#jse cheer

[wonderhorror-sys]

me and charlie using all oir combined artistic skill to... make a shitty map of our headspace. and it worked!

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Caverns & Creatures - Part One

Paranormal Preteens AU: Episode Twenty-Two

A JSE Fanfic

Before things start getting serious in this AU, let's have a fun adventure! One where I get to be a real nerd XD Much like a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, this adventure got longer than expected, so I had to split it in two. Jackie decides to teach the five younger kids how to play the tabletop game Caverns and Creatures. But Anti is upset that he got left out, and things go crazy from there. Hope I made this fun for people who don't know anything about DnD XD Enjoy! :D

More of this AU | From the Start | Read on AO3 at CrystalNinjaPhoenix

++++++++++++++++++++

“What do you mean it showed up again?!” Chase shouted.

“Shhh!” Marvin hushed him, then glanced around nervously. The cafeteria was always loud and crowded, but there was always a chance that some of the teachers might overhear—especially those who were part of the Circle, and who might be listening in intentionally. “Not so loud.”

“Sorry,” Chase said. “But it’s—it’s just freaky, right?”

“Is that doll with you right now?”

JJ nodded slowly. He opened up his bag, and slowly took out that same plush doll, now wearing a miniature version of their school uniform.

“It changed clothes again,” Marvin muttered, shuddering. “It really is mimicking you.”

JJ hurriedly put it back in his bag. I didn’t put it in my bookbag, but when I checked on it before coming to the cafeteria, it was there, he said.

“Omg,” Stacy gasped. “You’re right, Chase, that is really freaky.”

Chase nodded. “But, uh... what do we do?”

“I don’t know, that’s why we’re asking you!” Marvin insisted. “When it showed up in our room again, we were completely lost.”

“You threw it out the window, yes?” Schneep said. “Did that... do anything? To the doll, or to Jameson?”

The doll is fine, JJ said. As for me... I don’t know. I seem fine. But I don’t think a fall from our window would really hurt, you know? So it’s hard to tell.

“Hmm.” Schneep frowned. “I still do not think we can do much... if we cannot tell that JJ will be safe, it is not worth the risk.”

“Maybe Marvin can pull the greenlight out of the doll?” Chase suggested. “Like he could with the paperpillar?”

Marvin paused. Then he turned to JJ. “Hand it to me.” JJ nodded and took the doll out again, handing it over to him. Marvin screwed his eyes shut, concentrating. Then he shook his head. “I don’t... I don’t know. It’s hard for me to, uh... grab it? It’s like... slippery. If that makes sense.” He handed it back to JJ.

“We can ask Jackie about it,” Stacy said. “Are we, uh, still gonna do that thing on Saturday?”

“Yeah... the thing.” Chase nodded. “We’re gonna do that.”

“You can just say we’re playing Cavern and Creatures, y’know,” Marvin said. “There’s no reason to be scared of it.”

“Well I mean... y’know, I...” Chase stammered. “I have a... Um, that’s like... M-maybe some other time. I mean, I don’t even know if I’ll like the game.”

The group had agreed to meet at Jackie’s house on Saturday around two to try out a game of Caverns and Creatures. This would give Jackie enough time to borrow stuff for the game from his friend Ram, give the others time to think about what sort of characters they wanted to make, and also, conveniently, Stacy’s parents were attending a piano recital for her sister Roxy, and with enough pleading she’d managed to convince them to let Jackie “babysit” her instead of dragging her to the recital as well.

“I’m sure it will be fun, Chase,” Schneep said. “After all, we are doing it together. If you are not enjoying the game, at least you will enjoy us, right?”

Chase laughed. “Yeah. That sounds so cheesy but yeah.”

JJ smiled nervously. I’m excited too. I just... hope nothing happens before then.

Chase hesitated. “I-it’ll be fine, JJ,” he said. “Cheer up.”

JJ’s expression brightened. Alright, I’ll look forward to it.

“I’m sure nothing will happen,” Marvin said, hiding his uncertainty. “We’ll just keep a close eye on the doll in the meantime.”

It will be fine, JJ agreed. It will be fine.

++++++++++++++++++++

“That doesn’t sound fine,” Jackie said.

The next couple days had passed without incident, and now the group was gathered in the living room of Jackie’s house. The doll had once again followed JJ, tagging along in his bag even when he left it home. And it was once again wearing a miniature version of his clothes: today, a button-up yellow shirt and brown pants.

“Well, no, but at least nothing bad’s gone on!” Marvin said.

“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean it’s fine,” Jackie insisted. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? You have my phone number.”

JJ shrugged and didn’t answer, putting the doll back in his bag.

“D’you have any ideas, Jackie?” Chase asked, looking up to him.

Jackie sighed. “I dunno, little man. If Marvin can’t pull the greenlight out of it, I just don’t know. I don’t want to risk hurting JJ by destroying it. I mean... it might not work that way, but if it does... I-I guess we just wait and see? If it turns out that it’s hurting JJ more by keeping it around, we’ll try ways to get rid of it.” He paused. “Maybe we could try getting it far away and that teleporting things will stop? But how far away?”

Schneep sighed. “This is a problem.”

“What’s a problem?” Mr. Mann walked into the living room, overhearing Schneep’s last statement.

“Just some school stuff, Dad,” Jackie lied. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it all sorted out.”

“Helping them with their homework?” Mr. Mann chuckled. “I thought you all were going to play a game.”

“We are! This was just, uh, small talk and stuff.”

“Alright, alright. Head on down to the basement whenever you want. If you guys need anything, just shout. And uh, try not to touch my camping supplies, okay?”

“We won’t, Mr. Mann,” Stacy promised.

“We’re going to the basement?” Marvin asked.

“Yep.” Jackie nodded. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”

Jackie led the way. There was a plain wooden door in the middle of the hallway, completely undecorated. He opened it up—giving it a good tug, seemed like it got a bit stuck in the frame—and flicked on a light switch, showing a set of stairs leading downwards, covered in shaggy brown carpet. The group headed down into a hallway, the walls painted a pale yellow. There was a door to the left, ajar, showing a laundry room of some kind. There was also a door to the right. Jackie opened that one up, turning on the light in there as well, and everyone piled in.

Right by the doorway was a bookshelf full of stuff: old board games and boxes for puzzles. Up against the opposite wall, underneath a high-up window, were a series of stacked plastic boxes full of what looked like old clothes. Outdoorsy equipment was stacked in the corners of the room. There’s a desk up against a spot by the wall, with two clunky computers on it. “I set things up already,” Jackie said, indicating the center of the room, where two folding card tables were pressed against each other, forming an island of sorts with some folding chairs around it.

The kids immediately crowded around. A lot of paper covered the surface of the tables. Most of it was a big folding map, sort of like a board for a board game, with a grid pattern overlaid on top of the drawings. At one end of the table was a folding screen of some kind, blocking off a section of the table from view. And in the middle of the island was a shoebox full of dice.

“Whooooa, wait, what?” Marvin reached into a box and picked up a handful of dice. “These are so pretty!”

Jackie laughed. “They better be—I spent a lot on them. But some of them are Ram’s, so try not to lose any. I-I wanted you all to have your own set.”

“Weird shapes,” Chase muttered, picking up one that looked like a pyramid.

“Yep. You’ll mostly be using this one, though.” Jackie grabbed one, holding it in two fingers. “The d20, as it’s called. Here, everyone sit down, I put a character sheet at each place.”

Everyone took their places. Jackie sat at the head of the table, behind the screen. Chase took the seat to his right, and Schneep sat on Chase’s other side. Stacy sat across from Chase, and JJ next to her, leaving Marvin at the other end of the table, bouncing in the chair excitedly.

“Okay, I texted you all a list of possible stuff your character can be, but it might not have been that clear,” Jackie said. “So, um... any questions?”

Stacy raised her hand—like she was in class. “Can I be a vampire?”

Jackie blinked. “Um—”

Chase burst into laughter.

“What’s so funny?!” Stacy said defensively.

“I just—wasn’t expecting that from you!” Chase said, smiling. “It’s kinda fun.”

“Vampires are cool. Are there vampires in Caverns and Creatures?”

“Yeah, there are, but uh... I don’t know if you can play as them.” Jackie picked up a book—looking like a thin textbook—and started flipping through it. “But, uh, if you really want, I can try to... adjust the monster stat block for you? You know you’ll have to be careful of sunlight, right?”

“I can have an umbrella or something,” Stacy said.

What’s the difference between a warrior and a knight? JJ asked.

“Well, a knight is more built around armor and defense, and a warrior is varied,” Jackie said. “And then there’s the martial artist if you want to be fast, the berserker if you want to be strong, and the rogue if you want to be sneaky.”

“That one!” Stacy raised her hand again. “I want to be sneaky. If I stay in the shadows, I can be a vampire.”

Jackie laughed. “That does make sense. Okay, give me a minute, Stacy, I’m gonna have to mess with some stuff for you.” He picked up a pencil and piece of paper and started to write. “Are the rest of you guys sorted?”

“I bet Marvin’s gonna be a witch,” Chase laughed.

“There’s no witch, actually,” Marvin said. “But there are lots of magic ones! Sorcerers, enchanters, wizards, pact-sworns... I like sorcerers best, I think, cause it’s like... the magic is part of you, you know? But wizards do have more spell options, hmm...”

“Can I be one of the bird people?” Schneep asked tentatively. “With the wings? Or will that make things too hard, Jackie?”

“Why would it make things hard?” Jackie asked.

“Well... flying could mean I could fly over things.”

“You do what’s fun to you,” Jackie said, looking up at him and smiling over the screen. “I can work with whatever.”

Schneep nodded slowly. “I, uh... I want to do that. And I want to be a potion master, too.”

“Nice! Underrated class, if you ask me. Your potions work the same as spell slots, you’ll have a limited number of them and during a long rest we can assume you spend some time replacing them.”

Chase shook his head. “The spell slots thing confuses me.”

“Then don’t pick a class that uses them,” Jackie said.

“I’m not gonna. I want to be a hunter. With the bow and stuff.” Chase pantomimed drawing back a bow and arrow. “It’s kinda like my Nerf gun.”

“Alright.” Jackie nodded. “You did seem interested in that when I texted you. JJ? Got an idea for what you want?”

JJ blinked. He looked a bit embarrassed. Don’t laugh.

“None of us are gonna laugh, JJ,” Chase said.

I... want to be a berserker, JJ said, signs small.

“Huh?” Stacy looked surprised. “That doesn’t really seem like you.”

Exactly. I think it’ll be fun to play someone different than me. And I want to hit things.

Jackie grinned. “That’s totally great, Jays. Hitting things is pretty fun in C&C. And Marvin? You decided?”

Marvin had been looking over a handout from Jackie this whole time, listing out the basic differences between the different magic classes. “Uhhh... yeah, I’ll be a sorcerer. A fiend sorcerer.”

Oh! And I’ll be an elf, I forgot to mention that, JJ added.

“Awesome. We don’t get a lot of elf berserkers, that’s not a usual combination.”

Chase frowned. “I just want to be human. Is that boring?”

“Nothing’s boring if it’s fun for you guys,” Jackie assured him. “Really. I usually play a human warrior, that’s about as basic as it gets.” He chuckled. “Okay. Stacy, I think I got some stuff sorted out. With that, I’ll help you guys fill out the sheets. Take these dice, we’re going to roll for your stats. JJ, you’ll want your highest one to be strength, Stacy and Chase, yours should be agility, Marvin, focus on charm, and Schneep, focus on intelligence.”

Some time passed as Jackie helped the kids figure out all their stats and abilities. Marvin and Schneep took the longest, as he had to guide them through what possible spells and potions they wanted to use. Soon, though, they each had the whole sheet filled out.

“That took a while,” Chase said, looking at a clock on the wall. “Like... an hour. And that’s just getting ready?”

“This isn’t normally how it works out,” Jackie said. “But you guys are new. Once you learn more this becomes easier. And there’s also five of you at once.”

“Okay, so what are we playing, then?” Marvin asked excitedly. “What’s our quest?”

“I’m using a one-shot campaign from a kit,” Jackie said, picking up a booklet and showing the others. “Secrets of Suilara. It shouldn’t take too long... but if it does, we can come back to it some other day easily enough.”

Schneep reached into his backpack and pulls out a small notebook and pencil, writing something down. “How do you spell that? Sool...arr...uh?”

“Here, the lid of the box has the name.” Jackie handed it over to him.

“What’re you doing?” Chase asked.

“Taking notes. If we might come back to this later, we need to be sure we don’t forget.”

“Oh that’s a great idea!” Stacy gasped. “I should’ve brought my notebook.”

Jackie laughed. “Alright, everyone put your pieces on the board.” He’d mentioned that they didn’t have miniatures earlier, so everyone had grabbed parts from the board games on the shelves. “Before we get started, we should get snacks. C&C takes a surprising amount of energy.” He stood up. “I’ll go get some. Any requests?”

“D’you have Lassie Trail Mix?” Stacy asked. “My family is very specific about the sort of stuff we can eat and that’s my favorite.”

“I’ll go look,” Jackie promised. “Anything else for anyone?”

“Crisps?” Chase said.

“D’you have pretzels?” Marvin asked.

“Definitely crisps, not sure about pretzels,” Jackie said. “My dad’s probably gonna suggest fruit or something, too.” He stood up. “I’ll be right back. You guys talk about your characters and stuff in the meantime. How they know each other, if they know each other, stuff like that.” He waved at the others and headed out of the room. They could hear him head up the stairs.

“Well... this is going to be fun!” Schneep said cheerfully.

“You guys think so?” Chase asked.

JJ nodded. I’m sure it will be.

The lights overhead flickered. “You guys are having fun without me?”

All at once, the kids turned to look at the corner of the room... the corner where Anti was now standing, shadowy as ever.

“What the fuck?!” Marvin gasped. He whirled towards the doorway. “Jackie!”

“No no no no.” Anti disappeared and reappeared in front of the door, which slammed shut on its own behind him. “Don’t be like that! I can’t believe you all are playing a game without me!”

“Why wouldn’t we be playing a game without you?” Chase demanded. “We don’t really know you!”

Anti blinked. “But—but—you can’t do that without me!”

“Oh fuck off!” Marvin snapped.

“You eff off!” Anti shouted back. He suddenly appeared next to the table, right between Marvin and Schneep. “I heard alllll your explanations. I can play! In fact, I can make it even better.”

Stacy stared at him. “...what do you mean?” She asked, trepidation in her voice.

Anti reached out to the side, and something appeared in his hand. He threw it out onto the table. Seven crystals, irregularly shaped—not like the dice, but clearly meant to serve the same purpose. They landed around the edges of the board and immediately started glowing green.

JJ got to his feet. Marvin shouted “What the fuck?!” Stacy turned towards the doorway.

But before any of them could do anything more than that, the green glow flared, filling the room and blinding them all. When it faded, all of them were gone. And the board was glowing green. Anti leaned over it. The whole thing had become a window, looking down at a forest floor. Anti grinned.

The door to the room opened again, and Jackie poked his head in. “Hey guys, do you want potato or corn cr—” He stopped, eyes going wide. “Wh-what?”

“Hi!” Anti smiled at him, waving.

“What’s going on?! Wh-what did you do to the others?!” Jackie demanded, feeling frozen in place.

“They’re in here!” Anti pointed at the window-like board.

Jackie rushed over, peering down into the window...

++++++++++++++++++++

Chase opened his eyes, and found himself no longer in Jackie’s basement room, but now in a forest. Gentle dappled sunlight coated the forest floor, and bright green moss covered the trunks of the trees. He looked around, confused. Then he looked down at himself, even more confused. His clothes were different. He still had the cap he was wearing, but everything else was different. What sort of costume was this? Dark browns and greens, thick leather armor, and... was that a real knife on his belt? And a real quiver full of arrows?

“What the fuck?”

Chase turned towards the voice and yelped. “Marvin, is that you?!”

“Huh? Yeah.” Marvin blinked at him. His head dipped a little, weighted down by the heavy horns that were now growing out of his head. “Whoa.” He reached up, feeling them. His eyes went wide. “Wait a—wait a minute!” His outfit had changed as well. His cape was still in place, but now he was wearing a pale purple tunic lined with gold. “Do I have—why do I have fucking horns?!”

“Help!” Schneep was lying on his back nearby, trying to get up. He was also wearing a tunic, though his was white and blue, and he had leather armor like Chase’s on over it.

“Oh, yeah, o-of course.” Chase hurried over and helped him up. It was more difficult than expected... because Schneep was not, as Chase first thought, lying on a pile of feathers. He instead had a pair of wings sprouting from his back, in shades of brown and creamy white. “...Schneep?! Are you an angel?!”

“Ah... thank you, Chase?” Schneep said, confused.

“You have fucking wings!” Marvin pointed and shouted.

“What?!”

“Uh... guys?” The voice came from above them that time. They all looked up into the trees, and saw Stacy there, looking white as a sheet—and not from shock. Her glasses were still in place, but her outfit had been replaced by another medieval-style outfit. This one was pink with black frills, and black leather armor. A belt around her chest had three sheathed knives. “H-how do I get down?”

“...climb down?” Chase suggested.

“Thanks, that’s very helpful.”

“Where’s JJ?” Marvin looked around. “Where is he?!”

A whistle came from behind a tree trunk. JJ peered around it, then came out and walked over. He was wearing some sort of loose short-sleeved red shirt with a cape made of some sort of fur pelt. His ears had become pointed at the top. And there was a giant freaking weapon strapped to his back. Is that... a flail? JJ had chosen that as his weapon for his character in Caverns and Creatures—oh.

“Are we in the game?!” Chase gasped.

Part of the sky above them seemed to open up, a green glowing circle forming. In the middle of it: Jackie’s worried face. “Guys?! Are you okay?!”

“We’re fine, Jackie!” Schneep shouted, looking up at it. “Are you okay?!”

Jackie laughed. “I-I’m fine! But Anti—”

Anti’s face suddenly appeared, shoving Jackie’s to the side. “C’mon c’mon! Go go go! Where are all the monsters? There’s supposed to be monsters!”

“You put us in the fucking game?!” Marvin shouted. “What is this?! I-is this some sort of weird pocket dimension?!”

“I dunno. I just made it happen.”

How do we get out of here?! JJ asked.

“Yeah, how do we get out of here?!”

“I-I don’t know!” Jackie shouted. “Um—Anti, how do they get out?!” he asked, desperately looking over at him.

“They finish the game, duh.”

“Do you even know how the game ends?!” Jackie asked.

Anti stared at him, blinking.

Jackie sighed, frustrated. “Okay. Looks like I’ll have to CM you guys out of there, then.” He briefly disappeared from sight. The others could hear the sound of him flipping through the book.

“Seriously, how do I get out of this tree?” Stacy asked.

“Just... try climbing down? I-I don’t know how to explain it,” Chase said.

“Okay, okay. Fine.��� Stacy stared down at the ground, thinking. Then she pushed herself off the branch—

A series of numbers appeared next to her, pink and mist-like, flipping like they were on a rolling counter. It landed on 02, and then a +5 appeared next to it, bumping the number up to 07. Stacy immediately fell on her face. “Oof!”

“Holy shit!” Marvin gasped. JJ winced.

The guys immediately rushed over to her.

“A-are you okay?!” Chase asked.

“Owww.” Stacy got to her feet. Another number appeared above her head. 10... which then rolled down to a 09.

“Uh... I think you just failed your agility saving throw,” Jackie said. “And you lost a health point because of that.”

Is that just going to happen whenever we try to do anything? JJ said, eyes wide.

“Probably,” Jackie said. “Okay, uh... we’re playing Secrets of Suilara. There’s this opening paragraph of exposition, I-I think you guys need to hear this so you can understand what the hell is going on right now. So, you guys were hired by Dalrun the dwarf to carry a satchel of precious gems to the city of Suilara, through the Kanrrol Forest. One of you should have that.”

“I think I do?” Marvin said, pushing back his cape. He did indeed have a leather satchel on his back.

“Okay, good. I don’t remember, who has the highest navigation skill? Probably Chase, right?”

“I think mine was really high, yeah.” Chase nodded. “I, uh... filled in the little dot next to it. That means I’m really good at it. So... I’ll lead the way, then?”

“Exactly,” Jackie said.

“Alright, uh...” Chase looked around. A set of yellow misty numbers appeared next to his head, rolling, and landing on a 15, and then a +3 made it into an 18. Suddenly, Chase saw it. The way the grass and undergrowth was trampled down, creating a winding trail through the forest. “This way. Let’s go.”

They walked for a while. Stacy found out that the staff strapped to her back was actually an umbrella, which turned out to be needed as the bits of sunlight coming through the trees burned her as she passed by. “I didn’t think I’d actually be a vampire,” she muttered. “Or I would’ve chosen something else.”

Meanwhile, Marvin started immediately trying out magic. He was able to conjure up sparkles, make the smell of freshly-cut grass, and cause a rock he picked up to start glowing. He seemed absolutely delighted by all this, grinning the whole way. Schneep was similarly delighted by all his potions, small glass bottles in various shapes, filled with brightly-colored liquids, all strapped to the belts he had around his waist and chest.

“This is boooring!” Anti suddenly said, chiming in through the window of the sky.

“Well this is how the game goes,” Jackie said, glaring at him.

“No, it’s not! It’s supposed to be more exciting!” Anti leaned forward. “Suddenly—monsters! They appear from the shadows and attack!”

Chase looked up at the window in the sky. “You can’t just make stuff happen by yelling—”

But then growls come from the trees around them.

The group stopped walking all at once. Yellow eyes glowed in the shadows, and five creatures slowly stepped forward. Blue lizard-like creatures, as big as wolves, with clear insectile wings sprouting from their backs. “Are these dragons?!” Stacy said, her voice squeaking.

“Oh shit!” Jackie gasped. “Th-those are fly-dragons! You’re supposed to find them later in the game, if you come back into the forest to find the—okay, um—h-hang on, let me find their stats—”

Numbers appeared over each of the fly-dragons’ heads, rolling through until they landed on different amounts. 09, 04, 13, 15, 18. Then the same thing happened with the kids—Chase: 12, Schneep: 07, Marvin: 17, JJ: 16, and Stacy: 10. “What’s that?” Marvin asked. “Oh! Wait, that’s the turn order, righ—”

One of the fly-dragons lunged forward, teeth snapping. More numbers rolled by its head, landing on a 09 that was deflected as a 17 appeared in front of JJ. The fly-dragon bit onto JJ’s arm but JJ managed to pull it out, and looked down at his unharmed skin in surprise.

“What’s the turn order, again?” Chase asked.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like,” Jackie explained. “You take turns doing things in combat. Looks like it’s Marvin’s turn next, he was the next highest.”

“Oooo.” Marvin grinned excitedly. He cupped his hands together, and a ball of fire formed in them. He threw it towards the fly-dragons. Numbers flew through the air, and the fireball exploded, knocking back three of the dragons. One of them stopped moving, while the other two got back up.

“Marvin, did you just use a fireball spell on these dragons?” Jackie asked.

“Yep, I think so!”

“That... was maybe a bit overkill.” Jackie shook his head. “Anyway, who’s next?”

JJ raised his hand. What do I do? 

“Uh... hit people with your big weapon???” Chase said.

Right. JJ reached over his shoulder and grabbed the flail. He adjusted his grip on it a couple times, looking nervous. Then he started to raise it, but lowered it again. Then he walked forward, slowly, towards one of the fly-dragons, which growled—

“Oh just fucking hit it JJ!” Marvin shouted.

JJ jumped in surprise and swung the flail. More numbers appeared in midair, made of blue mist, and they landed on 20—accompanied by a few sparkling fireworks. The spiky ball at the end of the flail hit the fly-dragon right in the face, the number 7 flying out from the impact—which then turned into a 14.

“Huh?! Why’d it turn into something else?” Stacy asked.

“I remember this actually!” Schneep said. “If you land a critical hit then you double the damage of an attack!”

“Ohh so those numbers are us rolling!” Chase nodded. “Good job, Jays!”

JJ blinked, then grinned, excited.

One of the fly-dragons roared and opened its mouth, a column of blue fire pouring out of its mouth and hitting Chase and Schneep. Chase yelped—but the fire didn’t actually hurt. It was very hot, but it didn’t hurt. A little number appeared next to his head: a 12 that rolled down to an 08. He saw more numbers appear next to Schneep: a light blue 09 that became a 05. 

“Wait a second—that’s our health, isn’t it?!” Chase gasped. “What happens if it reaches zero?!”

“...oh no.” Jackie turned to stare at Anti. “What happens if their health reaches zero?”

Anti shrugged. “They lose.”

“Do they—”

Another one of the fly-dragons leaped forward, claws extended, and attacked Marvin. He yelped, going down, and a green number by his head went from 07 to 04.

“Shit!” Jackie cursed. “You weren’t supposed to fight the fly-dragons yet! You’re under-leveled, you don’t have enough health! Get out of there, guys!”

“Can we get out of here?!” Chase asked. “What if we’re locked into the level?!”

“This isn’t a video game, you can do whatever you want! And you should want to get out of there right now!” 

“Okay!” Chase broke into a run, darting across the ground. But he didn’t get too far before his legs suddenly stopped on their own. “What the heck?!”

“Shit, right, you have limited movement on each turn,” Jackie cursed.

“Uh—this is fine!” Chase reached over his back and grabbed the heavy weight he’d felt there earlier. As he suspected, it was a bow. He notched an arrow, hands moving on their own like he’d been doing this forever. He aimed at one of the burned fly-dragons and fired the arrow. Numbers followed it as it shot towards the dragon. They landed on a 13, only for a 14 to show up above the dragon as the arrow bounced off its scales. “...what?”

“Ah, you didn’t break its armor!” Schneep said, nodding decisively. 

“Greaaaat.”

“I think it’s my turn now?” Stacy said. “Hang on, Marvin, I’ll get that dragon off you!” She pulled one of her daggers free and ran over to the dragon pinning Marvin down, stabbing it—the number reading a 16 as she did—and using the force of the motion to push it away. She reached down and grabbed Marvin by the hand, pulling him up and running away, dragging him behind her.

“What the—?!” Chase gasped. “You—you moved so much farther than me!”

“Oh, I remember this! I can use a bonus action to dash!” Stacy said, delighted.

“No fair!”

Another of the fly-dragons breathed fire towards Jameson. He stumbled back, a 16 above his head going down to 14. Then it was Schneep’s turn. He unhooked a potion from his belt and drank from it. A 05 above his head rolled up to a 09.

“What?!” Chase gaped. “What was that?!”

“Healing potion! I have many of them,” Schneep said, running towards him.

“Did I choose the wrong class?!”

A fly-dragon lunged for Stacy, trying to bite her, but she managed to dodge. Another one—the first one who’d attacked—breathed out a column of fire, only for an 01 to appear above its head as the fire just barely missed Schneep.

“Fucking hell!” Marvin gasped. “Just run! Everyone run!”

It took a while, and they had to keep dodging the attacks from the fly-dragons, but eventually they pulled away from them and the dragons disappeared into the distance.

“Oh come on!” Anti leaned up close to the window in the sky. “Boooo! Boooooo!”

“Hey shut the fuck up!” Marvin shouted. “You sprung those fucking dragons on us! You heard what Jackie just said, we weren’t supposed to fight them yet!”

“But you were just walking through the woods! That’s no fun!”

“Get out of the way!” Jackie tried to shove Anti back, but found his hands went right through him. “I’m the CM here! Not you! Okay, uh—so the trees clear up and you see the city of Suilara on the horizon.”

As he said that, the five kids rounded a big tree trunk, and saw it just as described. Buildings made of stone and highlighted with dark wood. Behind the town, a rocky slope rose into the air. A mountain of some kind, maybe? Though it would be a small mountain.

“Okay, let’s hurry over there before more fucking monsters appear,” Marvin said, speeding up a little.

I hope they can help us gain more health back, JJ added.

“What’re you so concerned about?! You got a little burned, I lost like half my hp!” Marvin pointed out.

Maybe you should have picked a class with more health, then.

Marvin shoved him.

The group found their way over to a little road and followed that into the town. Some people walked about, wearing tunics and dresses in the same style that they’d found themselves wearing—though these people’s outfits were less elaborate. “Alright... so this is the town, then,” Chase said, looking around. “What’re we supposed to do, again?”

“Deliver that thing Marvin had, right?” Stacy recalled. “Uh... to who, though?”

“Oh!” That window in the sky was still there, so the group could see Jackie reach over and pick up the booklet he’d shown them earlier. “You’re supposed to find a dwarf named Helga Wolffighter to give that to.”

“Okay... where is she?” Chase asked.

“That is sort of ruining the fun to just ask, is it not?” Schneep pointed out.

“Well—I wasn’t expecting to actually go into the game! And like... have to walk around and stuff. Not to mention if Anti’s right we’ll have to actually ‘beat’ the game to get out of here, so... seems important to do that quickly.”

“You can’t ask!” Anti shouted suddenly. “That’s cheating! It won’t count!”

Jackie looked at him and frowned. Then he turned back to the window. “Sorry guys. Uh... I’ll do everything I can to help without just telling you. And I’ll try to make this fun, like a good CM does.” He laughed nervously. “Okay, um... ask around. Normally this would be a search skill check, I don’t know how you, uh, do that... while in game.”

“If it was like how I climbed out of the tree, then you just like... do it,” Stacy said. “And it either works or doesn’t. D’you guys remember who had the highest search skill? I think mine was a +4 or something.”

“I had a +6,” Schneep says, raising his hand.

Stacy laughed. “Alright. Uh... you take the lead, then?”

Schneep nodded. He wandered out to the front of the group. More of the numbers appeared by his head, landing on a 12 and then getting an additional +6 to make an 18. “Ah yes, that weapon shop over there. It says ‘Wolffighter’, see?” He pointed at a low stone building, which did indeed have the world ‘Wolffighter’ on its sign, along with some other weird symbols. “I think it says it in dwarvish, too. And there is also an inn over there, if we want to find somewhere to stay for the night, first.” He pointed in the opposite direction.

“Hmm. Coooool,” Marvin said. “I think we can go to the inn after we drop off this bag thing. Do we know what’s inside?”

JJ shrugged. He looked up at the window in the sky. Do we know what’s inside?

“Uh—the booklet just says that you know it’s valuable and that you were promised a lot of money to deliver it,” Jackie said. “But if you want to know more, you can... do a recall skill check? Which uh... means just trying to remember? I think?”

JJ nodded. His face screwed up in concentration. The numbers by his head rolled, landing on a 10... but then a -2 appeared, making it an 08. I vaguely remember that it’s... heavy? JJ said.

Marvin laughed. “Your memory is shit! It’s usually better than that!”

Well, it’s not really my memory, is it? JJ said. Right now, we’re all in the place of our characters. And I remember putting a really low number for my intelligence and all its skills.

“Why would you put a low number for your intelligence?” Stacy asked, shocked.

If I was going to be mostly hitting things, it didn’t seem necessary! 

“Let’s just, uh... go to that weapons shop,” Chase said slowly.

The five of them headed over there. It looked like they were attracting a few looks from the locals of Suilara. Chase waved at them cheerfully. Some waved back, some didn’t.

When they arrived in the shop, a bell let out a low dingdong sound, announcing their arrival. The shop was filled with, of course, weapons of all types. Mostly swords and axes, which hung on the walls in proud display rows. There were also long spears, some hammers, daggers, staffs, bows and arrows, sticks with spikes on the end—just about any weapon imaginable. There was a counter at the back of the shop, and behind it—a short, stocky woman about four feet tall, with curly brown hair and a curly brown beard to match.

“...beard?” Stacy whispered.

“Yeah, all dwarves have beards,” Jackie said from the window in the sky.

“Well, what can I do you for, travelers?” the woman asked—apparently not hearing Jackie’s comment.

“Hi!” Chase said. “I’m, um... oh, we should probably use our characters’ names, huh? I’m Fahl Trailblazer.”

“And I am Morgana Ebony Rose,” Stacy added, making her voice higher and whispery.

“Why’re you talking like that?” Chase muttered.

“This is how Morgana talks!” Stacy whispered back.

“And my name is Axitios, perhaps you’ve heard of me,” Marvin said, making his voice hoarser and rougher.

“And I am Rhess Zachter!” Schneep added, speaking in a higher, slightly screechier register.

Chase frowned. He turned to JJ. “Should I start talking differently or is that lame?”

JJ shrugged. He turned back to the dwarf woman and signed, spelling it out, And my name is Ion Esinna. Somehow, his signing seemed different than usual. Why was Chase the only one who hadn’t been able to come up with a new voice?

“Great job, guys!” Jackie said encouragingly.

“An unusual group, I see,” said the dwarf woman. “Here to buy?”

“No, we’re actually here to, uh... sell?” Chase said.

“Sell? What d’you have to sell?”

“No, wait, we’re not selling anything!” Marvin quickly added. “We’re looking for Helga Wolffighter, we have a delivery for her from, uh... Dalrun the dwarf. Are you her?”

The dwarf woman seemed to stand to attention. “Aye, that’s me.”

Marvin narrowed his eyes slightly. “Are you really?” More numbers appeared by his head. 16+3. 19. “Oh. I guess you are.” He took the pack off his back. “Now, uh... we were told that we’d receive payment for this.”

“Of course. How much?”

The group paused. Chase looked up at Jackie. “How much are we gonna get?”

“Dalrun promised, uh...” Jackie checked the booklet. “Fifty gold pieces for each of you.”

“Got it.” Stacy nodded, and looked at Helga. “Dalrun promised us a hundred gold pieces for each of us.”

JJ and Marvin burst into laughter. “Stacy!” Schneep said, shocked.

“What? Morgana loves gold and treasure! This is totally in character!”

Helga narrowed her eyes. “That seems an absurd amount, even for this.”

“Well it’s true,” Stacy lied.

“Okay, you’re definitely going to have to do a persuasion skill check for this,” Jackie muttered.

The numbers appeared next to Stacy’s head, landing on an 11+4 to make a 15. “I’ll give you seventy-five each, but I’ll go no higher than that,” Helga said.

“That’s fair,” Stacy said.

Helga reached beneath the counter and, after a bit of rummaging, pulled out five small pouches. “Now... the package, if you’ll please.”

Marvin took the satchel off his back and set it on the counter. Helga picked it up and turned around, looking inside. All at once, the five of them leaned to the sides, trying to catch a glimpse of what was in the satchel. Numbers rolled beside their heads, resulting in a 07, 05, 09, 11, and 17—with Chase having the 17. He was able to see something round and golden, like a volleyball made out of gold. It seemed to be glowing slightly. Then Helga closed the satchel and turned back around, nodding. “Thank you very much. Now, anything else I can do for you?”

I don’t think so? JJ said.

“Very well, then. Pleasure doing business with you.”

After a moment of silence, Schneep said, “I suppose we just... leave?”

And so, they did.

The five of them stood on the street outside the weapon’s shop, watching the city. And all of them... waiting. “Um... we did beat the game, didn’t we?” Chase said, looking up into the window in the sky. “So... why aren’t we... going home?”

“Um... nnnno,” Jackie said slowly. “You... didn’t beat the game.”

“What?!” Stacy shouted.

“Even a short one-shot isn’t just a simple delivery quest like that!” Jackie said. “There’s—at least one more thing you can do.”

Behind him, Anti laughed. “Yeah!” Jackie looked back over his shoulder and glared at him, but Anti didn’t even notice. “That would be laaaame.”

Can’t you do anything, Jackie?! JJ asked.

“I-I don’t know! I don’t know how this happened! And I don’t have any powers or anything. All I can do is help you guys out from up here.” Jackie flipped through the booklet. “Look, uh... Schneep noticed that inn, right? Maybe you should go there for the night.”

The five of them looked around. “We’re not... gonna have to sleep in here, are we?” Chase asked anxiously. “I mean... what would Mom say? I-if we don’t come home?”

“I’m going to get you guys out of there before anyone notices, I promise,” Jackie said fiercely. “The campaign doesn’t last that long, I swear. It... it’ll be fine.” His voice cracked a little.

“W-we have a couple hours before things start getting worrying, i-in any case,” Schneep pointed out. “They will not be expecting us back before then.” 

“Look, just go to the inn, I’m going to do everything I can to move this along,” Jackie said.

“Alright, alright.” Chase sighed. “Let’s go, guys.”

The group trickled down the street, heading towards the inn that Schneep had pointed out earlier. It’s called the Unicorn’s Crown. A tall man with a thick beard sells them rooms for twenty gold each—apparently the five of them all had money in their pockets even beforehand. Together they bought three rooms. Stacy insisted on getting one to herself, which none of the guys disagreed with, and from there they split up into Chase and Schneep in one room and Marvin and JJ in the other. 

The rooms were on the second floor. Before splitting up, they all gathered in the hallway. The window in the sky remained, Jackie and Anti visible in it. “Uh... start... getting some rest, guys,” Jackie suggested slowly. “You just went through a lot. Rest recovers your health.”

“I have health potions,” Schneep said, taking bottles off his belt. “Who is hurt the most? Marvin, yes?”

“Yeah, I think it’s me, thanks.” Marvin took the offered potion and drank it. “...huh. I expected it to taste like cherry, but it’s basically just water.”

“Strange, yes?” Schneep said. “Now... we rest.”

“Don’t rest for too long!” Anti shouted. “That’ll be boring!”

JJ looked up towards the window and made a very rude gesture.

Anti laughed. “Maybe you’re not so bad after all!”

“Okay, let’s all lie down, then,” Stacy said. “Hopefully soon we’ll be able to get out of here.” And she turned and left the room.

JJ and Marvin left soon after, leaving Schneep and Chase in the room. “Chase...?” Schneep whispered. “We are going to get out of here, yes? I mean... that fight back there was sort of fun, but I do not want to worry Aunt Jess.”

Chase put his arm around him, pulling him close. He brushed against the new wings growing out of Schneep’s back in the process. “It’s going to be fine,” he said. “This is... just another adventure! It’s a pretty crazy one, but we’ve gone through worse. Remember the hospital?”

Schneep nodded slowly. “Well, that was worse for Marvin than the rest of us. But I get your point.”

“Exactly. It will be fine.” Chase smiled.

This was going to be a big adventure. But they’d handle it like all the others.

[jacksepticeye-protection-squad]

i know this blog has gone quiet for a while but i want to cheer you up (and even move on from the drama stuff) by asking you what is your most favorite moment in this blog? i know its a random question but it would drift you out of this jse discourse stress if that helps

oh god uhhhh im gonna be so honest rn i dont remember a lot from this blog LMAO

two things come to mind though

1. i used to do a lot of in-character shenanigans like "oOoOo help anti got me im puppet now" n shit when i was 15, and i remember being so ecstatic that people were actually laying along with it. i may have been cringe but i was FREE and having FUN !! it was also me kinda experimenting with like. storybuilding and stuff. i wasnt any good at it bc i had just started but it was really fun and thats all that matters.

2. i went to the HDWGH tour in april 2018, and i was talking to someone in line and mentioned this blog, and they recognized me from it!! it made me really happy i felt like i was so cool for that. still kinda do tbh bc what are the odds that out of the hundreds of people there i'd end up talking to someone who knew this blog. crazy.

[jsecheersquad-blog]

Hello all you beautiful people out there!

This is the unofficial OFFICIAL JSE Charity Cheer Squad tumblr. (I may have oops’ed and put this on my main. =-=;) 

Anyway!

This is a group who tries to boost charity events as much as we can. ^^

[oc-character-development]

THERE’S A CHASE VIDEO COMING OUT ON 13th OCTOBER (today as of this post being posted)???????!!!!! AM I THE ONLY ONE LEFT WHO DIDN’T KNOW THIS????

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! PLEASE DON’T HURT OUR SAD DAD JACK!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!! LAST TIME WE SAW CHASE HE WAS WITH ANTI????? WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM??????

I haven’t thought about Chase in a while even though he’s one of my favourite Egos and now my first thought upon seeing all the Chase stuff on tumblr was:

But at the same time, I am totally excited for this video because we get to see Chase again and it means the community is going to be set on fire again

[fanaticallyperfect]

It's honestly one of those times again where I watch Seán and he automatically makes me feel so much better after like having a mini existential crisis due to my parents' expectations for my future

[septic-sweetheart-zomboi]

So every year, my family does a Christmas movie day, where everyone stays home and watches Christmas movies in pjs 💞

I could definitely imagine the egos inisiting that Henrik and Jackie stay home for the day, and get cozy!

Even Anti joins in! Sam and Robbie are just delighted everyone is staying in and spending time with each other 💚💚💚

(Chase is definitely the dad who falls asleep one movie in, but he does his best xD)

[jse-egopocalypse]

A THREAD TO SEND LOVE TO YOUR BEST FRIEND(S)

I AM VERY SOFT RIGHT NOW SO I JUST WANNA SEND LOVE TO MY LOVELY BEST FRIEND @hotcocoachia 

I MISS HER SO MUCH AND I PROMISE TO SPEND MORE TIME TALKING TO YOU IF I HAVE A LOT OF TIME DURING CHRISTMAS BREAK

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

SO IM PASSING IT TO ALL OF YOU, 

TAG YOUR BEST FRIEND AND SEND THEM SOME LOVE

[jack-and-sammy]

My little sisters heard me crying so they made me glow stick bracelets and a necklace because "you smile when we show you ours" now I'll be wearing things and watch more of Sean to cheer me up ❤

[euph0r-iaaa]

Thanks for the positivity!

I’d like to thank Jack and the whole JSE for being such a dope positive community. It’s because of Jack & this community that my mindset for 2018 has changed to a more positive one. So keep spreading that positive mental attitude LIKE A BOSSSSSS!

[aquilacalvitium]

Alright bitches

I'm upset. Someone send me some Robbie fluff because godammit that boi is precious and always cheers me up.

I am about fuckin ready to abandom this negative mentality, even though it hurts like hell and I know it'll come back.

@thanxolotl @robbiethezombie-support-squad

[silver-dragon-rider]

Stuck Together

Prologue 

( Hello! This is a JSE story I’ve started writing based off of an animation by @cakethefabulousart and a roleplay we’ve been doing. I’m hoping to continue writing and turning this into a bigger project than just one or two fics. I hope you enjoy! )

Word Count: 1,825

It was very early in the morning, the city still sleeping and the sun had not quite risen. The streets were mostly calm, not a soul in sight. It made an easy path for a figure to dart down the sidewalk, jumping from streetlight to streetlight as he ran. He could hear his labored breathing in his ears, feel every foot step that hit the pavement. "They're catching up, Anti!" A voice could be heard in his head, pulling a growl from the other. "I fucking know Chase!" He snapped out loud, dipping into an alleyway. "Then why aren't you running faster?!" The voice, Chase, retorted with a stressed hiss. A small group of people ran by, several of them armed, as the man covered his mouth to muffle his heavy breathing from all the running. Once the people passed and footsteps faded, after waiting for the coast to be absolutely clear, Anti moved his hand and hissed right back at Chase. "Your stupid body is out of shape!" There was a pause then, "Ok first of all, it's our body." Anti grumbled in frustration as he slid to the ground to take a break and catch his breath. He pulled his hood off, revealing black hair with the top part dyed an electric green. He has blue eyes, but the pupils were slittled like a snake or cat, and where the whites of his eyes were it was black instead, giving him a demonic appearance. After another moment of silence between the two, where Anti rested, Chase spoke up again. "Do you think it's safe now?" Anti sighed, pushing himself up and peeking out of the alley. He looked both ways down the street. "Looks like the coast is clear for now..but I doubt it's safe." He could feel Chase's fear and sadness at that, the rough reality being they'd been running from these people for a month now, and they had yet to give up. "Let's just focus on finding somewhere for the night." He said, starting to walk down the sidewalk. Chase didn't respond and Anti felt bad for snapping at him, speaking up to break the silence. "Hey, you think your apartment is free?" Chase snorted in response to Anti. "No, I don't think my old place is still free after I was gone for a year." There was a giggle to his tone and Anti smirked. "Well, it was worth a shot right?" "No, it's really not." Chase laughed and Anti felt a warmth that he was able to sheer the other up, even a little bit. They continued chatting to one another as the sun rose, looking for a place in the city to lay low.

It has been a year since Chase disappeared, a year today actually. Jackie had taken it pretty hard, and still didn't know why Anti decided to attack them that day, or how he managed to take Chase away. The memories played in the hero's head as if they had just happened as he sat on a rooftop, overlooking the city he protected. His leg dangled over the side and he sighed, going over what happened one more time. It had been a gloomy day, clouds in the sky looking like it might rain. Despite that him and Chase met up in an old skate park to hang out. Chase had been going through a lot with the divorce with Stacy, and Jackie wanted to cheer his best friend up. The two had a pretty chill afternoon, and everything was going fine until Anti showed up. He didn't know why the demon decided to attack that day. Maybe he thought Jackie was vulnerable with Chase there, maybe it was a coincidence. Jackie couldn't exactly ask him now.. In the scuffle between the two Anti took a cheap shot, glitching over to attack Chase while he was running away. Maybe Anti was hoping to cripple the hero by attacking his friend, but the demon didn't account for how strong Jackie's protective instincts would be. Jackie got in between them so fast you'd miss it if you blinked, and turned the knife on Anti with enough force it buried hilt deep in the demon's chest. Jackie didn't mean to hurt Anti, he just wanted to protect Chase! But it was too late after that..Anti had stumbled to his knees and Chase fell into the dirt. Jackie had been too shocked to move, and he cursed himself for it every day. Sparks had started to come off Anti, and before Jackie realized what was happening, static latched on to Chase. In the blink of an eye Chase was gone..and so was Anti. Jackie rubbed the tears from his eyes at the painful memories. He still didn't understand what even happened. Anti's body was left, he wouldn't have survived anyways, but Chase had just disappeared. Marvin said Anti probably latched on to Chase in a last ditch survival effort, and Jackie couldn't help but blame himself for that. The hero's melancholy thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing. He glanced at it and sighed, it was Henrik again. He'd been trying to reach Jackie all day, probably worried about the hero. He decided to just answer it this time, putting the phone on speaker. "Hey Hen.." There was a relieved gasp from the phone, and Henriks thick German accent came over the phone. "Jackie! Are you ok? Vhy haven't you picked up..?" Jackie looked away from the phone, taking a moment to respond. "I was distracted..been thinking a lot today." "About vhat?" Jackie didn't respond to that question, Henrik knew. "It vasn't your fault Jackie." The hero sighed, shaking his head a little. "I'm just tired." Exhaustion was evident in his voice, the long year of searching weighing on him in more ways than one. "I know..it's going to be ok. Ve're here for you." Henrik said in what he hoped was a comforting way. Jackie was quiet for a moment. "Thanks Hen. I gotta go, I'll see you tonight." He grabbed the phone and hung up before Henrik could respond. He had spotted a petty crime and went to take care of it, focusing on work for the rest of the day. Late in the night a couple people were gathered at the skatepark. One wore a cardigan and glasses while the other had a noticeable cloak and cat mask. Henrik and Marvin were waiting for Jackie, Marvin sitting on a bench and Henrik standing nearby. It was Marvin's idea to meet up at the skatepark where Chase disappeared at the one year anniversary of the event. He hoped it would help ease Jackie, if only a little bit. The two were chatting idly when a figure in a red hoodie shuffled towards them. He had his head down and hood up, hiding his face from the others. Marvin waved and called him over and Henrik smiled, but the normally positive Jackie couldn't find it in himself to return their enthusiasm. He sat on the bench next to Marvin who put his arm around the hero, rubbing his back in a comforting way. “I brought some of his favorite snacks.” Marvin spoke up as he offered a bag of chips to Jackie. “Remember that one time he bought all of them off the shelf at the gas station?” He continued with a small chuckle, hoping to cheer Jackie up. Henrik chimed in that he remembered that, the two starting to talk about some of their positive memories with Chase. Jackie listened quietly to the conversation, commenting here and there but finding it difficult to get involved. They’d planned on trying to take this day and make it positive: talk about nice memories and do things Chase would have enjoyed. However, Jackie was having a hard time following through with the idea he found. Everything the others mentioned made him miss Chase more, and every bittersweet memory reminded him that he failed. He didn’t save Chase and he regretted it every day, no matter how long it had been. Not long into the conversation Jackie broke down crying. It had still managed to get dark in that time, street lights popping on and stars glittering overhead. “I don’t understand how you guys can sit here and talk about him like he’s not coming back!” Henrik and Marvin looked at each other with shared shock and confusion, Marvin speaking up in response. “Jackie..we’re not giving up. The opposite actually, we’re trying to keep motivation and spirits up..so we can keep looking.” He grabbed Jackie’s hand to get his full attention, the hero looking at him with a tear stained face. “I promise you we will never stop looking, and I know you won’t either.” He hugged Jackie who clung to him with soft sobs, Henrik joining the hug as the two comforted Jackie through the next couple hours. They hung out once Jackie had calmed down and watched the stars until the hero started yawning. “Looks like someone needs to head home.” It was Henrik who commented on Jackie’s tiredness, always the one looking after the other’s health. Jackie chuckled sheepishly as he stood up and stretched, smiling at his two friends. “I guess so. Thanks guys..for everything.” He genuinely smiled at them, a sight both of them had missed. “Go get some rest Jackie, you deserve it.” Marvin mentioned in a warm voice, watching the hero wave and walk away. He missed that smile, almost as much as he missed Chase. Henrik and Marvin talked a little longer before heading back to their respective homes for the night. Jackie was walking along the dark streets back towards the apartment he stayed in. He’d decided to take the long way home, having needed some time to think. He was thinking about what his friends had said while they were hanging out, about what happened when Chase disappeared. Maybe it was time to forgive himself, accept that there was nothing he could do to change what happened then. He had a lot of heavy thoughts on his mind, not quite hearing the hasty footsteps heading towards him. He wasn’t paying attention and neither was the other person it seemed, as they ran right into the hero knocking them both down. “Wha- ah!” Jackie looked up just in time to get run in to and fall over, shaking his head a bit then looking to see who had hit him. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention-” Jackie froze, the words getting caught in his throat as he stared. The person sitting on the ground across from him looked up, his hood having fallen away revealing familiar blue eyes. Jackie was staring at a ghost, the very person he’d been crying about all day. His missing best friend Chase had just bumped into him on the street and was now staring back at the hero. ( Thanks for reading! I’ll be working on the next chapter so stayed tuned for that! )

[turquoisemagpie]

... so hi! XD

I’ve been off tumblr a while now, but this evening, while sorting out files from a phone that’s gone bust, I thought I’d see what’s changed on the site. I didn’t notice the new updates to the notifications where you can easily see people’s reblogs and their tags and comments. And I have to say... it was very heartwarming to see the nice things people said when sharing my work. I’ve taken a step back from the internet in general, not just on tumblr, for the sake of my mental health; I only really hop on here to post sketches and glance over a few posts before bouncing. XD Looking at the comments now I kinda feel bad for ignoring them. But I’m glad they were made regardless; I’m glad my art still makes people happy even if I’m just passing through with the odd sketch every now and then. 

.. So yeah! Thanks to those who’ve stuck around to show support even though I wasn’t really here all that often. (And to the JSE community, yes, don’t worry, I’m still a part of the community, and I’m sticking around. I may not start the fires with others like I use to, but I’m happy to still stand in the same room as it. XD) I’ll keep popping by every now and then and see where life takes me, still posting my doodles on here and elsewhere until my hands refuse to work. 

Cheers. Hope you have a good day/night. :)

[arthyritis]

Bad braining night, watching JSE to cheer me up 😔

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Super Damage Emergency Response

A JSE Fanfic

SepticHeroes AU: Part 2

I mmmmay have written quite a long story this week. I’m gonna just say it, this is like 7.2k words. Guess I’m just really into this new AU, haha. I wanted to introduce all the boys! Almost all of them are in this chapter :) Jackie goes out and runs into a cat-masked super villain, and later Chase drags him to a doctor friend of his. I really like this world and these versions of the characters. I hope it’s as fun to read as it was for me to write! :D

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

Already, this place was a million times better than all of Jackie’s previous living situations.

First off, the apartment was much nicer. Sure, it didn’t have a ton of space, but it wasn’t small, either. When moving in, Jackie found there was just enough space in his bedroom for all his clothing, furniture, and other stuff. And Chase let him have the bottom row of kitchen cabinets—the ones close to the ground—all to himself, so Jackie could have his own set of dishes.

Of course, there was Chase himself. He was a nice guy. One of those laid-back easy-going types, which was a breath of fresh air compared to all of Jackie’s previous roommates. The last roommates he’d lived with had been a pair of neat freaks, to the point where Jackie had to lock his door to keep them from barging in and organizing his room. And before that, he lived with a group of about five friends who just did not care about how much noise they caused. Parties all night, every night, never listening to Jackie when he complained about needing sleep. Safe to say, those past arrangements hadn’t lasted long.

But again, Chase was cool. During the first couple weeks of living with him, Jackie had been a bit nervous about everything, wanting to be the ideal roommate so he wouldn’t be kicked out. Eventually, though, he relaxed. Chase was chill. Fun to hang out with, even. One night, Jackie came home late from “work” (i.e., flying around the city stopping various robberies) and Chase had offered to cheer him up by playing some video games together. They ended up playing Mario Party until one in the morning. Jackie couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed that much with a roommate.

Over time, Jackie learned more about Chase’s quirks, hobbies, and habits. Like how he left sticky notes with reminders everywhere, apparently because his memory was just that bad. Or how he only closed his bedroom door when he was sleeping or recording a video for his YouTube channel—which Jackie still hadn’t checked out, but did want to look at eventually. Or how Frosty, his dog, followed him wherever he went. Seriously, Jackie had never seen an animal that was so well-trained. Not to mention fucking adorable. When Frosty wasn’t following Chase around, he liked to cuddle. Well, perhaps it would be better to say “sit on Jackie and smother him in his fur.” Very, very cute, even if sometimes inconvenient.

With Chase being as friendly and welcoming as he was, Jackie occasionally wondered if he should tell him about his secret identity. He was lucky that Chase was buying his story about odd work hours, because otherwise he might think it was a bit suspicious how Jackie came and went from the apartment so suddenly. That was partly helped by how Jackie sometimes left through his bedroom window, but still. Chase had to catch on eventually, didn’t he? Maybe he should just tell him before that happened.

But every time he thought about it, he eventually dismissed it. He hadn’t known Chase for that long, really. They hadn’t really had any serious conversations yet. No, Jackie wanted to be extra sure he could trust Chase with this secret before he spilled the beans. After all, his life could be in actual danger if Chase told someone else about it. There were villains out there who wouldn’t hesitate to attack him at home.

Though, maybe, if he was an official Hero, he could be prepared for situations like that. Like...he could call for backup if a villain broke into the apartment. Or he could have a special suit that he could whip on in a split second. Something like that.

Alas, he wasn’t yet a Hero. But he was pretty sure his progress with the League was going well. Whenever he talked to Leapfrog through the special Red Line, she was very encouraging. Not a lot of supers are as enthusiastic as you, she’d texted him once. Gung-ho, maybe. A bit too eager to fight. But there’s more to being a hero than fighting, you know?

I do! he had replied. You have to be on alert all the time, finding out where criminals are going to strike next. And in the actual fight, you can’t always rush in. There’s, like, strategy.

Exactly! :) Leapfrog responded. You’re pretty smart, Windstorm. I knew there was a reason you got 95% on the exam part of the online application.

Leapfrog wasn’t the only LoH member he was talking to, either. She’d given him some more contact information. A couple other ‘Recruitment Liaisons,’ who he was supposed to talk to if she was ever busy. A ‘Database Specialist’ going by the code name Terabyte, who Jackie was supposed to contact if he ever had any questions about certain heroes or villains. And a ‘Tech Developer’ going by the code name Dr. Blue, who Jackie could ask about any gadgets or gizmos he wanted to have (though Leapfrog said he wasn’t approved for that much tech access yet.)

Honestly Jackie was in awe at the scope of the League of Heroes. He knew that they had a lot of resources, being an international organization, but this was impressive. He could get upgrades to his homemade supersuit?! He could talk to other supers whenever he wanted?! It was already everything he dreamed about, and he wasn’t even a Hero yet!

That didn’t mean he didn’t want to be one, of course. If anything, it only got him more excited to ‘make the ranks.’

One day, about a month after Jackie had moved in with Chase, the Red Line started ringing. Luckily, he was just in his room, and not out stopping a crime—or even worse, at his actual work. It’d be hard to explain that. Jackie paused the YouTube video he was watching on his laptop and looked around for the source of the unfamiliar bring bring! sound. Once he realized it was coming from the Red Line, he dove off his bed and scooped up the phone from his dresser. “Hello?” he answered, making sure he sounded calm.

“Hi Windstorm.” It was Leapfrog’s voice. “Is this a good time?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I’m not doing anything. What’s up?” Jackie leaned back against the wall and tried not to start floating in excited anticipation.

“Great. Do you remember when I said we’d give you tasks to complete?”

“Uh-huh. Do I need to, uh, go somewhere now, or...?”

“Oh, no, not now,” Leapfrog said. “And it’s nothing exciting. Have you heard about the speech happening at the South SepTech location?”

“Hmm? Oh, no. I don’t think so.” Jackie chewed his lip for a bit. “The south location...You mean the tall building with the wide open green space? On Trelew?”

“Yes, that’s exactly the one,” Leapfrog confirmed. “A League representative is going to be giving a speech on that lawn. Pink Sunlight. I don’t know if you’ll have heard of her.”

“No, I have. She’s the Hero in Evoritch, up north,” Jackie said. “Control of light.”

“Huh. Color me impressed, Wind,” Leapfrog said. “Not many people know other heroes outside of the Council of Heroes.”

Jackie laughed. “I-I do my research.”

“Clearly. Well, she’s traveling down to make an announcement, along with a representative from SepTech. We want you to attend. It’s open to the public, so you can go in civilian clothes if you want.”

“I see.” Jackie cleared his throat. “And so...this is important?”

“You can say that,” Leapfrog said carefully. “I think it’ll be helpful for you. An opportunity to learn more about the League and some upcoming projects of ours.”

“Right. So when is it?”

“Three days from now. Saturday the eleventh, at noon sharp. Can you make it?”

“Of course I can, I don’t work on Saturdays. Will there be anyone else there? Like, uh, other supers?” A hopeful note crept into Jackie’s voice.

Leapfrog laughed. “No, only Pink Sunlight. But there’ll be a few non-super League members with her.”

“Cool. Yeah, okay, I’ll be there. I’ll send you photos.”

“Ha. You don’t have to.” Leapfrog paused for a moment. “Is there anything you need?”

“Uhhh nope, I’m good,” Jackie said.

“Great. I’ll call you later on Saturday, maybe around four. We can talk about the announcement.”

“Talk to you then.”

“Yep.” And with that, Leapfrog hung up.

Jackie sighed, and put the Red Line back down on his dresser. First task for the League. It wasn’t exactly taking down a squad of villains, but it made sense. They wouldn’t give high-profile tasks to someone who’d just started their trial period.

Still...one step closer! And maybe this announcement will be interesting.

With that thought in mind, Jackie glanced at the clock, noticing it was almost six o’clock. He grabbed his normal phone—which he’d noticed was a bit smaller than the Red Line—and sent a text to Chase, asking if he wanted to order pizza for dinner.

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

Three days later, Saturday dawned with clear skies and a slight breeze. Almost perfect for flying. Stronger winds tended to mess him up a bit. But he still made it to the South SepTech location fifteen minutes before the speech was due to start. He landed on a rooftop of an office building across the street and sat down to wait.

He’d left the apartment through the front door, carrying his backpack with his supersuit in it. Chase had been in the living room, sitting on the sofa and trying to throw tea bags into a mug on the coffee table. “First try!” he shouted when one landed inside the mug, despite the fact that at least a dozen other tea bags were scattered around the area.

“Nice,” Jackie commented.

Chase grinned at him. “Hey, gotta practice my trickshots. I’m usually a bit better, trust me.” Frosty, sitting on the sofa next to him, jumped off and walked over to the coffee table, picking up the mug and bringing it back to Chase. “Good boy,” he said, taking the mug and scratching Frosty’s ears. “Anyway. Are you going to work, Jackie?”

“Huh? Uh, no, actually, I’m going down to the South SepTech building,” Jackie said. “There’s some sort of speech happening, apparently someone from the League of Heroes is gonna be there. I want to see what’s going on.” Not technically a lie.

“Ah, you a hero fanboy? Or just a tech nerd?” Chase asked teasingly.

Jackie laughed. “I guess you could say that. Anyway, I’ll be back in a couple hours, so when you make lunch don’t wait for me.”

“Great.” Chase nodded. “I’ll make a note for that.”

Thirty minutes later, Jackie was taking a sandwich in a plastic bag out of his backpack, munching on it while he waited for the speech to start.

There were five SepTech buildings located throughout the city, which had been declared the North, South, East, West, and Central locations. The South building was known for its big lawn surrounding it, a field of green plonked down in the middle of a concrete jungle. The building itself was tall, all shiny glass and metal with the green SepTech logo glowing along one side. There was a statue out in front, which most people were more familiar with than the building itself. It was white, composed of curvy abstract shapes and topped with a three-bladed fan that sort of looked like a windmill. Today, the fan was spinning gently in the breeze.

A stage had been set up in front of this statue, with a podium and microphone, as well as large speakers on the sides that looked big enough to carry sound for a while. A crowd was already gathered in front of this stage. Mostly press, but as Jackie waited, more and more of the public started to show up. Eventually, a bunch of people in suits showed up and started gathering on top of the stage, along with a few people in white coats...and one woman in a pink jumpsuit and orange cape.

Unconsciously, Jackie leaned forward. That must be Pink Sunlight. He’d never seen her before, but the outfit matched descriptions he’d read, along with the half-circle-shaped eye mask. He wondered if it would be rude to go talk to her after the speech was over. They were both members of the League of Heroes...sort of. Kind of. No, maybe it would be weird. Nevermind.

Exactly at noon, a man in a suit stepped up to the podium. The crowd below, previously giving off a steady murmur of chatter, died down. “Welcome, citizens of Daindover, and indeed anyone watching this broadcast,” the man said, the speakers carrying his voice even up to where Jackie was sitting on the roof across the street. “It is my great pleasure to welcome you to this conference, as well as to tell you about all the exciting projects we have coming up, in accordance with our partnership with the League of Heroes.”

The crowd below cheered. No, wait, that wasn’t exactly the right way to describe it. Their applause and whoo-ing wasn’t in eagerness to hear more. It was a sign of encouragement and approval. Either the crowd was lacking enthusiasm, or they were being professional. Probably both.

“To open up, we are announcing that our Semi-Autonomous Machines are now in the final prototype stage,” the man said. “Soon, they will be ready for public release! But before that, we plan on giving the first shipment of Machines to the League of Heroes. Hopefully, the League can make use of their various features.”

The man continued to talk, explaining how the new Semi-Autonomous Machines could be helpful for Heroes. But Jackie wasn’t quite paying attention. Not because he wasn’t interested. He’d vaguely heard about Septech’s Machines before, and was curious to know more. But he’d glanced away from the stage and towards the crowd, and in that glance, he noticed something...strange.

There was a person in black pushing towards the back of the crowd.

Jackie’s first thought was that they had to leave suddenly. Maybe they had to go to the bathroom. But...they were wearing a coat. Not a thick coat, but a coat nonetheless, with an attached hood pulled over their head. It was the middle of summer. They had to be hot in that. So...why?

As Jackie continued to watch, the person in black reached the back of the crowd, which had spilled out into the street. Luckily, it looked like the LoH or SepTech or both had blocked off the road, so there were no cars to worry about. The person walked over to the opposite sidewalk, right under the building Jackie was sitting on top of. He leaned down, trying to get a good look at this stranger. But even though it was one of the shorter buildings in the city, he was still many floors off the ground. He could barely make out the person’s outfit, there was no way he could pick up on any other details.

“...and to further explain the details of that, I now give you one of the League’s very own Heroes. Introducing...Pink Sunlight!” The man on the stage stepped aside, letting Pink Sunlight take his spot at the podium. She waved at the crowd, who were again applauding, a bit more enthusiastically than they had before.

But Jackie was still watching the person in black. He edged off the roof of the office building, leaving his backpack behind, and floated down a couple stories to get a better look at them. The moment Pink Sunlight had stepped up to the podium, they started to fiddle with their coat, looking down. They raised their head again, pushed back the hood, and took off their coat, dropping it on the ground. Beneath it, they were wearing something colored red, orange, and white. A mask covered their face.

They raised a hand.

Jackie’s eyes widened. Immediately, he dropped down to the sidewalk, letting gravity carry him and only slowing down at the end. He landed right behind the masked figure and grabbed their raised hand, twisting it to the side.

Just in time for a beam of bright, red-hot energy to shoot from the hand. The beam soared in a straight line right over the heads of the crowd, and hit one of the speakers by the side of the stage. If Jackie hadn’t redirected the blast, it would have been a direct hit on Pink Sunlight, standing exposed in the middle of the stage.

Someone screamed. Some people turned to look for the source of the energy beam, others started running for cover immediately. Some suited people ran up onto the stage, ushering everyone away. Security, no doubt.

“What the—?! Windstorm!”

Jackie leapt backwards, just in time to avoid a blade of glowing orange energy swiping at him. He jumped, hovering about two feet off the ground, and looked down at the villain who’d conjured the energy blade. “Hey, Spitfire,” he said. “Decided to crash the party?”

“Oh shut the fuck up.” Spitfire Cat was not a nice villain—if such a thing even existed in the first place. His costume was bright and attention-grabbing, a white base with red and orange designs. The exception to that design choice was the black cape, boots, and gloves. Spitfire’s wild brown hair framed his mask: shaped like a cat’s face, following the same red-and-orange-over-white principle as his suit. “What are you doing here?!”

“Clearly, I’m stopping you from killing someone.”

“I’m making a statement.”

“Yeah, and the statement is ‘murder.’” Jackie folded his arms.

“Technically, it’s an assassination, you stupid tool.” Spitfire Cat spun around. Jackie noticed his hands starting to glow and dove forward, knocking him to the ground and sending off two more energy beams in wild directions. He heard more screams, and the crowd started to run in earnest, pushing and tripping over each other. “Don’t touch me, bitch!” Spitfire swiped at Jackie, and he flew back in time to avoid the metal claws attached to Spitfire’s gloves.

“Pleasant as ever, I see,” Jackie muttered. He started to stand.

Halfway through Jackie getting to his feet, Spitfire Cat made a gesture like he was throwing a Frisbee. Jackie managed to dodge, jumping left, avoiding a spinning disc of glowing red energy that would’ve hit. But then Spitfire raised his other hand, and a yellow beam shot out from his palm. Unprepared and slightly off-balance, Jackie barely managed to lean the other direction. The beam grazed his left side, and white-hot pain shot through his skin. He couldn’t help but cry out.

Spitfire Cat laughed, standing up. “Serves you right, you fucking tool.”

“Tha-that’s a new insult for you,” Jackie said, fighting to keep his confident tone. “Learn some new vocabulary?”

“Didn’t you hear the speech a minute ago? They said that you’re part of the League now,” Spitfire said darkly. “You were always a moron, and now you’re a tool. Their tool. A dumb idiot they can point at a problem and order to beat it up. Something they can use to enforce their own power.”

Jackie growled. Gusts of air whipped around him as the air suddenly picked up into a wind. “I don’t want to hear about your stupid agenda again! Either fight me or surrender!”

“See?! This is what I mean!” Spitfire sounded angry, but Jackie noticed him glancing around at the panicked crowd uneasily. He backed up. “Whatever. You’re a lost cause. Just know from now on, I won’t be holding back.” He raised his hands. Jackie started to make a move, but suddenly, walls of red energy erupted from the ground, surrounding Spitfire in a dome of heat. Jackie paused, unsure what to do. But only a minute later, the walls fell, and Spitfire Cat was gone. Only then did Jackie notice the manhole cover he’d been standing on the whole time.

“Shit,” Jackie cursed under his breath. No matter how many times he faced off against Spitfire, he always managed to escape somehow. Sure, Jackie could follow him into the city sewer system, but he didn’t think that was a good idea. He could get lost easily, or even walk into a trap. Besides, he had to see if anyone was hurt. Some of Spitfire’s energy attacks had gone wide, and might have hit someone in the crowd. Something that even Spitfire himself didn’t care for. If that villain had one thing going for him, it was his reluctance to let civilians get caught in the crossfire.

So, Jackie stayed for a bit, helping to calm down the crowd and assure them that everything was fine. After about ten minutes, ambulances arrived on the scene, carrying emergency medical personnel. Only then did Jackie feel comfortable heading out.

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

The flight back home wasn’t his worst. He’d flown while injured before, and he wasn’t falling out of the sky or anything so it wasn’t too bad. But feeling wind against an exposed wound really sucked. He ended up landing a bit farther away from the apartment than he would have liked to, just because the sensation was making the injury burn more. Though...putting his shirt on over it didn’t feel much better.

It was fine. He managed to get home fairly quickly, and luckily the elevator had been repaired so he didn’t have to walk up the ten flights of stairs. He’d had worse injuries. All he had to do was get to the first aid kit in his room, where he could apply some antiseptic cream and a cold compress. That had always worked in the past.

Entering the apartment, Jackie was greeted by the sight of Chase, still sitting on the sofa in the exact spot he’d been when Jackie had left. That was usual for him, he spent a lot of time in one place. Only now he had the TV on. Turned to the news, actually, which he was watching intently. The moment Jackie walked through the front door, he looked over at him. “Dude, are you okay?”

“H-huh?” Jackie was taken aback by the sudden question.

“You went to the speech thing, right? They said there was some sort of super fight there.” Chase gestured to the television. Jackie walked over. On the screen, the two anchors for the local news—Dave and Debbie, your friends from Channel 5!™—were going over the aftermath of the event, confirming there were no fatalities and very few injuries. “Are you okay?”

“Uhhhh yeah I’m fine,” Jackie said, trying to sound casual. “So you just...watch the news? As a hobby? Who does that?”

“Well I don’t normally, but I wanted to see what this thing you were going to was all about,” Chase explained. “It was being covered. And I saw things went bad. I called you a couple times, but you didn’t answer.”

“Oh.” Jackie had left his phone on silent. He hadn’t noticed any calls from it, stuffed in his backpack. “Sorry, I must’ve forgotten to check in the chaos.”

Chase looked at him. After a few seconds, he narrowed his eyes. “Why’re you standing like that?”

“Like what?” Jackie looked down at himself.

“You’re not putting your arm against your side. And leaning onto your right leg.” Chase’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, you got hit, didn’t you?! We need to get you to a doctor!”

“What?! No, no, I’m fine,” Jackie insisted. He hadn’t gone to the doctor once for super-related injuries. After all, it only took one smart observation to realize his injuries suspiciously lined up with damage from a super fight.

“Yeah, bullshit.” Chase started to stand up. Frosty, sitting on the floor nearby, jumped onto the sofa and pushed him from behind, as if helping him upward. “Ah, thanks boy. Anyway, bullshit. I can tell something happened. We’re going to the hospital. Hang on, I need to find Frosty’s leash and harness and then we’ll head out.”

“I...it’s not really that bad,” Jackie protested.

“Well, I’d feel better if someone looked at you, ‘kay?” Chase headed down the hall to the closet and began rummaging around. “Look, if you’re worried about not being able to get an appointment or something, I know a guy. We can get right in, assuming he’s not already doing something. We’ll have to take the train there, though, is that okay?”

Jackie sighed. “Alright.” He could tell Chase wasn’t going to drop it. Maybe one hospital visit wouldn’t hurt. And speaking of hurt, he was still very much in pain. Rubbing cloth against a burn? Not a good idea. “Lead the way, I guess.”

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

The train ride to the hospital was short, but uncomfortable. There were no seats left, so Jackie and Chase had to stand, with Jackie awkwardly shifting his weight constantly to try and find a position that was least aggravating to his injury. Not to mention a lot of people kept giving Chase and Frosty odd looks. What? Were pets not allowed on the train system? Jackie was pretty sure they were, maybe that rule had been changed? Though come to think about it, why was Chase bringing his dog to the hospital? Ultimately, Jackie decided this didn’t matter, and got busy being offended on Chase’s behalf towards the people staring at him. Chase didn’t seem to mind the looks, but that didn’t mean people could just gawk at him or his dog.

They got off at Greengate Station, named as such because it was right across from Greengate General Hospital. Handy, that. It had probably been planned that way by someone. Chase hurried right up to the front entrance with Jackie following close behind. 

Walking inside, they found themselves in a large waiting room, with a couple people sitting on sofas reading free magazines. There was also a desk, presumably where you could ask questions and make appointments. A large map was pasted on the wall behind the desk, showing the hospital layout. A couple hallways branched off from this point. Overall, it was almost exactly what Jackie was expecting. He’d never been to this particular hospital before, but it looked a lot like the ones he’d been to before, if a bit more open and spacious.

Chase didn’t stop at the desk. He headed straight down the leftmost hallway, which turned out to hold the elevators. As Chase pressed the Up button, Jackie asked, “Don’t we need to, like, let this guy know we’re coming or something?”

“Oh. Right. That might be a good idea.” Chase reached into his pocket for his phone, fumbled for a few seconds, then gave up and shrugged. “Eh, if he’s not in his office I’ll call him. Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Uhh...o...kay?” Jackie said slowly. “Who is this guy again?”

The elevator arrived. The two of them stepped in, and Chase gave Jackie a quick grin. “Don’t worry, he’s a great doctor. I don’t know where I’d be without him. He can take care of whatever you got going there.” He pressed the button for the third floor.

“I’m not worried about that, I’m just confused because you haven’t told me anything. We had a whole train ride, man. You haven’t even said his name.”

“I haven’t? Huh. Sorry.” Chase paused. “Uh...y’know what, I’ll let you see for yourself. You might think I’m fucking with you if I said it.”

“Ummm?” That did not help Jackie’s confusion at all. But it wasn’t worth pursuing. He’d find out soon enough.

The elevator stopped and they stepped out. This floor looked like it was composed of offices and check-up rooms. Chase led Jackie down the hall, moving as though he was perfectly familiar with the area. And yes, he had brought Frosty into the hospital. Jackie was wondering if he should say something about that. It couldn’t be too sanitary.

They stopped outside a closed door, with a nameplate posted next to it. Jackie read the name. Then he read it again. Then he looked at Chase and raised an eyebrow. “No, this isn’t a prank,” Chase said, and knocked on the door.

After a few seconds, a man opened the door. Jackie gave him a quick once-over. Brown hair. Shockingly blue eyes, peering out from behind a pair of half-frame glasses. Rather tall, and wearing a pale blue sweater with a darker blue shirt collar poking out over the edge. “Chase? What are you doing here?” The man asked, his voice tinged with a German accent.

“Hi Schneep,” Chase said cheerfully. “Actually, we need your help. Or, he needs your help.” He gestured at Jackie. “Is that okay?”

“Yes, yes, of course, come in.” The man—Schneep, apparently—stepped aside. Chase gave Jackie an encouraging smile and went into the room. Jackie swallowed nervously, and followed.

Yep, this was an office. There was a desk with a computer, some filing cabinets along the sides, a coat rack with a white coat, and a window on the opposite wall that overlooked the city street outside. The layout was more utilitarian than personal. There was also someone else in here. Another man, with dark brown hair and a mustache. He leaned against the wall, wearing a black sweater vest over a white dress shirt. The man glanced at Chase and Jackie, and Jackie couldn’t help but notice his eyes were the same shade of bright blue as Schneep’s.

“Oh, uh, I didn’t know someone else was here,” Chase mumbled. “Sorry.”

“No, no, it is fine,” Schneep reassured him. “Introductions all around. Chase, this is my cousin, Jameson, also called JJ. Jamie, this is Chase, who I have told you about.” He turned his attention to Jackie. “And I am Dr. Henrik von Schneeplestein. I am guessing you are Chase’s new roommate?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s me. I’m Jackie.” He held out his hand for a handshake. Schneep briefly grabbed it before quickly letting go.

The other man—JJ—stood up straight. His hands moved, gesturing. No. His gestures were actually sign language. It had been a while since Jackie had learned sign, so it took him a few moments to recognize some of it: I, leave, now.

“No, no, it is all fine, we are all fine here,” Schneep hurried to say. “This will not take long. I think?” He looked at Chase and Jackie. “Yes?”

“Well, that depends on him,” Chase gestured to Jackie. “Go ahead, bro, tell him what happened.”

“Oh. Right.” Jackie cleared his throat. “Sooo...there was this public speech happening earlier, a-and I was there. In the crowd. But then, this supervillain showed up and started attacking, and I guess I sort of got caught in the crossfire, cause he hit me with some sort of energy beam.”

“Ah, Scheiße,” Schneep cursed. “Okay, this may take a bit longer—” JJ signed something else, looking a bit awkward. “—No no no, not that long! I promise. Please stay.” After a moment, JJ sighed, and nodded. “Thank you.” Schneep let out a breath of...relief? He then looked back at Chase and Jackie. “Unfortunately, we will need to move to the exam room next door. Yes? Let’s go.”

A few moments later, Jackie was sitting on one of those paper-covered beds that come in all hospital check-up rooms. Chase was sitting in a chair nearby, Frosty by his side, while JJ was leaning against the wall next to a bunch of cabinets. There was another computer in this room, on a counter nearby. Schneep stood in front of it, typing something on its keyboard. “What super was this? Who attacked the speech?”

“Uhhh...I think it was Spitfire Cat?” Jackie tried to sound unsure. “Why? Do you know him?”

“Not personally, no.” Schneep typed something else in. A spinning circle popped up on the monitor for a while, then a document loaded into view. “Ah. Okay. I see.” He scanned the text that had appeared. “Alright. Jamie, do you mind getting a cold pack, bandages, and some extracalidine from that cupboard? That last one is in a small blue container.” Jameson nodded, and began looking through the cabinets. Meanwhile, Schneep turned to Jackie. “Can you put your shirt up? I need to see what is wrong.”

“Oh. Uhhhh...” Jackie hesitated for a moment. “Yeah. Sssure.” He lifted his hoodie and T-shirt up to reveal his stomach, and the burn wound on the side.

Schneep hissed, inhaling sharply through his teeth. “Right. I am going to have to touch it a bit, is that okay?”

“I guess. I’ll try not to move.” Jackie gritted his teeth, trying not to flinch as Schneep ran a rubber-gloved finger around the edge of the burn area.

“Why are you wearing a tank top?” Chase asked. “Isn’t it a bit hot for three layers?”

“Uh—” Jackie stalled for a moment. “Actually it’s not a—”

“Chase, this is not the time,” Schneep snapped.

“Oh. Sorry.” Chase said, embarrassed.

“I’ll explain it to you later,” Jackie mumbled.

“Now, for a more relevant question,” Schneep continued. “You said it was a beam that hit you? Did it hit you head-on or just a graze?”

“Just a graze.”

“Okay, good.” Schneep nodded. “The problem with Spitfire Cat is that his energy is actually somewhat solid, meaning there is impact trauma in addition to burning, like being hit with hot metal. But if it was just a graze, we should not have to worry about bruising, broken bones, or other internal damage. Just the burning.”

Jackie stared at him. “How do you know this?”

“It is on our database,” Schneep said, gesturing back towards the computer.

“Your database?” Jackie’s eyes widened. “You have a villain database? Do you...do you work for the League of Heroes?”

Schneep laughed, stepping back. “Hardly. I am part of the SDER department here.”

“The...cider department?” Jackie repeated, unsure if he heard that correctly.

“S.D.E.R. It is an acronym for Super Damage Emergency Response,” Schneep explained. “You see, when supers fight, there can frequently be injuries caused to civilians. Something you must know, after what happened to you today. Many of it is unintentional, but sometimes, in the case of villains, it is not. Either way, SDER is here to take care of all of that.”

“He’s real smart!” Chase said brightly. “Like, you have to know a bunch of stuff to get into SDER. Because powers can cause all sorts of damage, you know?”

Schneep nodded. “I am skilled in a variety of medical subjects.” He sounded more than a little smug. “And my secondary specialty is neurology. That is the reason I am Chase’s doctor.”

Jackie stared at him blankly for a moment. “Huh? What d’you mean, ‘Chase’s doctor’? I thought you guys were, like, friends?”

“We are!” Chase said.

Schneep glanced back at him and smiled gently. “Well. I would say we are that, too. But we met because I was assigned to help him with any problems he may have.”

“Wait wait wait, I-I still don’t get it.” Jackie looked at Chase. “Why do you have a special doctor all to yourself?”

Chase’s forehead creased. “Because I...need one? Did I forget to tell you that? I could’ve sworn I explained it on the roommate ad...Wait, did you not know any of this? Oh shit, did you think I was one of those assholes who pretended his dog was a service animal?!”

“Frosty is a what?!”

“You didn’t—?!” Chase leaned over the side of the chair, gesturing for Frosty to stand up, which he did. And he pointed at a label on the side of his harness, which Jackie hadn’t noticed before: ‘Service Dog: Do Not Pet.’

Jackie blinked. “I...I’m so lost. I didn’t even see that.”

Chase sighed. Frosty pushed his head against his chest, nudging Chase back into sitting up straight. “This is wild. We’ve been living together for a full ass month. Either you’re super accepting, or super oblivious. But anyway, yeah. I was in an accident a while ago. There was this big fight between two supers. Earth Shaker and...that other one, the clock one.”

“Timekeeper,” Schneep said.

There was a sudden clattering noise. Jackie jumped. He’d forgotten JJ was in the room. But he was, and he’d just knocked a bunch of plastic bottles out of one of the cabinets. He looked a bit embarrassed, signing a quick Sorry.

“Is okay, JJ,” Schneep said, walking over to his side. “I see you found the things I need.”

JJ nodded, looking away from everyone else. He handed the cold pack, bandages, and bottle of extracalidine to Schneep, then started cleaning up all the bottles he’d toppled.

“Ah, you don’t have to...well. Okay. Thank you, Jamie.” Schneep headed back over to Jackie, giving him the cold pack. “Squeeze that, it will make it chill. I will have to apply this directly to the burn. Please try not to move.”

Jackie nodded, bracing himself as Schneep unscrewed the top of the bottle. He hissed a bit as the cooling paste hit the hot burn wound. “A-anyway,” he said through gritted teeth. “You were in an accident?”

Chase nodded. “Yeah. It left me with some, uh...issues. Mainly memory and movement. I can’t really remember anything before waking up in the hospital, and now my short term memory is shit. Also I have trouble, like, standing up, and I can’t bend over without falling, and...well, it just generally sucks. That’s what Frosty does. He’s a good boy who helps me out.”

“Wow,” Jackie muttered. “I’m an idiot.” So many pieces were falling into place. Why Frosty was so well-trained. Why Chase had to have a million reminders put up around the apartment. And now that he was thinking about it, Chase never really stood up or sat down unless it was absolutely necessary. And he let Jackie use the bottom kitchen cabinets because it was hard for him to get to those ones. It all made sense. And Jackie couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed.

Chase smiled. “Honestly it was kinda nice how you didn’t say anything about it. Like…normal, y’know?”

“Well, I guess I’ll continue not to say anythi—ow!” Jackie flinched.

“Ah, sorry!” Schneep said. “That area is quite bad, but it does need to go all across the wound.”

“It’s fine,” Jackie said, squeezing the cold pack tighter despite the fact that it was already pretty cool. “Let’s keep talking so I’m distracted. Uhhh, so super fight? Caused by Earth Shaker and Timekeeper? Wasn’t that the one that knocked down one of the SepTech buildings and a bunch of neaby ones two years ago?”

“Yes,” Schneep said, carefully continuing to apply the salve. “That was a bad day. We had so many injuries coming in. Chase was just one. Apparently some rubble from one of the buildings landed on him. Most injuries have healed, but some hit his head and caused longer-lasting damage.”

“Apparently I’m lucky,” Chase said idly. “I could’ve died. With that in mind, I say it’s alright that I forgot everything.”

“You...have amnesia?” Jackie asked tentatively.

“Yeah. Retrograde. Everything before two years ago is just kinda...a colorful blur.” Chase shrugged. “It’s no big deal, really. I mean...I don’t know what I’m missing.” But even though the words were dismissive, Jackie could hear the note of sadness in his voice.

“Your brain is still healing, Chase,” Schneep said softly. “Your memory may come back.”

“Maybe,” Chase said. But his expression was doubtful.

“Anyway, I am done here.” Schneep stepped back once again, twisting the cap back onto the blue bottle. “Press that cold pack to the wound, smooth side against the burn.” Jackie did so, wincing a bit at the sudden cooling sensation, but also relaxing as the heat faded. Schneep was silent for a moment, wrapping bandages around Jackie’s torso to hold the cold pack in place. “And done. Here.” He handed Jackie the bottle of extracalidine. “You will need to reapply that every twenty-four hours. For the first five reapplications, squeeze the cold pack to activate it again and put it back against the burn. After that, just use bandages. If you still feel pain after three weeks, come back and I will look at it again.”

“Got it.” Jackie pulled his shirt and hoodie back down. “Thanks, doc.”

Schneep smiled. “You are welcome. Though, really, is no problem. This is my job, after all.”

“Still.” Jackie was starting to reconsider his stance on not going to the doctor for hero-related injuries. He was already feeling much better.

Though...how long would it take Schneep to realize there was something off about Jackie’s injuries? How long would it take him or Chase to realize that he just happened to get injured every time Windstorm did? One person couldn’t possibly be at the site of every super fight Windstorm had. Unless, of course, they were Windstorm themself.

And, now that Jackie had heard about Chase’s accident, he was even less eager to tell Chase the truth about his identity. Supers had caused Chase’s injuries, had cost him his memory. What if...he held that against them? Sure, Jackie had only been fighting crime for a year and a half, but...would that matter?

“Well, I guess we’ll head out now.” Chase started to stand up, and Jackie now paid attention to how he grabbed onto Frosty’s leash, and the dog walked away and helped pull him into position. “Thanks so much, Schneep. And, uh, Jameson, was it?”

JJ nodded, giving Chase a small smile.

“Cool. Well, any cousin of Schneep’s is a friend of mine,” Chase said cheerfully. “You guys seemed to be doing something when we walked in, so we’ll just leave you to it. Maybe we can talk again sometime?” His face suddenly fell. “Or, uh—not talk, but uh—you know, uh—”

JJ laughed silently, waving away Chase’s comment.

“Yeah, we’ll just head home.” Jackie hopped off the exam table.

“Well, feel free to call me if you have any troubles again,” Schneep said.

“Ha. Sure, yeah,” Jackie agreed, even though he still had his doubts.

“C’mon, dude. The sooner we get home, the sooner you can get some rest to help that heal,” Chase said, and started to head out.

“Right.” Jackie followed him. “Thanks again, doc!”

“You are welcome!” As Chase and Jackie left, Schneep and JJ turned to each other, no doubt resuming whatever conversation they’d interrupted.

The train ride home was quiet as Jackie was lost in thought. Should he start going to the doctor for hero injuries? Of course, he never planned on getting hurt, but it was inevitable that he would. As long as he was out there trying to save people, there would be villains that wanted him out of the way. He’d accepted that. And...well, getting official burn treatment was much more effective than his usual cold compress.

Maybe. Maybe he would. If it was bad enough. But there was one thing he decided for sure. Until he knew for certain what Chase’s opinions on superheroes were, he couldn’t tell him. Chase was a nice guy, but who knew? He might have some bad feelings brewing. And if he knew who Jackie was, Jackie would lose his first good roommate in years...as well as his first friend in years.

He didn’t want to risk it. So for now, his secret identity would remain just that: secret, and safe.

[sophchoph]

Thank you to @archivefullofyoutubers for this fun idea! Super fun and sweet way to step back into the fandom 😊

Preferred name: Socks

Preferred pronouns: He/They

When did you start watching JSE? Lord this goes way back, but I think it was 2016/2017? Whatever year “say goodbye” came out was when I started watching.

Why did you start watching JSE? I had been watching Mark’s channel for some time, and Jack had been in a couple plus was always in my recommendations so I gave it a shot! It was actually super funny, I watched a single Happy Wheels video the day before, liked it and subscribed. The next day was Halloween. Halloween is my birthday, I love the holiday, and oh look, cute little pumpkin carving video by the fun green haired Irishman I found on YouTube! Well… safe to say I was hooked after that one haha

What's your favourite things about the channel? I’ve been away for a while, been some time since I used YouTube regularly at all really, but honestly it’s always just been the energy. The games are cool, the content is great, but for me it’s just the overall feeling of it all that’s kept me there and it’s that feeling that’s now drawn me back in.

Do you have a fave ego? I do, it’s Anti, I’m sorry 😂

What type of community member are you? Back in the day I was an artist/writer but as of late I’ve been more of a lurker. Hoping to get back in the art mood again soon though!

What else do you enjoy? I like to draw and write, those two are big things for me. I also adore animals and work in wildlife rehab, so if you ever want some cute animal pictures from my job to cheer yourself up, send me an ask and I’m your guy! Trust me I’ve got plenty of them

Are you open to nice messages and new friends? Of course! I’m an ADHD dumbass and forget to reply all the time though, so please don’t get hurt feelings if I take a while! I don’t dislike you I promise, I just forget things exist as soon as they leave my immediate vision