been draining me quite a bit here even though I do really want to make these posts.

It’s really weird.

I will try my best to post more progress updates here from time to time, but I want to try different ways to let the message across.

It feels like this is supposed to be a blog for the team, but I still keep it very personal like when I started it. I believe that’s my mistake!

That’s the main reason I’ve been getting discouraged from making those personal long dev talk posts by myself.

I’ve thought about moving personal development updates to my Youtube, and that’s probably what I will do in the near future!

I realized that video form is better for this in one of my last streams where I was working on busts for the game. I talked about some insights, feelings, and direction updates. It felt more natural and personal, and I think it’s the next right step to follow.

I’d like to keep a blog for more professional and straight forward updates. I’m not sure, but I’ll probably move out of tumblr and branch out! It’s scary but...

Let’s do this together.

Also, I’m sorry for missing some asks from months ago, I felt like I needed to take a break to get my mind straight on what I want this blog to be. I’ll be answering them soon!

As of right now, the most personal and accurate way to know what’s going on with the development, is to go to our Discord, and poke us there.

We are very close to finishing Marinette’s demo. It’s all mostly done, and I’ve been polishing, adding busts and fixing bugs and some other stuff.

But I want to personally talk with you guys about how I’ve been feeling about it too, as the main developer and artist for the game.

The demo is supposed to have already been done a few months ago, however, I really want to vent to you all that the fact that we are so close to it it’s been making me a mess ahaha

I feel like I’m so proud of it, but the release has been stressing me out a little. I’m scared. I shouldn’t be, but I am!

This stress has been leading me to avoid programming at all, since doing that would mean finishing the game’s demo(?)

Don’t get me wrong, I AM excited! A whole lot!!

But I’m also scared of the reception and everything.

What if it passes completely under the radar and I feel like no one else is as passionate about it? I don’t want to disappoint my team members either...

But then I realize that finishing it is so much more important, and I’m sure there are people that are excited and have been expressing their support time and time again! There’s nothing to worry about... But the thought of indiference kind of agonizes me. I’m scared of having expectations, but it’s innevitable.

This thought has been flowing through my head since I released my short comic. I felt like I worked so hard on it, but I didn’t market it enough. Which leads me to my next point.

I feel like I need to invest a little more into getting the word about the game out there a little more! I’m still quite inexperienced, and don’t know much about how to market a game and get people interested, but it’s important for me as an artist too. I feel like it’s something I have to prove to myself in a way.

I’ll be going to university this year, and I’m unsure on how long it’ll take to finish the whole game. But it’s such a great project that I’m so passionate about finishing.

Because of this, I have been thinking and decided that if the reception of the demo is great enough, I’ll be investing more than my personal time into finishing the game. 

The project is really ambitious, and even though I can tackle it in due time, like I’ve been doing for the demo, if I want it to actually come out this decade, I MUST let go of the thought that I have to do everything myself.

We have a team. Yet, although there are writers, composers and artists to help with concepting, I’m still doing the in-game art and programming. Which would be fine, If I weren’t such a perfectionist in both. I love having the in-game assets mostly done by myself, and I don’t think I can give that up.

However, I feel like I have to give up on doing all the programming by myself.

With this, I mean that after the demo is released, I’ll be seeking someone to work with and program the game with. I’m not sure on where to look, or how to do this, but I wanted to get this word out there. I’ll be thankfull if anyone points me in the right direction.

I’ve also been trying to juggle the game and my own career as an artist, so it’s been quite a fun ride!

Now, Finally...

YES!! MOSTLY DONE!!!

The whole demo is fully playable.

We’ll be entering beta testing when I’m done polishing. I don’t know how long this will take, but I’m trying to tackle a little every day, and with the summer holidays coming, I will probably be done with it this year.

Keep in mind, the demo is quite long!

During the Beta testing phase I will probably start working more towards marketing and building hype somehow.

All that’s left for me to do is polishing some visuals(like adding busts, some sprites for background characters, tutorial and maybe an extra room for the developers), adding some sound effects and missing dialogue which is already written ( as well as flavour text ™ ) and fixing bugs.

As I’ve already said before, for more consistent updates, while I’m deciding the future of this blog, feel free to poke our Discord, my Twitter, or talking to me live on Twitch.

TO FINISH OFF, SUPPORT THE OTHER TEAM MEMBERS

I also feel the need to shout out everyone that’s been helping so far!

You can check out everyone in the Team section of the blog, but I wanna shout them out in this post too, even though some of them don’t have links, but you can poke most of us on discord! (If you guys want me to add different links let me know!)

This is my personal thanks to all of you for putting up with me for so long!

So here goes:

Mitty - That’s me! Hello!!

The3rdLetter - Amazing friend and main composer and writer! He is really amazing, so support him pls!

Luccinia - Super amazing artist that’s been helping with concept arts! Sadly I don’t have a link for her stuff, take my word for it, she’s awesome!

Lyco - Wholesome traditional artist and cosplayer <3 <3

CodeBreakerBlue - Sad fish. Chill dood. Helps with great soundtracks and writing as well!!!!!!!!

Ṟ̶̡͙̮̞̪͋̊̃̕͝͠ǐ̵̟̤͛́͌̈́̊̐͝ņ̸̛̤͈͈̱̹̜̈̋̃ ̷̗͙̣͜͠-̴̘̺̼̖̘̲̙̺͒̀̈́̈́͆̃ ̶̡̜̼͉̙͕̦͔͂̐̌̾͊Ṉ̴̛̜̯͋͗̐͑̇́͐͝<̶̼̈́̌̾ǫ̵̧̞̞͔̤̤̣͕͕͌̋t̶̛̛̪̪̘͆̏̄̑̀ ̶̹̰̳̑̂̄̈̈͘F̷̣̥̘̣͓̥̝̘͘Ọ̸̢̯̪̱̩̞̠̯͖͆͗́̀̓̎̉ų̸͙͔̳̾̓͐͘͝n̸̢̤̦̼̠̼͍̐̓͒͆̈́͜«̴̭͉͖̋͛̔͛̕͠͝d̵̲̥̯̣̯̃͌̈́̔̃̇͠

Bruno - Great composer!!! Super kind and hardworking, please support him, as he has worked on other projects too!

Miku - PRECIOUS!!! ART!!! Amazing artstyle!!! One of the prettiest I’ve ever seen!

Mia - Mitty’s personal pillow.

Moca - Mitty’s personal bully as of now.

Dotto, SktchB00kRose - Amazingly talented voice actors!!!

PinkPlumeria - Writing reviewer!!! Sweet as hecc and mom of the team!

Neve/Nemu - Super sweet. Super creative. Super hardworking and passionate. I admire Nemu, and some of the concept art for coolest stuff is by her! PLS SUPPORT!!

Prifurin - Super duper creative as well!!! Amazing music tracks, gorgeous and thoughtful cool concept art too!!!

  Ending note

Thank you so much If you’ve stuck around this long, we really appreciate it. We hope to bring a great game for everyone to enjoy!

Working on this game has definetely helped me become a better artist and person, I’ve learned a bunch of things, and hope you guys stick around to see us grow and create interesting content.

We really appreciate all the support,

Mitt out! <3

[spicy-ryls]

Ranty TROS stuff below. I wrote this on and off days so it might sound disconnected but yeah. Sorry it’s kinda long and my spelling and grammar might not be the best but I just wanted to let my feelings out.

I’m still trying to accept this movie. I watched it on the night of 19 December, the premier date for Malaysia, and I still remember my visceral feeling towards this movie. I remember feeling so empty, baffled, sad and shocked, almost like I just lost a relative or one of my cats, and I’ve experienced that multiple times in my life and it sucks.

Sometimes I think, how could I be so attached to this trilogy? I’ve literally spent so much energy defending TLJ and the ST from the backlash in the local fandom to the point where I couldn’t stand it anymore and I removed myself from the local fanbase as much as I could. But I’ve never felt so betrayed and almost embarassed that I was so invested into it.

I never grew up with Star Wars. Instead, I started watching TFA while I was in that age period between 19-20. I was a little shit and I was still adjsuting to adulthood, so it pretty much was almost like in the process of being born again as an adult. At the time I was making a series of webcomics under the title ‘Gods Among Men’ and I was pretty much drawing almost exclusively Hades/Persephone stuff and I was drawing Hades as this typical tall, dark & handsome guy. At some point, my friends and I just joked at how much I loved that trope that’s it’s like my type in fictional guys, and yes I still love it.

So my friends just said to me “hey, watch the new Star Wars, you’ll love it!”

And I was HOOKED.

I got so into it. I watched all of the other movies, even the Christmas Special. And I loved the character of Kylo Ren so much. Initially I wasn’t instantly into Reylo. But after some fanart or fanfic or two I fell down the rabbit hole of this ship that I loved so much and the two characters of Rey and Kylo/Ben whom I had such a strong connection to.

Q4 of 2017 was the best year for me as a fan of this franchise. I was so excited for TLJ. I was super involved in a lot of local Star Wars related stuff and at that point people just knew me as “That Rey (cosplayer) who liked Reylo and Kylo Ren a lot”. I had made many friends and acquaintances over the year. And then TLJ came.

And the community was divided.

A lot of male fans I knew were so enraged by the movie. “TLJ ruined my childhood!!” they shouted on their facebook wall. “RJ and KK ruined Star Wars” they yelled. It just cemented the Star Wars Fanboy trope so badly that it was laughable that grown men 3 times my age with family AND KIDS were yelling about it for TWO WHOLE YEARS and because I was the one publicly championing the ST, all they talked about to me was about how much they hated it, and it’s still brought on in passing conversation to this day. I hated having to meet these people at events because my encounters are always unpleasant.

Time passed. The Reylo community was prosperous and it really was a golden age of content. We were excited to see how the ending of a saga was going to be, with a definitive Ben Solo redemption and Reylo being canon. And then came the announcement of JJ returning to direct Episode IX. I instantly had a gut feeling that it was not gonna be good, but I will hold my trust to him since he directed TFA. BOY I WAS WRONG.

The TROS panel at SWCC ended in a somewhat hopeful note. Later in the year, interviews were being published, and in the beginning it was all fine and dandy. I can’t remember when the news of reshoots started popping out, but even then I gave them the benefit of the doubt that because this movie was going to tie in all of the other 8 movies and surely they had to do something right about it. Then came in a lot of red flags in merchandising, marketing, cast interviews, etc. Daisy’s and John’s infamous interview felt so OOC for me that I couldn’t believe what I was reading. And at this point, my hopes were very low. I felt something was very off in everything and I was almost inactive of soc med or any TROS news because I wanted to watch the movie with no outside influences. I didn’t even read any leaks and only heard about it in passing.

Then came the week of the premier. I was putting my expectations super low. I just thought of all the bad things that could happen like Rey Palpatine or Kylo/Ben dying and I went into it with that thought. Before the movie, I had to sort of minggle with the crowd of a private screening event as Rey. But I just had so much anxiety before I could even get in costume to the point where I did cry. And it didn’t help that some of the other cosplayers and minders had already seen the movie the previous day and were having borderline spoilery conversations, which did upset me further. Eventually I calmed down enough, but I was still feeling a little down. It sort of helped that the attendees who are usually normal people are usually the kind to take pictures with the more masked or sith-looking guys or my friend who was masked Kylo so I could usually be left alone.

And finally, it was time to watch the movie and I can still remember how dumb I was for thinking this movie was going to be smart. There was just too much going on and I was so in shock of how poorly written, edited and directed it was. There was hardly any cheer or gasps in my cinema throughout the whole thing, although there were one or two who tried to whoop at the Lucasfilm logo but they kept quiet for the rest of it too. It was such a different experience from the one I had of my first TLJ screening. 80% of the time I just had a blank expression on my face and the only time I sort of got excited for were the Rey and Kylo/Ben scenes, except that ending. I really did not like this movie. I did not feel hopeful at all and the ending the just felt so off. I was relieved to see that I was not the only one who thought of it that way.

This movie effected me so much that I had trouble sleeping, loss of apetite, loss of focus and random bouts of crying in my car for how hollow I felt for about a week+. There was a huge convention on the same weekend and everyone who knew me pretty much came up to me and ask how I was and what I thought about the movie, and a simple glance and head shake was enough to convey how much I felt, and I just did not want to talk about it on a busy con day. But after a busy con weekend, I went in full force on venting it out on Twitter and finding myself in discord support groups and I’m glad I was not alone.

Now it’s been 11 days since I’ve watched TROS and I’ve sort of clamed down from being mad about it. But I don’t think I could accept an ending to a saga for how botched it was which stemmed from fan pandering and corporate greed. But I have never been so proud to be in the Reylo community, who are tirelessly finding concrete evidence on how badly edited it was and just how messy things were behind the scenes. I’m glad to have met all of you and even befriend some thanks to this ship and our love for Rey and Ben Solo and every character in the saga. I am very saddened at how badly treated every character was from Rey to Leia and everyone in between, but it’s not going to stop us from creating good fan content and what we’ve had so far is incredible.

Stay strong and save what we love. ❤

[lesbicattiva]

araki’s interview at luccacomics&games 2019 part two.

loose & imperfect transcript / translation of araki first interview (30th oct 2PM) at lucca comics & games 2019 at teatro del giglio about his main work: jojo’s bizarre adventures. (talk show translated from italian to english 2/5).

A: Good evening. Q: Good evening. Since we’re here to talk about it, I’d like to ask: how was JOJO’s Bizarre Adventure born? A: [ignores the question just to properly repeat ‘good evening’ again and then point at cosplayers] I think I recognize that character! Maybe I saw it on japanese tv! Q: [stammers] Uh.... my question? A: Oh right [laughs]. The idea of JOJO came because I wanted to draw characters with superpowers that can’t be seen. I wanted to draw that and shape those powers on paper. I did it on shōnen jump, where I debuted, and just tried to pick a name that could be easily remembered, something like with a double J and a double O.

Q: Continuing with the foundations of JOJO, as I was saying earlier, there’s a common theme in this year’s lucca comics and JOJO; the focus on ‘humanity’, its tight bond with ‘fate’ and the ‘immortality of the human spirit’. I’d like to know why these themes have been chosen and why you like them so much. A: Actually, it’s because I’ve been told to draw something like this, and so I did it [editor of JOJO laughs]. But only after drawing it I realized that “wow, I drew something really interesting!” a theme so deep such as ‘admiration for human beings’ and so on. It’s really a serious thing [him, the translator and the two editors laugh] but yeah, I only realized it later because at first I’d just been told to draw [head-editor of ultra jump speaks to araki and he nods]. Well, yes, actually this was the short version of the story, the longer one is that I actually wanted to draw the theme of the ‘affirmation of humans’, of ‘not rejecting your humanity’. And because of this there are ‘good’ characters, which are obviously appreciated, but even ‘evil’ characters have something that can be appreciated since they are human beings. And this was more or less the idea for JOJO’s theme. I gave a bit of a superficial answer at first but now it’s a good answer, isn’t it? [everyone laughs]

Q: Let’s remain on the theme of fate, of destiny, of how we humans are destined, or damned, if you will, to follow a certain path. In JOJO there isn't just the protagonists’ family, which moves from location to location, but there’s also another family.... the Zeppeli [audience laughs]. It’s good to see you guys taking it that way because they really.... don’t. Since, as you can hear, I’m from Napoli, I’m rather curious if their fate will always be the same or if they’ll be able to take control of it someday. A: I don’t mean to ‘persecute’ them, but they are complementary to the Joestar family. Them ending up dying serves to complete the flow of the story and to facilitate the path of the Joestars. Q: But do you see a possibility for them in the future.... I really care about them, you see. A: I’m glad that you’re a big fan of the Zeppeli as I am. But I think that the beauty of their family is in the very fact that, yes they will die, but they will also pass on those values and positive qualities through their deaths. The very act of dying for them allows that. Don’t you think too? Q: Yes. I too.... can’t wait to die. [audience laughs and so does araki, but he’s still a little concerned]

Q: In JOJO, compared to other mangas where characters fight, you made a precise choice; that is, the absence of a direct clash. You opted for a more studied, strategic way of fighting, almost like a chess match. And the cornerstones of that are stands. How do you manage to always find new powers and tactics? A: Having new ideas is my job. I get inspired by many things, especially during my everyday life: when I meet my friends or I see them do particular gestures, when I talk with my old neighbour or when I drink a glass of water and some gets stuck in my throat; then I think “hey! I could make a stand power out of that!”. Basically, I think observing little details is essential to my creative process.

Q: Many of the stories of JOJO are real travel diaries, since a huge variety of settings is present. How much the setting influences the writing and how fundamental is it? Do you start from there to create the story or is it just a plus?  A: I was very inspired by the small trips I did when young. As a kid I would bike to various places, I’d climb up mountains, go around other cities.... This travelling process helped me a lot in my growth – from kid to adult, so for me the philosophy of a journey is very important because it allows the characters who partake in it to evolve and become adults, from the beginning to the end of the journey. As for the other part of the question, thinking about the creative process of the manga for more contained locations.... For example, if you stopped to camp during a trip and encountered one of your fears, you would have to face it directly. But I asked myself what would happen if that fear, that enemy, is the one hiding instead; maybe even in the apartment next to you. From this idea the setting of Morio-cho was born, to have an invisible enemy, a peaceful person who just waits silently somewhere in the background. This has been a different challenge compared to what I previously tackled regarding the process of a journey.

Q: Speaking of Morio-cho, would you like to live in this town you created? A: Yes. I’ve answered your question right away because it’s based on the town where I grew up, near Sendai, it was full of weird people [audience laughs] – well, they were all good people but [laughs a bit] still some were weird. Q: I see. I’m sure there were some Zeppelis there as well.

Q: Again, speaking of the creative process, it’s common knowledge that you listen to a lot of music while working. It’s also an interesting concept, since rhythm is essential to storytelling. How much music, and what type, influences your work? A: What influences me the most is the rhythm, and you can probably see it in the onomatopoeias that I use, which can go like [makes an index gesture] ‘tan-tan-pa’. They are all different types of rhythms that I listen to while writing, this of course influences my creative process as well.

Q: Okay. This is my last question, then I’ll leave the rest to fans. What will the future of JOJO be? A: I don’t know [laughs]. (note: translator suggests he might know but doesn’t want to reveal anything) Actually, I had a good idea of the beginning and a relatively clear idea of the end, but everything else in between is like a jazz concert: it’s a very spontaneous and in the moment creative process. But yes, the ending is pretty definite to me.

F: Hi. As we were saying, you are often inspired by ordinary things: your travels, your childhood, music.... In Diamond Is Unbreakable there's a stand called Bad Company and I remember seeing something similar in a Stephen King's story. I'd like to know if you took inspiration from that and if you like horror movies in general, and if they influence you in any way. (note: people say this guy was rude) A: No, I didn't know there was a story like that. But yes, I do like Stephen King. I enjoyed The Twilight Zone and I'm definitely influenced by horror for my work but I prefer movies like Chucky or Child's Play. I really love horror movies though. 

F: Hi. I read online that the ending and opening songs for the anime are personally chosen by you. I'd like to know if there's an italian song that you like and maybe would use as an ending for the anime. A: An italian song? Mhh. I really like PFM. Was it Premiata? Premiata? [audience claps loudly and araki smiles] Premiata Forneria Marconi, that's it! I didn't decide it just now, I really do like it! [laughs] I also love Puccini's opera.

F: Hello. We know that clothes are one of the main characteristics of JOJO and that many are also inspired by famous brands, I'd like to know, then, what's the creative process behind the creation of those outfits. A: A thing that all of my clothes have in common is that they are comfortable and facilitate movement. In particular, for the protagonists, I always base myself on the model of a classic japanese student uniform, on which I then add other features, like ladybugs brooches or more fancy accessories. But the start is always the school uniform. When I was young I really liked “Babil Junior”, a manga where the protagonist wears a school uniform while in the desert. I found that truly beautiful and it inspired me a lot. To be able to draw these characters in school uniforms and have them go around desolate locations.... It really touched me and even made me cry a bit.

Q: While I search for the next person can I ask another quick question of my own? If you could choose your stand, what would it be? A: Judging by the weather here in Lucca, which has been pretty gloomy today, I’d say that I’d like the stand power of a ‘hare-otoko’ / 晴れ男 (lit. a man that brings good weather). In fact, forecasts said that it would rain a lot today, but since I’m here, thanks to me, there’s good weather [laughs]. (note: believe it or not, it always rains during lucca comics, but for the hours that araki was there, the weather was good. as soon as he finished his talk show, it started raining heavily. he really has a powerful stand.)

F: Hi. A straightforward question: since today's theme is ‘becoming human’ don't you think that Diavolo's punishment was a bit too much? (note: people say this guy was also rude) A: Oh, sorry, you don’t like his punishment? [laughs] I think he was such an evil character that he deserved to end like that. I’ve been told that his death was too harsh by japanese fans as well, however.... I think it was fitting for someone as evil as him. Sorry.

Q: Since time is almost up, allow me to ask the last questions. Is there a character that you think looks like you or just one that you can easily identify with? A: Rohan— [audience interrupts him by cheering loudly] NO NO NO [araki and the translator laugh]. I was saying that Rohan is who I aspire to be but it’s not who I am, sorry [araki and the translator laugh again]. There isn’t a character that I can really identify with but my favourite is Shigechi. [audience is kinda surprised] I like it when he collects the money that fell on the ground.

Q: Looking in hindsight at the work you’ve done on JOJO so far, is there any anecdotes that you’d like to share with us here today? A: I don’t know if it’s interesting but when I was writing for weekly shōnen jump the deadline was set to 19 pages of work each week. But every single time I just couldn’t limit myself to only 19 and always ended up doing 21. Like this, 2 pages were always going to be cut out. They wouldn’t even go in the next chapter because they were part of the current one and thus had to be cut out completely. Currently I’m very satisfied because I have 45 pages to work with in ultra jump. Although, actually, maybe now they’re a bit too many [everyone laughs].

Q: The last thing that I’ll ask you before saying goodbye is: if you could go back to the very first day in which you sat down at your desk and started working on JOJO, is there something that you would do differently? A: I would change the printing mistakes, for example ‘nani o suru da’ / 何をするだァーッ would often be written incorrectly as ‘nani o surun da’ / 何をするんだァーッ (where んだ got added) [laughs and jokingly blames the editor of JOJO, who takes responsibility. even though the editor wasn’t able to correct them at the time he still feels it was his responsibility nonetheless]. But yes, in the end, I would change little things like this, because in the first volumes there were many mistakes like this.

[microwaveabl]

Alright fuckers,

I decided to post what I have right now of my story, starting at Comic Con. @septicake​ hasn’t responded all day, but I hope they like it. Flowey, sentient toilets, and gay Obi Wan are here!

9

The next morning, we were both excited. We were finally going to get our answers. Fairly early that morning, we set out. It took us a bit to find the convention center, which Robin remarked upon: “This sounds exactly like the sort of thing we should’ve prepared for earlier this week”. I hate it when he’s right.

When we got there, we were awestruck at the spectacle before us. Hundreds of people, dressed as wizards, elves, orcs, comic book superheroes, video game characters, and soooooooo much more were there. Cosplayers of every kind, colors everywhere, it was incredible! I can’t begin to describe the wonder I felt, or everything I wondered at.

“All the hype was worth it,” Robin whispered to me, and I slowly nodded.

“This is… wow,” I responded, my eyes large. The twos of us, Robin and I, walked into the center, and my jaw dropped. It was even better than the outside! So many people, packed into the place! I knew it was big, but now I was wondering how exactly I was supposed to entertain everybody while Robin looked through them.

“Okay, slight change to the plan. I’m going to go up on that stage and begin my act. I’ll invite some people up, do some cool stuff. I’ll use a spell to broadcast my voice, for I think it’d be difficult to get a connected microphone headpiece thing. You get up there-” I pointed up to some of the pathways near the ceiling, probably so that those large posters on the wall could be hung, or something “- and use this charm of seeing” -I produced a small magnifying glass from my pocket - obviously enchanted, not just a magnifying glass “-and scan the crowd. You know what to look for, and, I don’t know, figure out a way to contact them. Maybe you have a charm, or something, I’m not sure. Improvise, you’re good at that!”

“This is a terrible idea,” Robin told me, “and you’re going to get kicked out. Still, I can’t think of a better idea.”

I grinned. “Good, and besides, if I do well enough, they won’t want me to leave. Now go up, and get ready.”

I waited while he made his way through back ways and such, until he was up on the pathways (I should really figure out what they are called, but we don’t have them where I come from, and I don’t feel like learning it). He tossed something down at me, not sure how it got to me through the crowd, and I looked questioningly at him. He mimed putting it in my ear, and it did look like some kind of earpiece. I gently placed it in my ear, wincing slightly, for I didn’t think it was meant for my pointy elven ears. 

“Hey,” a voice that sounded like Robin’s came into my ear. I jumped, and looked up at him. He was grinning, of course.

“Can we communicate through these?” I hesitantly asked, to which I heard, while noticing it was definitely Robin speaking, “Yeah, I found a couple earpieces and tuned them to each other. Don’t know how I managed, but hey, if it ain't broke, don’t knock it.”

I chuckled, and responded, “Fair. Let’s get this show on the proverbial road and the literal stage.”

I pushed my way through the crowd, passing Captain Americas, Captain Rogers’, Captain Mal Reynolds’, and many others that were not Captains. Finally, I made my way to the stage. Wondering what exactly I would say, I jumped up onto it, where there were luckily no people, and muttered to myself, “I’m an introvert, and yet I’m here at such an extrovert place, about to do something terrifying. It’s a good thing I really want to get home, and I really hope this works.”

I activated my charm as people looked up at me, wondering what an elf was doing up on stage, and began speaking.

“Hello, all of you. You might be wondering what I’m doing up here on stage. To be honest, I am not sure either, but I think I’m supposed to give a demonstration or whatever it’s called for my cosplay, but they didn’t really tell me. Hey, can I get some boxes or something destructible up here?”

A couple confused convention workers brought up some empty boxes, while I sweated, wondering if I should make a run for it. Somehow, though, nobody came up and stopped me. I wasn’t even sure why there was a stage up here in the first place. Was an event or actual demonstration supposed to happen? Whatever the case, this was working, and I could see Robin up there scanning the crowd, though none of them really should be interested yet.

It was time to change that.

I deftly pulled out my sword, keeping it in this dimension. I did some basic fighter’s moves, which seemed to impress the people. 

“This is one of two Vorpal blades of mine. The name is misleading, or rather, does not do my blades justice. A vorpal blade simply is one that has the capacity to decapitate a foe, especially in fantasy games such as Dungeons and Dragons. However, all of my blades are like that.”

A few nervous laughs floated to me. I looked up at Robin for support, and he gave me a thumbs up. He spoke to me, saying, “Now, tell them the special thing and give them a little demonstration.”

“Okay. My blades are special, for they are enchanted. They can change dimensions at my will, and thus pass through objects in this one when I desire, and join back up in this one to cut what I want.”

To demonstrate, I deftly stabbed my sword at the first box, phasing it just before it broke the flimsy cardboard.

“Now, that may not look impressive, as you do not know that my blades do any damage at all, or that these boxes were not staged so I would not appear to do any damage. Furthermore, optical illusions could render it such that I did not stab the cardboard at all, and thus am a fraud. Now, will someone please come up here? I really don’t care who.”

People murmured amongst themselves, until one person stepped forward.

“I will,” they said, and I asked them a little about themselves. They were John, a human male, who came alone, dressed as The Arrow from DC. He loved coming to Comic-Con, and was excited at the opportunity to be a part of what he thought of as a very real and planned demonstration. He came up on stage, and I appraised him.

“I loved your T.V. show,” I said, saying the first thing that popped into my head. I had never seen a single episode, but knew that it was a thing and hoped he wouldn’t question me.

He beamed at me, and said, “Thank you! You are a really good elf!”

“I try. Now,” I directed this at the crowd, “I shall prove, in front of a witness, that these blades are no joke.”

I quickly pulled the handles close to myself, phased them back into reality, and drove them into the boxes. They easily cut through them, for they were designed to cut through things much tougher than some boxes. I then rapidly whirled, phased my blades out of sync, swept the handles just in front of John’s face, and phased them back in sync with the world. I asked a stunned, slightly scared John to touch the blades, and he reported they were very sharp.

“Now, was that an optical illusion? I think not. I am also a great fighter, and master of small charms.” At this, I tossed up a charm I had created haphazardly and quickly earlier, which exploded into a sunburst of light. I had built it to be merely light and not also heat, a better model, I think, than the fireworks of Earth. I pulled another from my cloak, threw it to the ground, and watched as the image of a unicorn burst from it, dazzling the crowd as it dashed between them, an apparition and nothing more. After lapping the center, it returned to the charm, which I picked up. I asked John to return, and I thought about what I would do next.

I heard Robin tell me, “I may have found someone. Here, let me give you some sight.” Before I could protest, I was looking through one of Robin’s eyes and one of my own, which was quite disconcerting. I closed the eye connected to my own vision, and looked through Robin’s. He was looking at a wizard, quite a well done cosplay, perhaps too well done. He was staring attentively at me, but not the same way as the others. He wasn’t awed, or surprised, just kinda wide-eyed, like he couldn’t believe someone else was here. I nodded, prepared for vertigo, and opened my other eye.

After a moment, I noticed the position of the wizard. I noted him in my mind, noted where he was, and whispered to Robin to disconnect us. My vision was yanked back to my own perspective, which was nice, and I prepared my next bit. Everyone was still oohing and aahing at my magic, and so I decided to have a little fun. 

“You there!” my voice boomed, my finger pointed at the wizard. He panicked, and I quickly said, “No, please, come on up. I won’t hurt you, I just want another person for my next part. John was lovely, but you look like you know some real magic!” I laughed, and the audience laughed as well. He was pushed forward, and reluctantly got up on stage. 

“Now, what is your name?” I asked him, which was the polite way to go about things, I believed.

He glared at me, and responded, “I am Thuzhal, a wizard banished to this realm for many heinous acts.”

“Ooh, nice backstory. I like it! What kinds of acts?” I replied enthusiastically.

He sighed, and said, “Well, people don’t really ask me, so I say they’re heinous. I was just kinda messing around and apparently broke something important, and so I was magically exiled. I was trying to figure out how to get back in, looking through probably forbidden texts, when I tried a spell to return me to the place so I could undo my exile, but it instead sent me across dimensions and I ended up on this technology-ridden, climate-changed planet.”

I clapped, and people in the audience followed my example. “I like that! Gives you an objective, something dark, and just enough flare of mystery. Now, my good sir, I am also not from around here. I was transported here when I tried to figure out the true magical nature of my staff, here-” I gestured at the staff I had leaned against a wall, yes, obviously the one topped with the spider, “-and found myself in a cornfield in Illinois! Naturally, I was confused, as corn does not exist in my world, and I did not know that I had changed dimensions. Now, my man, I believe we can help each other! You know magic and magical items, and I have my staff! Now, for my demonstration…” I decided to try a little something. I pulled out my blades, and concentrated on making them visible, but slightly out of sync with Earth. The sword blades usually became invisible when phased, but I did my best to keep that from happening. 

The blades flickered, trying to change dimensions, but I did my best. Eventually, they came into full view, but I passed them gently through my hand to make sure they weren’t physical. I then whirled and, similarly to what I did with John, tried to swing it through the wizard’s neck. However, he was also armed, and so tried to block my attack, which obviously failed. My blade passed straight through him, and he retaliated, swinging a small dagger at me with ferocity and a wild look in his eyes. From the way he handled his blade, I could tell he wasn’t experienced. This was going to end quickly, luckily, I thought, and parried his frenzied swing. 

With a series of quick swipes, jabs, kicks, and punches, I disarmed the wizard and sent him to his knees. “Look, man, I didn’t want this to happen. I’m sorry for swinging at you, but it was part of the demonstration. You can get up and help me, or leave, alone, stuck here, probably never to return to your home. Which would you prefer?”

Thuzhal considered my words, and grudgingly got to his feet. I handed him his dagger, which appeared to be made of mithril, and smiled. 

“Good, now let’s get out of here. I’m not even supposed to be demonstrating anything here, I just got up on stage and nobody stopped me for whatever reason.” I deactivated my microphone-like charm, and told Robin, “Come on, let’s go.”

He ran into a door, and quickly joined me. I surveyed the crowd, which was full of whispers, no doubt about me and what I had just said. I jumped down, followed by Thuzhal and Robin, and we pushed past the crowd, out of the door, and ran a block before slowing to a walk. We returned to our motel, and I was happy we had managed to complete our goal for that day.

10

“I’m afraid we may have a problem,” Thuzhal said, walking into the bedroom.

“What kind of problem?” I asked, a little surprised by his sudden entrance and a little frustrated that he couldn’t immediately solve all of our problems.

He winced at the strength of my words, and responded, “Well, I know what kind of magic it uses, and I can partially control it. However, I cannot control the exact dimension. I can make it so that we don’t end up places we can’t survive, like in the vastness of space, or on a planet where the air is poisonous. We will have to travel many worlds until we either get lucky and end up in the right one, or find someone who can use your energy signatures to lock onto our universe. Will that work?”

I thought about it, looked over at Robin, who was sitting cross-legged on his bed, and looked back at Thuzhal. “Well, I guess we don’t really have a choice, so let’s go with that. Do we have any idea how long this will take?”

Thuzhal grinned, and said loudly, “Nope!”

I sighed, and replied, “Well, pack your bags. Might as well get right on down to it.”

*

We packed the gear we wanted to bring with us, which included some probably illegal items. It has been neglected to mention that these items included two assault rifles, lots of ammo, a couple grenades, a few other guns, including a sniper rifle and a pistol (of course we also had plenty of those ammos as well, and I intended to get a blacksmith or something to break them open and figure out how to make them and potentially augment them/the gun.). There were others, but I shouldn’t really mention them.

We gathered behind the motel, in the parking lot, after checking out and getting our stuff all ready. I readied myself for what was about to happen, planted the staff at arm’s length in front of me, and Robin and Thuzhal both grabbed it. After exchanging grim looks with both of them, I grabbed the spider, and it did the same thing as the previous time we used it, though the eyes seemed to glow brighter and the wind seemed stronger. I closed my eyes, and wondered what would happen on the other side, just before I lost consciousness.

11

When I returned to consciousness, I was confused. The sky was a pastel purple, with red dots swirling through it. It seemed like some kind of strange dream, and its colors were chaos. The ground was some kind of acid green, and there were portable toilets everywhere. They were in every shade, from green to blue to pink to yellow. I closed my eyes, as I felt a migraine coming on. I shaded my eyes and reopened them, looking at the ground for Robin and Thuzhal. I found Thuzhal covering his eyes, peeking through his fingers at the landscape, and Robin was still passed out on the ground. Oh, and, by the way, Thuzhal is a human. 

“This is a strange world you have brought us to, elf,” he told me, and I followed his gaze. I had originally thought that the toilets were just sitting there, but as I really looked at them, I saw that they were moving. There was even a small village, made of what I couldn’t say, as there wasn’t a tree or rock around. Even the ground itself was a deep green, and made of a substance I couldn’t make out. It was smooth, and I could push my hand through it, like a partial liquid. It was strange, as none of us were sinking into it, but it didn’t seem like good building material. The toilets weren’t walking, or splitting apart in any way, but just seemed to glide, all of which seemed very strange and impossible to me. When they came to a step, they seemed like they just jumped, but with no downward movement to create thrust upward, if that makes sense.

“Let’s… explore?” I said hesitantly, and Thuzhal strode toward the settlement. I followed him, after a moment’s consideration, and dragged Robin behind me. When we got closer, we could see that it was made of some kind of wood, and so I guessed that they had just taken down any trees in view. It seemed similar to a Wild West town, minus the dust everywhere, horses, natural colors, or people. I was quite unnerved, and moved close to one of the johns.

“Uh… hello?” I said (asked?) hesitantly. It’s door turned to me, and it seemed to make an annoyed, squishy sound from within it. 

“Do you guys have any wizards or magic folk at all?” I asked it. It moved toward me, making angry sounds from within it, and I backed away. “I don’t think it likes the sound of ‘wizard’.” It moved faster, squishing louder, and other toilets started coming over. I pulled Robin into a fireman’s carry on my back, and readied one of my blades. 

“We should get out of here, Thuzhal,” I told him, and he nodded, his eyes frantic. I turned and ran, but there were toilets everywhere.

“No time! We have to do it here!” I shouted, and he grabbed the staff. I shrugged Robin forward and held his hand around the pole, and grabbed the arachnid on top.

*

When I awoke, I simply lay there. I didn’t really want to open my eyes and find out where we had landed, but I suppose it would have to happen eventually. I slowly opened my eyes, and squinted at the bright light coming from the sun… suns? There were two shining orbs in the sky, one more yellow-y, and one more orange-y. It was very hot, and the ground was grainy. When I looked at the landscape, I saw that we were in a large desert of sand, and there were a couple houses in the distance. It looked like about midday, but I couldn’t be sure how long the day lasted, so it would be best to start moving. I got to my feet, and noticed that both Thuzhal and Robin were still passed out.

“Hey,” I said, shaking Robin. He stirred, and started moving. I moved over to Thuzhal, and patted his shoulder.

“Wakey, wakey, time to get up sleepyhead,” I told Thuzhal, and his eyes snapped open, then quickly shut.

“Where are we, and why is it so bright?” Thuzhal said, and Robin nodded in agreement.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure, but there are some houses over there, we can ask them. I hope it goes better this time than last time.”

Robin looked confused. He held up a finger, and said, “Last time? Do you mean Earth?”

I was also confused for a second, before I remembered that Robin had been asleep the previous dimension.

“Well, we travelled dimensions, and you know how we always fall unconscious when we do that? Well, you were asleep while Thuzhal and I almost died from sentient Porta-Potties.”

This only served to bewilder him even more, and I described the events that had taken place in the strange, colorful dimension.

“Anyway,” I said, finishing up, “we should get moving. We aren’t going to kill ourselves, after all!”

With that lovely remark, we started walking toward the houses. It was extremely hot, hotter than Calimport, even hotter than California in summer. I didn’t know how people handled it, but then I thought, perhaps the people here are different and more adapted to this environment. 

After probably 15 minutes, we got to the houses. They were strange, quite small and kinda dome-like, circular, with person-height walls and a sloped, domed kinda roof. It was similarly colored as the sand, probably so that it could blend in, though the satellite dish looking thing on top of it kinda ruined the effect. It was silvery, and very much did not blend in.

“Sh-should we go in?” I asked tentatively, and Thuzhal marched forward, grinning. “Um, is that a yes?”

“I recognize this place!” he said in response, and knocked on the first door. I rushed toward him, but it was too late.

“HOW, exactly can you recognize this? You’ve never been here! You were directly transported to-” A thought rushed into my mind, causing me to stop in my tracks. “It’s like Faerûn, huh? Someone came from this world, or travelled here, and made a story or whatever based on this place?”

He slowly nodded, and simply replied, “Star Wars.”

*

The door opened, sliding to one side, and a man came out. I hadn’t seen a lot about Star Wars, but there were a lot of cosplayers at Comic-Con that I had recognized as probably being from this universe. The person that opened the door looked like Obi-Wan, except his hair was black. I blinked, for, while it was true I didn’t know much about Star Wars (already mentioned, but it makes this sentence flow better. Shut up, stupid), I knew that: 1. He wasn’t supposed to be on Tatooine until much later, when he looked old with white hair, or something, and 2. His hair was brown, not black. All of this was very confusing, especially once Qui Gon Jinn walked past, asking, “Who is it, honey?”

“U… u-um, I’m Alushtas, and these are Robin and Thuzhal,” I stammered, my eyes searching for answers I doubted I would easily find.

“Ah, hello! What lovely and strange names! What can I do for you?” he asked nicely, and I looked at my companions. 

“Uh, can we come in? I think we need to talk to you,” I said kinda randomly, for I was still very confused and needed to figure out what was happening.

He smiled, and ushered us in. “Honey, come meet our guests!” he said, and Qui Gon walked back in.

I looked back and forth between the two men, and I asked Obi-Wan, “Why does he keep calling you ‘honey’?”

They looked at each other and smiled, and Obi-Wan told me, “Well, we were dating for a while, but then this wonderful man approached me, what, probably almost a year and a half ago, and proposed to me! Of course, I said yes, and we’ve been living here ever since, happier than ever!” Qui Gon came over and hugged Obi-Wan deeply, and the two men sat down on a couch, holding hands. 

Thuzhal looked confused as well, though I had realized that this was not the normal Star Wars universe I knew, and the wizard asked, “Where is Luke? I thought he lived here.”

“Well, yes, he has, but once he married his spouse, they’ve been travelling the galaxy. Would you like some blue milk?”

“Uh, sure,” I said, and Obi-Wan waved his hand. A glass came over to me, as if by magic, and I sipped it warily. It was good, similar to Earth milk, but more coconut-y. 

“Soooo, who has Luke married, anyway?” I asked Qui Gon, taking a longer drink from my glass.

“Oh, he ran off with that hooligan, Han Solo, for a bit, but he came back eventually, and told me they were getting married. I was shocked, for it seemed sudden, but they were happy, and so we gave them our blessing,” he replied, and I, suddenly realizing something, asked another question (we really wanted to ask questions, I guess), “So what happened to Chewbacca?”

“Ah, good old Chew. They are going around the galaxy, exploring, happy by themselves. They liked Han, but they always felt less, you know? They are very introverted, and just like to explore. They find people difficult to understand, and they’ve told me that everyone just goes too quickly for them. Last I heard, they were going to Coruscant, which is nice.”

“Mhm. Anyway, you guys haven’t mastered inter-dimensional travel yet, have you?” I asked, realizing that, while cool, this place wasn’t really gonna help us.

“Unfortunately, that project was shut down because of its possible repercussions and side effects and all that,” he told me, “did you need something like that?”

I shrugged, and said, “Yeah, it would’ve been nice, but I think we might be able to manage. We should be going, though. Thank you, both of you, for everything.”

Qui Gon smiled at us, and asked, “Are you sure you want to leave? We’d be happy for you to stay.”

I sadly smiled back at him, and replied, “Yeah, we need to go.”

We said our goodbyes, and left. When we were out of sight of the house, it was probably about midnight.

“Well guys? Shall we?” I said, holding out the spider-adorned staff.

*

We travelled through many more dimensions, probably more than I could ever describe. As we travelled, and got used to dimension-hopping, we slept for less and less time, and eventually simply got tired, and then slightly dizzy.

Something that I have talked about, but not really explained, was that Earth was a Chaos realm. This means that both magic and technology work there, though there are other realms in which magic works and tech doesn’t, ones where tech works and magic doesn’t, and ones where neither work. However, this is a flawed perspective. It is one described by wizards of old in my world (yes, interdimensional travel isn’t completely unknown back home in Faerun), and their experiences in other realms. 

This is flawed for a couple reasons. It isn’t so simple as just ‘technology and magic, or one, or neither’. Magic can take many forms, and magic that works in one place doesn’t necessarily work in another. In the Star Wars-like world, there were Jedi that could manipulate objects using their mind and what they called the Force, which seems to be a type of magic. Meanwhile, my own magic could have been unstable or unusable, because it is a different world than mine. Similarly, magic could exist on Earth, though its inhabitants didn’t usually have it, leading to unpredictable results. I was lucky that only a couple of my charms failed or had issues, and not more of them. There were many other forms of magic, but to go into detail would take too long.

Technology is also a difficult thing to pin down. It’s basically just the application of knowledge for practical purposes, and so almost anything creature-made could be said to be technology. Again, some technology could function in some places, but not in others. Some steampunk worlds, for instance, couldn’t ‘fathom’ the existence of further innovation, like cars or computers. Other worlds were stuck in the Stone Age, and in some, not even bird’s nests could be made. I am not sure what would happen if one tried to make a bird’s nest in that world, but I had decided not to find out.

As we went along in our journey, I collected items. I wanted mementos of our travels, and hey, they might be useful in the future. Unfortunately, I wasn’t always able to pick things up, whether because of being chased by the inhabitants of the world or something else (and if you’re wondering if I took something from the Star Wars world, yes, I palmed a handle-looking thing with a button from a counter). This led to some fights, some running, and some pain. Still, I wanted certain items, like I think one was called a “Babel fish”, which allowed me to understand others, no matter what language they spoke. 

Something that I realized was that no matter where we went, some items were still able to be used. I eventually figured out that it was because they were dimensional items, which transcended some of the ordinary rules of the realms. We started with two - the staff itself, which is a good thing, because otherwise we would’ve ended up stranded on a random world. The other was my Vorpal blades, which was nice, because I liked them. However, the realm we received the third (and fourth and fifth?) dimensional item(s) was very… strange…

 *

We had come from a world of robots. There wasn’t a single human, elf, dog, orc, sentient species of any kind, or really any organic being that we found. Everything was automated, and seemed as though there had once been people, but then they had left, potentially leaving the robots there to keep things up until they returned. However, we realized that it was unlikely, if not impossible, that a machine could bring us home, rather than magic. Therefore, we left pretty quickly, though not before I got a small bracelet that had nanotech that could form a dagger in my hand in a millisecond, which could be quite useful.

When we arrived in the new realm, we found ourselves in a smallish room. There was a bed of flowers, yellow flowers, illuminated by a fairly dim light coming through a hole in the ceiling of the room. Actually, it seemed more like a cave, though we couldn’t really be completely sure. There was a hallway, or corridor, or whatever to our right. We went through it, and found a doorway.

We went through it, and walked through a system of rooms, some of which had puzzles, and traps, though none of them actually hurt us (well, except for Robin, who got a sprained ankle after falling through some leaves). We saw beings, some might call them monsters or abominations, which had very strange physical makeups. This wasn’t really uncommon for us to see, because of everywhere we had already been, but weird stuff is weird. One had a large eye as most of its body, and another looked similar to a frog. They ran from us, so we didn’t have to worry about fighting them, and when we got to the end of the rooms, we came to a small house.

We tentatively opened the door, and found the house deserted (or at least visibly so, and nobody came to the door to see who was there). There were stairs leading down to what I assumed was a basement right in front of us, a living room looking area to our left, and a hallway to our right. It seemed like an odd way to set up a house, but again, lots of places were quite queer (in both senses of the term). 

Anyway, we entered the living room. There was a table with chairs, bookshelves with books on them - “How to Cook Snails, Snail Basics, Meals with Snails?” -, and an armchair in front of a fireplace, fire included, which seemed like a fire hazard, but whatever. We didn’t find anyone, so we went through the door leading out of the room (not the one we entered).

We were in a kitchen, which seemed normal, except the stove didn’t work, there was white fur in the sink, and a pie on the counter. There was a faint smell of pie crust and cinnamon in the air, and I took a slice for later, in case I might want it (hey, I’m a thief, what would you expect, perfect morals?). We went back to the first room, and entered the hall.

There were three doors, two of which were bedrooms. We decided not to explore them, though one looked more like a child’s bedroom and one like an adult’s. The third was locked, however, and had a sign that read, ‘Room under Renovations’. Because there was no more of the house to explore, we went down the stairs to the basement.

There wasn’t really an actual basement, as far as we could tell. It was a long hallway, which, after walking the entirety of, showed us a doorway, similar to the one at the entrance, which we went through, as we didn’t want to walk back. We found ourselves in some kind of snowy, forest-y area, though, when we looked up to the sky, we could faintly see a cavern roof.

I’ll spare you the details, but basically, we went through this region, a very wet, cave-like region, and a very hot area. In the hot area, we came across a laboratory, which we chose to go into. It had a large video screen, seemingly inactive, though I couldn’t tell its use. As we continued walking through the building, we saw a cluttered desk, a bag of dog food(?), and a dark hole in the wall. When we got to the hole, the door to a bathroom hitherto unseen opened, and a tall lizard woman (?) came out. She looked quite surprised to see us, but hurried over nonetheless. 

“More humans? This is quite unusual… umm… hello? Who are you?” she asked hesitantly.

“I am Alushtas, and I am not a human… which I only tell you because I don’t know why. I am an elf, This is Robin, he’s a human, and Thuzhal, whose race I never actually found out, I think,” I responded.

“And I would prefer to keep it that way,” Thuzhal said, smiling and extending his hand toward the person. “And you are…?”

“Oh!” She blushed furiously. “M-my name is A-alphys, and I’m the-the royal scientist for King Asgore.”

“Oh, that’s cool. Do you guys have any, you know…, magic?” I asked Alphys. We seemed to do a lot of questioning in these worlds, and not much else.

“K-kinda, we have magical a-attacks and the like, and fire magic, and probably other kinds.”

“Oh.” I must’ve looked really sad, because she immediately responded with, “B-but that’s okay! Here, I can improve your phones! You… don’t… have phones? Um, I can get you phones!”

She rushed upstairs up an escalator, then quickly came down another closer to the entrance. She was holding three small objects, which I assumed was a phone, and hoped her word for phone meant the same thing it meant for me, because it could be useful. It seemed that way, so yay.

“Here! I have a phone for each of you! Y-yes, I had them l-laying around… anyway, they can text, access the internet wherever, access special Dimensional Boxes, defuse bombs, and activate a jetpack! Here, t-take them!”

We each took a phone, and I immediately checked out the Dimensional Boxes. They each had space for 8 items, seemingly no matter the size, which didn’t make sense, but whatever. There were 3 boxes, which was nice, so I didn’t have to worry about 24 items taking up space in my Bag of Holding. 

“Sweet, thank you!” I said, and she blushed again. “Oh, don’t worry, I just like helping people! S-speaking of which, there was this human that came through a bit ago. Have y-you seen them? I think Toriel is coming after them, and I’m a b-bit worried.”

Thuzhal and I exchanged looks as Robin looked between us. “No, we haven’t seen anybody except a couple dudes back at that purple place,” I told her, and her eyes widened.

“O-oh! You n-need to go… I’m s-sorry I can’t help more! Now, g-get out of here!”

She pushed us out of a back door, while I protested and tried to ask her about dimensional travelling. She didn’t listen to me, and locked the door after us.

“Well, now what? Do we go after the human? Do we go see the king? Do we leave? What do you dudes think?” I asked, looking at Robin and Thuzhal, whose backs were to the lab. 

“I think I can help!” a cheery voice said from behind. I whirled around, dagger forming in my hand. A little yellow flower had popped up from the ground, and it had a face which was smiling at us.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Thuzhal asked, suspicious of the small being.

“I’m Flowey! Flowey the flower! You were just talking to that overgrown lizard, huh? Don’t listen to her, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about!” the golden flower told us.

“Um, she seemed nice, while you were insulting her. Not really the way to play the ‘nice guy’ card,” Robin interjected.

Flowey gave a wide smile, and said, “Oh, sorry. We all insult her, ‘cause she’s senile and ignorant of the world. Even nice old King Asgore cracks jokes about her!”

By this point, I was very unsettled, but decided to humor Flowey. “So, you said you can help us. How?”

“Easy! The rules down here are simple. You k i l l, o r   y o u   b e   k i l l e d.” As he spoke, his face grew ugly, into a mixture of a smile and a look of utter hatred. He sent little white bullets at us, which we tried to dodge, but some still hit us. They really hurt, and it felt like my life force itself was being sapped. I swung my dagger at him, but he popped back into the ground and back up a bit further on.

“Hope you guys have fun! See ya later!” he said, smiling, and vanished into the ground.

“That… was horrible,” I said, and both of my companions nodded. 

“We should leave and never return.” Again, they nodded.

I pulled out the staff from my Bag, held it out, and we did our thing. However, as we began to flicker out of the strange, underground world, none of us noticed the edge of a flower root curling around the base of the staff.

wasn’t really sure how to say that Flowey was comin with the gang (obv without them wanting hiim to :P) with the exact wording, so I used ‘flower root’, but I am open to suggestions or changes if you think soething should change. It mgiht not, because I know hwere this is going and you don’t, but you coudl definitely help!

[angelofthequeers]

Hold Me By Both Hands: Chapter 30

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

Chapter 29 | Chapter 31 | AO3 link

“Adrien Agreste, pick an ally you can trust to fight alongside you.” Master Fu opens the lid of the Miracle Box and pushes it towards a kneeling Adrien as all the compartments slide open. “Choose wisely; you and Ladybug will be responsible for your choice, to train them and hold them accountable. If your ally proves to be untrustworthy or otherwise unfit, you must retrieve the Miraculous from them.”

“Of course, Master,” Adrien says immediately. “But, um…we, uh…Ladybug and I need a shield. We need the Turtle.”

Master Fu’s smile freezes in place. Adrien swallows and looks down at his hands. Great. Ladybug’s trusting him with this, and he’s already screwed it up, and what if Master Fu decides that he’s asking too much, that he’s too impertinent, that he can’t be trusted, even Plagg’s weight on his shoulder can’t drag him back from this –

“Adrien,” Master Fu says. Adrien’s head whips up. The old man is…smiling warmly now? “I’m not disappointed or upset with you. Merely surprised. I just…didn’t think Wayzz would be needed so soon.”

“You’ve always known that the time would come, Master,” Wayzz says. “You’re much too old to be Jade Turtle anymore, and you have the other kwamis to advise you in my stead.”

“Jade Turtle?” Adrien’s tongue darts out to moisten his lips, although it does nothing for the dryness in his mouth. “That was your superhero name?”

Master Fu nods. “But I’m nearly two hundred years old. Wayzz is right…as usual. My role as Guardian comes before my own desires.” He smiles up at Wayzz and holds out a hand for Wayzz to nuzzle against. “Farewell, old friend. Best of luck with your new holder.”

“I’ll never forget you, Wang Fu,” Wayzz says. Master Fu gives an odd little laugh.

“Yes. I’m sure you won’t.”

Adrien frowns. Is there…something he’s missing? “Um…inside joke?”

“You could say that,” Plagg shrugs. Master Fu and Wayzz give him twin severe looks.

“You and Ladybug will know when the time is right,” Master Fu says. “For now…” He takes a deep breath, then squares his shoulders and slides his green bracelet off, and Wayzz vanishes in a flash of green light. “Do you have someone in mind, Adrien?”

Adrien frowns, while Master Fu prepares the Turtle Miraculous in a little hexagonal box. Who can he pick to be the Turtle hero? He needs someone strong-willed but not reckless; protective without being too self-sacrificing like he is with Ladybug; smart but not set in their ways, willing to go with the flow and adjust as needed…god, why can’t Ladybug be here, her instincts are always spot-on, because who the heck does Adrien know well enough to entrust with a –

Of course! Adrien gasps and snatches the box from Master Fu. “I know just the right person, Master! And I’m sure Ladybug will approve! Plagg, claws out!”

Thankfully, his choice for the Turtle at least has a brain and is hiding out at home in his room with the doors barricaded. Even when Chat Noir raps on the window, Nino just shoots him a suspicious look and makes no move to slide off the bed.

“Of al the times to grow a brain cell,” Chat Noir mutters, then swings his baton. The window shatters inward, spraying shards of glass all over Nino’s floor. Oops.

“Dude!” Nino says. Chat Noir grins sheepishly.

“Oh, well, Ladybug’ll fix everything anyway,” he says with a shrug. “Uh, why didn’t you let me in, though?”

“Are you messing with me?” Nino points at the broken window. “People are doing crazy shit out there and you think I’m gonna just let in the first Chat Noir I see?”

Chat Noir rolls his eyes. “Oh, relax. Faux News can only warp reality.”

“Exactly! What if he manages to make another one of you? Or Ladybug?”

Chat Noir blinks. “I, uh…didn’t think of that. But it’s the real me, not some Lila shapeshifting situation or something. And we need your help, Nino.”

Nino raises an eyebrow. Great. This is exactly why Chat Noir prefers to handle this before an akuma starts wreaking havoc and making everyone paranoid.

“Wanna be the next Rena Rouge?” Chat Noir says. “Only, y’know, not a Fox?”

“I – what?” Nino splutters.

“Yeah! We need a Turtle hero and I got to pick!” Chat Noir bounces on the balls of his feet. “What d’you say? You don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to, but you’re perfect for the Turtle because you’re protective of your friends and you’re probably the only one that’s not a total disaster, and I saw you with Alya when Zombizou attacked –”

“You been spying on us or something, dude?” Nino says, but his mouth is twitching. “Okay, okay, you got me. Especially if it’ll help me protect Alya when she’s on her rabid Ladyblog filming frenzies.”

“No one can know, though,” Chat Noir says as he fishes in one of his suit pockets for the little Miraculous box. “Not even Alya or your other friends.”

“Duh. First rule of superheroes, dude.”

“And Ladybug and I are responsible for you. So, if you screw us over –”

Nino actually looks hurt as Chat Noir hands the box over. “You think I’d do that to you?”

“No, no!” Chat Noir says quickly and holds his hands up in surrender. “Why do you think I picked you? I’m just making sure you know the fine print before you sign away your soul.”

“…What?”

“I was joking. About the soul bit. Look, we’d normally try and ease you in like we did with Rena, but there is an akuma messing everything up down there…”

“Right, right.” Nino snaps the box open, then hisses and jerks a hand up to shield his eyes from the bright green light that greets him. When it fades to reveal the little hexagonal bracelet inside, Wayzz is floating in mid-air, bright yellow eyes surveying Nino rather curiously.

“Whoa, dude!” Nino gasps when he uncovers his eyes and starts trying to look at Wayzz from all directions.

“Hello!” Wayzz says. “My name is Wayzz.”

“Hey, little guy, what are you, a genie like in those fairy tales?” Nino babbles. Chat Noir can’t fight back the smirk that spreads across his face, and even Wayzz has an amused little smile.

“I am a kwami,” Wayzz says. “I can’t grant wishes, but I can give you superpowers!”

“Just one thing,” Chat Noir says. Hey, if it worked for Alya, it should work for Nino too. “Once we kick Faux News’ butt, you have to give it back. Can we trust you?”

Wayzz shoots Chat Noir an odd look, while Nino squares his shoulders and nods.

“You bet, dude!” he says and slips the bracelet on.

“Then all you have to say is, “Wayzz, shell on”,” Wayzz says. Nino grins.

“Wayzz, shell on!” Nino’s enveloped in vivid green light as he transforms.

“Nice look,” Chat Noir says when the light fades. “Although Ladybug will probably just get pissy if either of us bring it up.”

“Really? Why?” Nino says. He slides his shield around to his arm from his back, and a wide grin splits his face. “Awesome!”

“I…may have called her outfit plain when Rena Rouge joined us,” Chat Noir says. Nino winces.

“Bro.”

“I know, I know. I’m surprised I’m still alive.” A low rumble outside Nino’s broken window reminds Chat Noir that there’s still an annoying akuma wreaking havoc and they should probably get back and help Ladybug and Rena Rouge ASAP, especially with Rena Rouge’s current emotional state. “Come on, turtle boy! You can think of a name on the way.”

.

“Come on, Chat Noir!” Ladybug mutters as she dodges a punch from an old lady. Thank god that Rena Rouge had snapped out of it and actually become a functional teammate, because there was no way Ladybug had been about to disappear and recharge when Rena Rouge had been a wild animal.

“They just keep coming!” Rena Rouge says. She yelps and uses her flute to whack away an incoming brick before it can bash her in the head, then leaps away from a web shot from a cosplayer-turned-actual-Spider-Man and lands next to Ladybug. “How are we s’posed to get to Faux News? And why doesn’t he come and fight us himself?”

“Why should he?” Ladybug says. “All he has to do is wait for us to wear ourselves out.”

“No need to have a cow, Ladybug!” Faux News calls over the din. There’s the sound of overlapping mooing, followed by a whole herd of cows charging straight at Ladybug and Rena Rouge. But there’s no way to dodge the cows; not with their backs literally to the wall and minions spread all around them. All they can do is swing their weapons in front of them and hide behind the whirring of the yo-yo, Ladybug praying that the cows don’t hurt them too much because then it’s all over, Faux News and Hawkmoth will win –

“Shellter!” A green dome encases Ladybug and Rena Rouge just before the cows can reach them, and they stare with wide eyes and open mouths as the cows bounce off the dome and crash into the minions scattered around, knocking everyone over like the world’s most twisted game of bowling.

“What the f –”

“About time!” Ladybug says before Rena Rouge can finish her sentence. When she whirls around, she’s greeted by Chat Noir’s shit-eating grin and the new Turtle hero, who’s holding his shield above his head to maintain the Shellter. The Turtle hero has a dark green suit with a light green hexagon tessellation on his chest, dark shoulder, elbow, and knee pads, short green boots, a hood with orange and yellow turtle eyes on either side, and a round green shield that he’s holding above his head to maintain the glimmering green dome. Under his hood, Ladybug makes out dark eyes behind orange goggles, but she can’t for the life of her think of who this could be. Who would Chat Noir know well enough to entrust with a Miraculous?

“Sorry for the delay, milady,” Chat Noir says. “Turtle boy here was just being paranoid, and I had to, uh…enter by less than savoury means.”

“You broke my freaking window!” the Turtle hero says. Chat Noir shrugs.

“And I told you, Ladybug will fix it. Which she couldn’t have done if she’d been trampled by cows. Nice to see you’ve calmed down, Foxy.”

Rena Rouge makes a very rude hand gesture in response. “So, what’s your name, Turtle boy?” she says, her eyes gleaming as she looks him up and down. “Pity the Ladyblogger’s not around. She’d get a kick out of this.”

“Carapace,” the Turtle hero says after a moment. “Call me Carapace. And eyes off, man, I’ve got a girlfriend.”

“Wait, you think I was interested in you?” Rena Rouge scoffs. “I’ve got a boyfriend of my own, thank you very much. Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Nice to meet you, Carapace,” Ladybug says loudly before he can retort and they end up squabbling when there’s an akuma to defeat. “We need to come up with a plan before your Shellter runs out. That gives us about five minutes. Four minutes,” she amends when Carapace’s bracelet beeps.

“Hiding in your shell, Ladybug?” Faux News cries. “Like the cowardly insect you are!”

“Lucky Charm!” This time, Ladybug’s given a handkerchief. “Uh, okay? What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Better figure it out soon, dude,” Carapace says. “I’m at about three and a half minutes.”

“Wish you could just shut that son of a bitch up for once,” Rena Rouge mutters. Ladybug gasps.

“Of course!” Thanks to Rena Rouge’s joke, Ladybug is able to quickly cobble together a plan to get through the minions and reach Faux News. “Rena, when Carapace drops the shield, I need your most disruptive illusions. Things that’ll keep the minions occupied.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Rena Rouge salutes.

“Chat, the akuma’s most likely in his cravat,” Ladybug says. “It’s the only thing that really stands out. I’ll need you to Cataclysm it when you’re close enough.”

“Anything for you, milady,” Chat Noir grins. Ladybug takes a moment to direct every shred of energy inside her towards not blushing at her boyfriend’s words, since a) he doesn’t know that she’s his girlfriend, and b) she’s ragged on him enough for getting distracted in the middle of a fight.

“Carapace,” she says, praying that she’d managed to avoid looking noticeably flustered. “You’ll have to clear us a path to Faux News.”

“How?” Carapace says. Ladybug smirks.

“You’ve never seen a biohazard bubble before?” she says. Carapace’s eyes gleam rather evilly behind his goggles, just like Rena Rouge’s had at the prospect of bashing Faux News. “And I’ll take out Faux News. He seems to have to talk to be able to warp reality how he wants, so I’ll put a stop to that.”

With their roles sorted, the four of them take a moment to make sure that they’re ready. Then, with a war cry, Rena Rouge and Chat Noir slam themselves against the sides of the bubble to send all four of them hurtling through the crowd of minions, who are bowled out of the way like pins as the green dome crashes through them and rolls to a stop next to Faux News.

“What the hell?” Faux News exclaims as Carapace’s Shellter flickers out of existence. His cry drowns out the sound of Rena Rouge’s flute, and so neither Faux News nor any of his minions are expecting the explosions and fireworks that erupt out of nowhere, keeping the minions’ attention firmly focused away from the heroes.

“Get ready, Chat!” Ladybug says as Faux News opens his mouth. Before he can speak, Carapace leaps in and bashes him around the head with the shield, making Faux News stagger and choke on what he had been about to say. This is exactly the opportunity that Ladybug needs; she ducks under Carapace’s arm, throws her yo-yo to pin Faux News’ arms to his sides, then stuffs the handkerchief into his mouth.

“L’dyb’g! Dr’p d’d!” Faux News tries to say, but the makeshift gag muffles his words to the point of incoherence.

“Cataclysm!” Now it’s Chat Noir’s turn to jump in, running his sparking hand over the cravat around Faux News’ neck to disintegrate it and free the evil butterfly corrupting it.

“Good job, everyone!” Ladybug says and quickly captures and purifies the akuma. Then she forces Faux News’ jaw open to tug the handkerchief out, grimacing at its dampness even though she’s got magic spandex protecting her from touching it, and throws it into the air to summon her Miraculous Ladybug and set everything to rights once more.

“Awesome, dude!” Carapace says, bouncing on the spot. Ladybug waits until Rena Rouge makes it over to them before holding out her fist for the four-way, “Pound it!”

The groaning from the blond man sprawled on the ground draws their attention. Rena Rouge looks particularly smug as he pushes himself to his feet and squints at them.

“I – was I akumatised?” he says.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Ladybug says. “I know it can be –”

“C’mere!” The man – Lars Vos, Rena Rouge had called him – tries to throw an arm around Ladybug while fumbling for his phone. “A selfie with Ladybug! This’ll show that Ladyblogger brat that I’m not just an amateur!”

“Brat? Brat?” Rena Rouge clenches her fists and would’ve stormed right on up to Lars if Chat Noir hadn’t caught her. “You’re the plagiarising son of a –”

“Rena,” Ladybug says sharply. Rena Rouge falls silent, glowering at Lars. “Sorry, Lars, but I won’t be taking a selfie with you. And neither will Chat Noir.”

“What?” Lars’ face darkens. “Why not? It’s fair game!”

“Okay, for one, we’re not bits of meat,” Chat Noir says. “And two, we hang with the Ladyblogger because she’s earned it. She puts in the hard work to capture footage and run her blog.”

“Exactly,” Ladybug says. “I’m not saying that we’ll never give you a photo or an interview, but we won’t be rewarding you for plagiarism and smearing Alya.”

“Uh, guys?” Carapace says, holding up his beeping bracelet.

“I’ll be along in a second,” Ladybug says. “I just need to have a quick word with Rena. Bug out!” She throws her yo-yo to swing over a nearby building and land on the other side, with Rena Rouge following close behind, leaping with the agility of the animal that she embodies.

“Let’s rest,” Rena Rouge mumbles when they’re safely behind a car, and she turns back into Alya in a flash of orange light, staring down at her feet. “You’ll want the necklace back, won’t you?”

“Huh?” Ladybug says. “What – why would I take your Miraculous?”

“Because I messed up big-time.” Alya still hasn’t looked up from the ground. “I made everything worse. I let my anger get in the way. And if you can’t trust me to –”

“Stop!” Ladybug holds up a hand, and Alya’s mouth clacks shut. “I’m not taking the Miraculous, Alya.”

“You’re not?” Alya’s head whips up, revealing the newfound shine in her hazel eyes.

“You don’t lose it for making a mistake, little kit,” Trixx says from Alya’s shoulder.

“Trixx is right,” Ladybug says. “Both Chat Noir and I trust you with our lives, and we’ve made plenty of mistakes between us. It’d be hypocritical to take your Miraculous from you. But it can’t happen again.”

“You’re a Fox, not a Bee,” Trixx says with a little sniff. “Leave the angry buzzing to Pollen’s chosens.”

“I’m sorry,” Alya sighs. “I was just…so angry. All that work – and he had to go and steal it – and then he didn’t even learn from being akumatised!”

“You’ve got every right to be angry,” Ladybug says, resting a hand on Alya’s shoulder. “But you can’t let it overwhelm you in battle. Chat Noir and I need to be able to trust that you’ve got our backs, and we can’t do that when you’re charging in angrily.”

Alya nods and stares back at the ground, blinking rapidly. Her head jerks back up at Ladybug’s next words.

“And I owe you an apology of my own.”

“What? Why? You didn’t do anything wrong!” Alya babbles.

“I should’ve realised that the battle was too personal,” Ladybug says. “This is a battle you should’ve sat out, Alya, and I’m sorry that I didn’t recognise that from the start.”

“Well, it’s not like you could’ve told me,” Alya says. “And wasn’t it safer for me to be Rena, anyway? So he couldn’t find me?”

“Yes, but we shouldn’t have let you get involved,” Ladybug says. “I’ll talk to Chat. We might implement a rule that you’re not allowed to get directly involved if we feel it’s too personal, unless we desperately need your help. One mistake could’ve leaked your secret identity or compromised your ability to be part of the team.”

“Understood, Ladybug,” Alya says with a frantic nod. “That makes sense. Oh!” She pulls out her phone and starts tapping. “I’ve finally got the group chat up –”

“We’ll sort that out tonight on patrol,” Ladybug says when her earrings beep. “I have to go and meet Carapace before Chat Noir transforms back as well.”

“Jerk,” Alya mutters. Ladybug rolls her eyes.

“Try and get along with him, yeah?” she says. “We’re a team, which means you have to have his back and he has to have yours.”

“Ugh, fine,” Alya says. “I’m gonna go and find the girls. And Marinette! I don’t know where she hid! See you tonight!”

Once Alya’s gone, Ladybug swings out from behind the car in the direction that Chat Noir and Carapace had gone. When she touches down in an alleyway next to Chat Noir, her eyes widen at the boy with the unmistakeable blue T-shirt and red cap.

“Nino?” she bursts out, then shakes her head. “I might’ve known.”

“Uh…hey, dudette,” Nino says with an awkward wave. “I get that I was a quick pick, so if you’ve got someone better for the Turtle –”

���Wait, what?” Ladybug says with a small smile. “I couldn’t think of anyone more perfect. You’re protective and loyal and a grounding presence among your friends.”

“That’s what I said!” Chat Noir looks like the cat that got the cream. Damn kitty and his damn adorable face and no, focus!

“You picked perfectly, Chat,” Ladybug says, and Chat Noir preens and runs a hand through his messy blond hair. “We’re meeting at the Eiffel Tower tonight at eight, Nino.”

“Wait, we are?” Nino jabs a finger at Chat Noir. “He told me I had to give it back after the battle!”

“Oh, you did the test?” Ladybug says to Chat Noir, who grins and shrugs.

“Yep. And he gave it back before I even had to ask. I was just gonna give it to him when you turned up.”

“Asking you to give the Miraculous back was a final test to see if we could trust you to keep your word,” Ladybug says to a slowly-blinking Nino. “Plenty of people would love to be a superhero, but giving their powers back and trusting us to pick them again, knowing that we could pick someone else? Chat and I tested Rena Rouge like this as well.”

“Wait, so –?” A wide grin splits Nino’s face when Chat Noir offers the bracelet, and he whoops and fist-bumps Wayzz when the little turtle kwami reappears. “Dude!”

“Welcome to the team, Carapace,” Ladybug smiles.

“I was wondering what you were doing when you told Nino that he would have to return my Miraculous,” Wayzz says once he’s settled against Nino’s neck, cushioned by the headphones hanging there. “Very wise, Ladybug.”

“And Chat Noir,” Ladybug says. “I didn’t even think to test Nino.”

“Um, I’m about two minutes from changing back, so…” Chat Noir holds up his beeping ring.

“Oh! Right!” Ladybug shakes her head. “And Rena’s finally finished tinkering with the team chat, so make up a burner email address and give it to her tonight so she can add you. It’ll let us get in touch outside the masks.”

“Ugh, Rena,” Nino groans. “Flirting with a taken turtle!”

Ladybug and Chat Noir try as hard as possible to fight back their grins. They almost succeed. Almost.

“To be fair, she has no idea who you are,” Ladybug says when Nino squints at her.

“And she didn’t seem like she was flirting,” Chat Noir adds. “She’s just…way into superheroes. She about died when we let her be Rena Rouge.”

“It’s probably just a misunderstanding,” Ladybug finishes. “And we can clear that up tonight. Bug out!”