#just chillin on an out-of-bounds tree

[robo-dino-puppy]

horizon forbidden west | aloy 24/?

[isolaradiale]

Welcome to SpiraleFES 2020!

A word of warning first: this is not an event and does not count as event participation towards ranking up. This is merely a bunch of fun activities that persist throughout July and until the next event in August if you’d like to use them for threads. 

The city is decorated festively from top to bottom, each and every ward sporting streamers, festive music, and providing a number of fun events. These can be used for threads throughout July and August, and so we encourage you to make use of them for some interesting interaction ideas! The list of events is as follows:

FIBONACCI WARD

NO PLACE LIKE HOME DECOR Do you find yourself missing that touch of something from home you just can’t seem to find in the city, no matter how hard you look? Well, search no more! Around the parks in various levels of the ward are vendors from familiar places, toting those little somethings from where you came from. Finally, you can find some clothes and other household items that aren’t easily accessible here. And if you look hard enough, you may find one of your personal treasures and trinkets that didn’t travel with you--a music box, a locket, maybe a ring from a family member… Don’t worry, it’ll have your name on it. NOTE: Weapons and other combat items will not be for sale in any of the bazaars.

A ROARIN’ BOREALIS SKATING RINK From the city streets, it looks like a bright ribbon of rainbow light, not unlike the famed Northern Lights. But ride the platform up to the top and see that the shimmering lights are actually a massive skating rink, with a figure 8 loop around the upper tiers of Fibonacci City. You can bring your own skates, or visit the kiosk to rent some LiteSkates--which leave a four-foot trail of light behind you in the color of your choice. There are guard rails around the arena, but even the clumsiest of skaters will be alright. After all, if you fall off the arena, a drone will pick you up and put you back on the ring. NOTE: Available during nighttime only.

ANDROID HELL … or the Ofiuco Rave, by any other name. A series of Radiocats seem to have flocked up to the lower floors of Level 3, and any discrimination towards those who seem like they may not belong has been, luckily (though no doubt only temporarily) shoved aside. Is it the Radiocats that set up the series of bright neon, backlit raves that have crowded varying floors on this level? … who knows. What everyone does know is that they’re certainly jamming out to some, as they say, “sick beats”, and large crowds have been drawn to the fluorescent party. It may be hard to move from place to place, but with the technology here being what it is, if you can see through the strobe for long enough, you’re bound to enjoy yourself! Ofiuco certainly is. NOTE: Ofiuco is immune to all attacks, charms, and other phenomena

CRAFT PUNK Outside of Fibonacci’s towering skyscrapers, nestled in the resident district, is an event with tinkerers in mind. Blending with the steampunk atmosphere is a foundry where your muse can learn the arts of robotics and machines. Classes range from building your own remote-control cars to making toys and household appliances (you know, like those little circular vacuum cleaners? Or a Super Toaster?) For those of you who are particularly adept in the art of machinery, you can enter the Scrap Battle Showdown--a competition to make a battle robot no bigger than a 3ft cube using only the supplies available in the foundry. If you’re caught using any materials from home, you’ll be kicked out!

ZERO G’S, ZERO CARES Ever wanted to go into space to do all the cool astronaut stuff, but not go through the rigorous education and training? This event is for you! Walk through the doors of this massive dome, and you enter a zero-gravity playground, where you can zoom around and float to your heart’s content. There are various pieces of equipment and toys you can rent out and play with, as well as anchored structures to hang off of. And when you get hungry, just visit the astronaut food vending machine!

COTES WARD

PIXIE PERFECT TREASURE HUNT The pixies of the Airaisal Forest have decided to cooperate with outsiders for a one of a kind event. Search the forest with an enchanted teacup pig with a nose for a very particular treasure: rare, golden truffles. Amass five to be awarded the equivalent of 200$ in Dust. But give up, or lose your teacup pig, and you’ll be spending the rest of your day as a fox kit as per pixie punishment.

OPHIUCHUS TREE TOWER Scale the gigantic tree that rises high against the cityscape with an alraune guide. The plant person in question will create a staircase of leaves around the tree’s trunk rising upward, allowing you and small group of friends to traverse the tree in a way normally impossible. Once you reach the canopy get ready to enjoy a one of a kind picnic lunch while you overlook the island from the most magical of vantage points.

NERF JOUSTING Rent a horse from the Market Town coliseum and take up arms against a number of opponents. Well, take up soft foam arms. Experience what it’s like to joust without any of the immediate danger. *any wounds accumulated via falling off your horse will be immediately healed by a fairy.

MAZE BY PIXIE LIGHT An elaborate garden maze illuminate by magic lights provided by the pixies of the village. This event only runs at night and can only be experienced in pairs, but the prize for success is a doozy: a crystal flower that is traditionally exchanged between pixies meant to promise themselves to one another. Receiving this flower as a couple is a promise to remain at one another’s sides through thick and thin. 

CANDLE LIGHTING FOR THE LOST During the night, the river that flows at the base of Ophiuchus comes to life with tiny lights as the alraune have arranged a way to send off the fallen, giving any who want one a tiny flower raft with a candle resting upon it. Placing this raft on the lake while considering well wishes for a resident of the city has since left is thought to bring them good fortune… wherever they are. Though in a realm where death isn’t permanent it can also be used to give well wishes to even the living, perhaps someone you know that’s having a hard time.  

STAR-DEN TEA PARTY The stars and planets are always so far away, aren’t they? Well, in this outdoor star garden, you’ll be able to walk through paths with lots of little glowing stars and planets--you may even find your home planet drifting in the cosmos! Each star, comet, cluster and planet can be interacted with, with the biggest planets only reaching the size of a beach ball. Letting go of the celestial body will have it simply float gently upward to begin drifting again.The event is catered with a variety of teas, coffees and cocoas, as well as sandwiches and little finger foods. Bring a blanket and gaze at them drifting by! Note: This event is only available when the sun goes down! 

GOLDEN WARD

REFRESHING FRUITS A boon of the token fruits of summer. At sunset, the beach’s parking lot transforms into a cute little market selling and showcasing everything melon! Vendors selling melon-themed snacks and drinks ranging from fun to wacky, melon carving contests, melon-themed clothes and other commercial goods, and lots of activities and games... And melon plants, of course! There's bound to be something for everyone.

NOBODY’S BORED! WALK The Boardwalk is offering free admission for the duration of SpiraleFES! Not only that, but it’s open until midnight instead of closing solely at nightfall, and at 10pm each Sunday there’s a fireworks display. With a variety of little games and activities with fun prizes to be won, there’s a guarantee you definitely won’t be running out of things to do any time soon! Drop by at 6pm any night for a free barbecue.

CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL A cruise ship has docked, decked out in festive banners and balloons for the festivities. Open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with free admission and free souvenirs, there’s a different themed activity on each of those nights! Monday night sports access to the ship’s nightclub, Wednesday sports a murder mystery starting at 8pm, and Friday sports a series of different escape rooms once the sun sets! The cruise ship may or may not be decked out solely in a variety of golden decorations, however.

THE CHILLIN’ VILLAIN A nightclub and lounge has mysteriously popped up on the border of the shadier part of Golden, and goodie two-shoes need not walk through its doors. With a temporary in-house ceasefire, all sorts of villains and antagonists are welcome to share a drink, a dance, and tell of the heists and plots they've devised. And if you'd rather keep your identity hidden, masks will be provided to you at a cost (it's a villain's lounge, not a charity!). NOTE: The ceasefire is mandatory, and all weapons and powers are deactivated upon entering the building

A FOAM-IDABLE FOE Out further into the ocean are a few obstacles, rafts and arenas. On the beach are your weapons: foam armaments of every shape and style--everything from foam swords to guns that shoot foam darts to foam shields and battle-axes. Your task is simple: knock your opponent(s) or opposing team(s) off the platform and into the water using your sick new foam gear. Think of it as a… Foam Battle Royale!Want a challenge? Some of the arenas equalize the strengths and defenses of its challengers, making even the most powerful Isolans only as strong as the weakest contender on the arena. Note: For this event, your combat powers/items will be rendered ineffective!

ARCHIMEDES WARD

ARTE FESTE (MULTIFACETED) All creative minds are welcome to join this massive booth dedicated to arts and crafts. All sorts of classes will be held over the span of the month--from common forms of painting and pottery to the unique art forms of metalworking and glassblowing. Whatever you create in the booth can be taken home, given to a loved one, or sold at the vendor’s tent. Any necessary supplies will be rented to you, but if you break it, you buy it. If performance arts are more your thing, stop by for any of the open mic sessions held at Calliope Theater. NPCs will be hosting plays and short skits that you may be dragged into as an unfortunate audience member, but citizens of Spirale are encouraged to take the stage and wow the crowd with words! Comedy sketches, poetry, and any other magnificent talents of yours are welcome at the stage! Please pay no attention to the guy selling tomatoes to throw. He doesn’t work for us. We don’t know where he came from.

TOO POOL FOR SCHOOL The Water of Styx, while always open to the public, has been decorated much like the rest of the wards. An assortment of pool toys and games have been set up and laid out for all to use as they see fit, including but not limited to some of the largest pool noodles you’ll ever see, a variety of pool floats in all shapes and sizes, and a volleyball net set up toward one end of the pool for all to enjoy a game. Refreshments and snacks provided! Some of the smaller pools around the ward have similarly been decked out in a multitude of fun pool supplies, but not nearly to the extent as the Water of Styx.

FLASH FASHION (THE DEPARTMENT WOULDN’T LET US NAME IT “FLASHION”) Highlighting the summer fashion scene is this joint-event, perfect for participants of all levels of experience. Those skilled in the art of the cloth can showcase their designs both on mannequins or in person in the display booth. There are all sorts of categories to enter your pieces into, so don’t be shy to show what you’re made of! Those that have an eye for photography are encouraged to come and snap some photos of the spectacle; the fashion, the models, the contestants--even the guests! The display booth has a wireless printer and a corkboard for pinning your snapshots to. For those of you who would rather keep things fun and casual, there’s a photo trail with plenty of fantastic views of the ward to take that sweet, sweet selfie in.

CANDY CAMOUFLAGE So, yeah, it looks like a typical home goods store. But don’t be deceived! Many of the objects you’d typically find in the store--furniture, pillows, curtains and more--are completely edible! Even then, the tastiest candies and chocolates are only for the bravest and most adventurous tasters. A treat can be hiding anywhere--a clothes hanger, a ball-point pen, a mannequin, the wallpaper… Just be careful not to crunch on a real object. And if you do, there’s a dentist down the street. The event resets at midnight each night and the store changes daily, so every experience is different!

THE INTRASPACE

SPIRALE DOUBLE DASH!!: PAINBOW ROAD For a limited time, kart racing is available at the Intraspace hub! Go solo or grab a friend, customize your ride, and ride like the wind! The rules are simple--complete three laps around the circuit and try to finish in 1st place. But these aren’t your ordinary courses, and things get pretty… wild. There’s no rule against sabotaging your opponents, either. So better watch out…! Don’t worry--if you completely total your kart or fall off the edge of the track, you’ll be safely transported back to the Kart Lobby to try again in another round! The better you do in races, the better you can deck out your uniforms and kart.

[palettes-and-prompts]

Character Palette/Personality Palette

If I have seen the movie/show/or whatever this character is in I will let you know! But if I haven't I'm just gonna give my best guess to their personality or what I think they like and everything. I will make them two palettes, one based on their appearance and one based on what I think their personality is. If you'd rather not see this just block the tag "character palette and personality guess" I figure no one's tagging anything like that so it should be easy to filter out. If you genuinely like this character and I lowkey diss them I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize though, you're going to have to live with it. If you wanna send me a character for a palette and my guess at their personality/interests just drop it on anon and I'll see what I can do.

Alright so this is Tsukasa from the anime/manga Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun. Again, never seen or read this, let's jump in!

So, even though this is just the twin of the other guy I did a palette for and the only big difference is that he's got a sticker on the other cheek I feel a whole different vibe from him. He's got like annoying little brother energy but not as much as the other guy. Like, this is the kid who loses his fucking mind when someone's like "Who wants pancakes?" This is the kid who had no regard for his own safety what so ever. Like, I can see him banging his head into walls and shit, just going fucking crazy whenever he hears any good news about anything. This kid doesn't give a shit about being with someone, he only cares about hanging out with animals. He kind of radiates a specific dog energy. Like a puppy. Like, I picture him only interested in friendships and hanging out with animals. I can see him making up fantasy worlds and just chilling in trees all the time. And like his mom is just "There's little Tsukasa, just fuckin chillin in a tree again." And his dad's so tired of hearing his wife just panicking about him falling out that he just builds him a big tree house. Tsukasa would have a lot of friends. His brother wouldn't have a lot of them, but everyone loves Tsukasa. But like, when they wanna hang out with him they're always like "...your brother wont be home, right?" But this kid is so blind that he just doesn't notice how weird his brother is. This kid's got nothing but dogs, hot wheels, and probably go cart racing on his mind at all times. He's definitely got a race car bed and has a fuckload of legos strewed all over his room that people are constantly stepping on. If a robber ever came into his house his main instinct would be to eat all the bananas in the kitchen and scatter the peels everywhere before he gets a knife or a baseball bat. He was definitely in cub scouts but only because he thought he'd see bear cubs. But it turns out he's really good at all the activities so he stayed.

Anyway here's his palette based on his character design.

And here is his palette based on what I think his personality is.

[isolavirtuosa]

Starting Over (For Real?) 1-3

Sequel to Starting Over and Starting Over (Again).

[fanfiction] NaruSasu

Whose dream is it now?

Starting Over (For Real?)

Isola Virtuosa

 - 1 -

  When I woke up this time, I was still inside of the tree’s roots.  I took a deep breath, trying to shake off the memories of yet another fake world that I’d been imprisoned in for who knows how long.  This was reality.  I was trapped inside of a tree, having all of my chakra sapped away.  The first thing I needed to do was get out of here before I didn’t have enough chakra to power my rinnegan.

And yet, how had I been able to get enough chakra to activate my rinnegan in the first place?

The warmth in my chest was growing, like my chakra was increasing rather than decreasing, yet I still felt the gentle drain of it as it left my body and went into the tree.

The more I came back into reality, the more I started to realize that what I thought was part of the roots was actually a human hand, a human torso, a human leg.

“Naruto,” I tried to say, but I don’t think any sound came out.  I tried to move, but I felt like I was bound in place.  I focused on the chakra that Naruto was feeding into me, gathering it into a chidori and blowing a hole through the roots that were trapping us.

I gasped as real air hit my lungs, but Naruto didn’t as much as stir.  I tried to tear out of the pod, but my arm felt like lead.  I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and concentrating my chakra again.  Then we were falling.  It must not have been very high, but after landing feet first, I immediately fell backwards and hit my head.  All I saw was white.

Naruto groaned, still attached to my torso.

I managed to get my voice to crack, but nothing more.

“Saaaa,” Naruto croaked, and I felt him trying to move.

My vision started to clear slowly.  It was still too bright out for my eyes to adjust.  I was suddenly overwhelmed by the chakra pouring into my body.  I gasped, trying to tell Naruto to stop.

“Rin…” he whispered.  “Rinnegaa…”

He was right.  The most important thing right now was my rinnegan.

“My… legs,” he rasped.

This was hopeless.  Neither of us could walk, our muscles so severely atrophied.  What was the point of waking up if we were just going to get sucked back in, starting over again and again and again in this endless cycle?

“Sasuke,” Naruto said, dissolving into a coughing fit.  “Sas…” he started coughing again.  “Sasuke, don’t… give up…”

“…s… the poin…t?” I forced through my ragged throat.

Naruto’s hand slammed into mine.  He flopped it around some more until he could curl his fingers around mine.  “Seal.”

“It…” I tried to get the words to come out.  “Won’t.  Work.”

“Hafta try.”

I wanted to scream.  I had tried.  Twice already.  Third time was not the charm.  We were going to die here.  Even if we released the jutsu, we couldn’t move and there was no one coming to save us.  We would die from exposure.

“Want… to… go… back?” Naruto asked, croaking each word out slowly.

Live in a world that gave you what you thought you wanted, or die.

I tried to remember the Sage’s words and slowly guided Naruto’s hand into the rat seal with mine.

It felt like it couldn’t be this easy.

“How do we even know if this is real?” I tried to shout, my voice barely coming out above a whisper.

“We have to believe,” Naruto said into my chest, his head so heavy he couldn’t lift it.

Of course the real Naruto would say something stupid like that.

So I believed.

 - 2 -

  “So this is how I’m going to die,” I muttered through cracked lips.  After we had released the seal, the God Tree had started to wither away.  We were no longer under constant peril of being swallowed up by a carnivorous tree.  Now we were starving, dehydrated, and incapable of so much as sitting up.  The sun had set and risen again, the both of us fading in and out of consciousness.

“I bet I can live longer than you,” Naruto said, laughing and coughing.

“I’d like to see you try,” I rasped.

“I am gonna live so hard,” he replied.

I squeezed his hand, our fingers still curled together from when we performed the seal, though Naruto had somehow managed to finally roll himself off of my chest and onto his back.  Help wasn’t coming.  Everyone else had been trapped in the tree same as we had, with the same atrophying effects.  We were miles from anyone, with no chance of someone stumbling upon us in a rescue effort.  I only hoped that the scavengers would pick our bones clean so no one would realize how embarrassingly I had indulged myself in my last moments.

“I wish it would rain,” Naruto murmured, licking his lips again.

“You’re just making it worse,” I scolded him.

“Whaddya mean?!”

“The moisture from your lips… evaporates…” I started to trail off, feeling myself being drawn into sleep again.

“Please stay with me,” Naruto said quietly, snapping me back awake.

I felt too tired to even answer him.  I put all my effort into squeezing his hand.

“At least we saved the world,” he said, squeezing back.

“Whatever’s left of it…” I managed to get out.

“Why do you have to be so damn pessimistic?!”

I smiled and it hurt.

Naruto sighed, then went quiet.

“…Naruto?”

He didn’t answer.

I felt myself drifting.

Someone was standing over us.

I was appalled that I hadn’t sensed their approach even in my near-death state.  Then I realized that I couldn’t feel her chakra.

“They’re still alive!” she called over her shoulder.

There were others.

Just like that, we were being taken back to Konoha.

I woke up in someone’s living room, an IV in my arm.

“Easy,” Naruto said, squeezing my hand.

I let the chakra I’d been building up disperse, trusting in him completely that we were safe.

Then I remembered that he wasn’t my Naruto.  This man sitting next to me with a ridiculous beard was practically a stranger, someone I hadn’t really and truly spoken with in almost four years.  Or was it five, even six now?  More?

“How long?” I rasped at him.

“Almost two years,” he said.  He was still holding my hand.

It wasn’t quite as bad as I’d imagined, since I’d lived through several years in the Infinite Tsukuyomi.  “You look ridiculous.”

Naruto grinned.  “Look who’s talking.  I’m not surprised that Uchihas are terrible at growing beards, though.  That’s what you get for being pretty like a lady.”

I stared at him.

His grin faltered and he retracted his hand.  “S-sorry, I’m just…  I’m used to you being… different.”

“I get it,” I said, turning away from him and finally taking in our surroundings in more detail.  We were in a living room with futons laid out across the floor, though ours were the only ones currently occupied.  We both had IVs feeding into us, but I was surprised by how easily I could move.  My muscles weren’t as deteriorated as I’d expected from being in a coma for over a year.

“There was a whatsit uh paralytic in the tree,” Naruto said, and I could feel his eyes following my every movement.  “That’s why we couldn’t really move.  That’s uh what you were wondering, right?”

Stop reading my mind, I thought.  Stop acting like you know everything about me.

“So uh it seems like some people were immune to the Infinite Tsukuyomi and uh ya know they were all just like chillin’ and watchin’ over the tree while the world went to hell and then we released the seal and they saw all the bodies bein’ freed and started rescuin’ everyone and they found Kakashi-sensei and he told ’em where ta look for us and uh yeah so uh yeah.”

I sat up.  It took more effort than I would have liked, but I did it, letting the blanket pool in my lap as I turned to stare at Naruto.  “Do I make you nervous?”

He let out a very high-pitched laugh.

I didn’t even know where to start.

“I don’t know how to act around you,” he said quietly.  “I was playing with my kids and now I’m in the ruins of Konoha with… nothing…”  He choked on the last word, his entire face crumbling.

I looked away and waited.

“You were out for a while, but I was able to get a lot of information from Ms. Miharu,” he said, calm again.  His tone was starting to sound more like an adult and less like a tongue-tied child.  “This is her house.  There were about twenty people in Konoha who were immune to the Infinite Tsukuyomi, all non-ninjas, and they’ve just been trying to survive for the last couple of years.  They’ve done some trading with survivors from other towns and villages, but food and skilled professions like doctors have been scarce, so it seems like it’s been pretty tough.”

I wondered if they hadn’t been better off without us.  “I want to leave.”

“Where the hell did that come from?!”

“I don’t know these people who are supposedly taking care of us, first of all,” I said, already feeling my blood pressure rising from Naruto’s flailing and whining.  “Second of all, I’m a missing nin and there is no possible way that I can stay here anyway.”

“Uh, where are you gonna go?” Naruto asked, scratching his nose.  “There’s nothing out there.”

“There’s nothing here, either.”

“There’s me.”

“Just what I always wanted.”

“Are you being sarcastic?!”

I looked at him.

“Your chakra is depleted and you’re missing an arm, you’re in no condition to be going anywhere,” he said with a frown.

“I’ve been missing an arm for years,” I said.

“So the reality of missing an arm is exactly the same as the dream world?” Naruto asked.  His tone was getting a little too sassy for my taste.  “Because it’s completely different for me.  The balance isn’t what I expected, and my brain keeps telling me that I feel pain where my arm used to be.”

He wasn’t wrong.  “I’m still leaving.”

“Dressed like that?” he said, and it was true that my clothes had been torn, my belt had been lost, and I looked like- “A stripper who had a fight with a tailed-beast and lost?”

“Who the hell is a stripper?”

“You!  You are a stripper!  I can literally see your titties!”

“I feel like I’ve walked in at an awkward moment,” the woman standing in the doorway said.

“It’s always awkward with us,” Naruto said with a grin.

“Oh, dear…” she said, looking between us.  “Mr. Uchiha, it’s nice to see you awake.  I’m sorry about the hack job I did with the IVs, I’m not actually a nurse…  And I’ve got some clothes for you to change into if you’d like, I just didn’t want to be undressing and redressing you without your consent.  I’m Miharu, by the way.  Pleasure to meet you.”

“What’s in the IV?” I asked abruptly.

“Ah, it’s some nutrients and such, but before there was also the anti-paralytic to get your body moving again,” she explained, bustling around the room.  She came back over to me with a set of pajamas.

I eyed them disdainfully before accepting them.  “And how did a non-nurse go about developing an anti-paralytic for the God Tree?”

“You’re so rude,” Naruto muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, that wasn’t me,” Miharu explained.  “There was a scientist who came from Suna.  You see, we tried to cut y’all down from that tree, but even if we pulled you out of those pods, you just wouldn’t wake up and you eventually got sucked back in.  But that scientist and some others tried studying you these last few months, and came up with the anti-paralytic for the day that y’all might wake up.”

“I see,” I said.  I still didn’t trust her, though my gut said she was harmless.

“Gosh, you must really just want to wash up and finally be rid of those rags,” she said, going to dig through a drawer and coming up with a couple of towels.  “We don’t have running water, but we’ve got a well and some buckets if you want to go wait in the bathroom.  It’s probably gonna be tough to walk right now, but the others that we rescued way before you are starting to get on their feet again.  And then there’s Mr. Uzumaki here, who just defies reality, doesn’t he?”

“Demon fox,” Naruto said, patting his stomach.  “Kurama’s actually a really helpful guy when it comes to getting injured.  Anyway, I’ll help you go up the stairs, Sas’.”

I glared at him.

Miharu started removing our IVs.

“Do you like sleeping in your own blood and filth?” Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

“I don’t need your help,” I said.  I pushed myself up onto my knees, wobbling a little but keeping it together.  I tried to bring one leg up, but it didn’t want to move.

“Why don’t I start hauling those buckets for you?” Naruto offered.

“I would be much obliged,” Miharu said, and the two left.

Fuck, I hated him.  Being respectful and not playing on my embarrassment.  What other horrible traits had he developed in the dream world?

I couldn’t stand.  I crawled to the couch awkwardly and pulled myself up.

“Sasuke.”

I kept my back to him as he loomed in the doorway.

“Let’s go upstairs?”

It was humiliating as he settled my arm over his shoulder and hoisted me up.  My legs did not want to work properly, taking staggering steps even when Naruto was taking most of the weight.

He sat me on a stool in the shower and moved to undress me.

“No.”

He looked at me.

“You can go,” I said dismissively.

“Good, ’cause you smell awful,” he said, his shoulders sagging with rejection.  “I’ll be outside the door if you need anything.”

I waited until the door had shut fully before I moved my arm painfully in the motions of undressing.  Clearly our muscles had been kept active somehow, but they were still stiff and hard to move.

I tossed the clothes on the side of the tub and started washing up with the bar of soap that I’d been given.

It quickly became apparent that I could not lift the bucket to rinse myself.

I thought about calling Naruto.

Like I would ever ask that idiot for a favor.  It was bad enough he’d half carried me up the stairs.

I moved the water out of the bucket with my chakra, which was a waste and would probably set my recovery back, but Uchihas had their pride.

I banged on the door when I was done dressing, and Naruto opened it almost immediately.

“How long was I asleep?” I finally asked as he helped me down the stairs.

“Four days.”

“Fuck,” I muttered.  I’d started to suspect, but that was a long time to be unconscious and vulnerable in an enemy village.

“I stayed with you,” he offered quietly.  “I wouldn’t let anything… and anyway, most of the ninjas are still laid up.”

“I need to get out of here,” I asserted.

“Sasuke…”

“Nice and clean?” Miharu asked from the bottom of the stairs.  “I can put in another IV, or are you up to tryin’ some solid food?”

I didn’t want to pump unknown liquids into my body, but I also didn’t want to eat food from an unknown source.  Not that I was excessively paranoid.

I was just the right amount of paranoid.

“Ms. Miharu’s a great cook,” Naruto said, a grin stretching across his face.  I tried not to be blinded by it.

“Well, I don’t know about all that, but I could make you some broth to ease your stomach,” she offered.

“Fine,” I said gruffly.

“Thank you,” Naruto said, giving her a sweet smile.

She disappeared into the next room.

I frowned at him.

“What?  Just because you have no manners doesn’t mean the rest of us shouldn’t.”

“I hate when you do that.”

“Do what?!”

I sat heavily on the couch, shoving him away.

He sat on the arm, as close to me as possible.  He opened his mouth to speak, and then our eyes met.

We both looked away.

I needed to get out of here.

 - 3 -

  Kakashi came to visit on the third day.

“You look awful,” I informed him.

“As do you,” he said, grinning away under his mask.

I’d finally shaved my farce of a beard, but I couldn’t really disagree with him.  We all looked like ghosts of our former selves.

Kakashi continued to grin, not saying anything.

“Did you want something?” I asked irritably.  He was the first person I’d seen besides Naruto and Miharu, and I realized I was fine with not seeing anyone ever.

“Just checking in on your recovery,” he hummed.  “Naruto said you were still having trouble walking.”

I looked at him.

“Oh, I’ve been appointed to act in the hokage’s stead while she recovers,” he said, like I’d asked him a question.

“Making sure I’m not getting into trouble?” I scowled.

“No, that’s why Naruto’s here,” he answered.

It suddenly seemed very obvious.

“And if I try to leave?”

“He’ll stop you,” he said cheerfully.

“Because those are his orders.”

Kakashi actually laughed at that.  “Well, yes, they’re his orders, but I don’t think Naruto needs orders to chase you halfway around the world.”

I felt… betrayed.

Some of the mirth left his eyes.  “Don’t start doubting him now.”

I was fool to think that the village in ruins meant that the conspiracy was dead.

“Sasuke,” Kakashi said sharply.  “He is on your side.  He wouldn’t even leave your damn side to help with the village when he’s the only fully-functioning ninja in all of Konoha.  He chose you.”

I didn’t care what he had to say.  It had been worrying at the back of my mind, why Naruto and I were the only two patients staying in this house that had clearly been prepared for so many more.  I told myself that it was because this place was so far on the outskirts of town, so far away from the hospital staff and the necessary supplies.  My mind loved to rationalize when it came to Naruto.

He was my weakness, and I was tired of it.

“What’s that look for?” Naruto asked, his grin faltering as he strolled into the room.

I turned away from him.

“Mm, well, he knows,” Kakashi explained.

“Knows what?” he asked, stooping in front of me and leaning in so his face was right in front of mine.

“That you’re spying on him.”

“I’m not spying on him!” Naruto cried, eyes darting to Kakashi, then frantically back to me.  “I’m not spying on you!”

I would have gotten up and left if I could walk.

“Senseeeei,” Naruto whined, still looking between us.

“Why didn’t you tell him?” Kakashi asked, taking out a book.

“I was working my way up to it!  Our relationship’s all weird and awkward ’cause of the stupid Tsukuyomi.”

“That’s why your relationship is weird and awkward?” Kakashi snorted.  He licked his thumb to turn the page.

“Are you gonna tell us what happened in your dream world?” Naruto asked, trying to cross his arms over his chest, realizing he only had one, and losing his balance.  He stumbled back into a standing position, trying to play it off like it hadn’t happened.

“I’m sure you can figure it out,” Kakashi said with a shrug.

“Uh… how?”

“Use that brain of yours.”

“What brain?” I muttered.

“Don’t you start,” Naruto said, frowning at me.

I blinked.  First of all, I was angry with him.  Second of all, the normal Naruto response would be, ‘what the hell was that, bastard?!’, accompanied by yelling and flailing.

I tried to stand up, my legs shaking.

“Hey, take it easy,” he said, catching my arm.  My weight caused him to stumble, but he held us both up.

“This isn’t real,” I said, trying to push him away.  I ended up falling.

“Uh…”

I crawled towards the door.  It was a struggle to open it, but then I was outside.  I looked into the sky, searching desperately.

“No one else has shown signs of psychosis,” Kakashi was reasoning behind me.

“Yeah, but he’s lost it,” Naruto said, and suddenly he was there hauling me to my feet.  “What’s gotten into you, are you gonna crawl all the way across the border?”

“The moon,” I said.  “Where’s the goddamn moon?”

“Uh, I dunno, wherever it goes during the daytime?”

“It has to be here somewhere!” I snapped, leaning my neck backwards and searching the sky.

Naruto was struggling to keep us both up and finally just sat us on the ground.  “What are you doing?  What’s going on?  Talk to me…”

I finally looked at him when I felt his hand touch my cheek.  “This isn’t real,” I said flatly.

“You keep saying that, and I keep thinking you’re nuts, so…”

“Don’t you get it, we’re still in the Tsukuyomi!” I said, pinching his cheek until he let go of me.

“Uh, no,” Naruto said.  “You got us out, remember?”

“Why am I even bothering?” I muttered.  “You’re just a stupid figment of my imagination.”

“I think I take offense to that,” he said, scratching the back of his neck.

I started moving away from him.  Did I have to see the moon to wake up, or was it just enough to realize?  I put all of my chakra into my rinnegan.

“Are you gearing up for a battle?” Naruto asked, chuckling nervously.

He looked so damn real.

“Hey,” he said.  His eyes probed mine, and then he reached out his hand again, this time catching me by the back of the neck and pulling me close until our foreheads touched.  “I’m pretty sure I’m real.”

Of course he was touching me, of course he was staring into my eyes with that overwhelming sincerity of his.  Because that’s what I wanted, so that’s what the world gave me.

“I mean, I’d know if I wasn’t real,” he continued, his brow scrunching up.  He laughed nervously.  “Of course I’d know.”

“You’re not,” I said, closing my eyes.  I couldn’t take anymore blue.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because you’re not you,” I whispered.  “You’re who I want you to be.”

“This is who you want me to be?” Naruto asked, sounding confused.  “I mean, I’m just the same as always, just… I dunno…  I’m me, Sas’.  Come on.  Look at me.”

I didn’t open my eyes.

His sigh brushed across my lips.

I closed my eyes more tightly, goosebumps ghosting up my arm.

“Sorry,” Naruto said, abruptly moving away.

I was an idiot.  I needed to find the moon.  I needed to get out of here.  I needed to do these things immediately, but I felt rooted to the spot, my eyes still closed.

“You’re freaking me out,” Naruto finally said.

I slid my eyes open.

“This isn’t the Infinite Tsukuyomi,” he stated.

“How would you know?” I asked dismissively.

“’Cause,” he said.

I looked at him.

“I mean, we escaped, right?  We woke up outside of the tree.”

“It wasn’t real the first time, why would it be this time?”

“Whaddya mean, the first time?” he asked, scratching his nose.  Then he frowned.  “Oh, that dream.”

I stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

He took a breath and let it out sharply.  “You pulled me down once before, right?  We weren’t together.  In the tree.  Before.  The first time or whatever.  You woke up and pulled me down, yeah?”

“You remember?”

“Yeah.”

There was so much pain and loss in his face that I looked away.

“Your arm was… it looked really bad, and you just passed out,” he said.  “I couldn’t wake you up and then everything went black and I woke up back in my bed like nothing had happened.”

“You went back into the same dream world?” I asked.

“Yeah, didn’t you?”

“I woke up because I knew it wasn’t real,” I said, rolling my eyes.  “Why are you so stupid?”

“Why are you so rude?” Naruto shot back, nudging me with his foot.

I turned to look at him.  “This is my third dream world.”

“It’s not a dream,” he said, kicking at me again, but this time I caught his leg.

“How do you know that?” I snarled at him.

“I don’t!”

“Oh,” I said, dropping his leg.

“But arguing about it in the middle of Ms. Miharu’s garden isn’t going to do anything about it!”

I wanted to break down, to throw myself into his arm, to scream and shout and cry, but I was an Uchiha.  “The moon isn’t visible, now, anyway.”

Naruto looked at me.

I waited for him to figure it out and come help me to my feet.

We struggled back inside without a word.  We were never good at the words part.

“Why are you still here?” Naruto groaned as he sat me on the couch next to Kakashi.

I had been about to say the same thing.

“Just making sure you’re not off killing each other,” he replied, but even with a smile it sounded serious.

“That was a million years ago,” Naruto said, waving it off.

“Only two, actually,” Kakashi pointed out.  “But I remember it like it was only yesterday.”

Naruto sat on the arm of the couch next to me, his arm draped along the back of it.  “We’ve all lived completely different lives since then.  Sasuke apparently had two of them.”

“And did one of those two lives change how he felt?”

“Duh,” Naruto said, then shot a glance towards me.  “Right?”

I looked at him.

“You don’t want to kill me anymore,” he said, trying to sound confident.

“I don’t.”

“See,” Naruto said, beaming at Kakashi.

“When will I be exiled?” I asked.

Kakashi’s smile seemed to widen.  “How can I exile you from a place that doesn’t even exist?”

Naruto looked dumbfounded, and for once we were in agreement.  This wasn’t part of the Tsukuyomi script, and even I had no idea about what was going on.

“I’m here as the acting hokage, but to be honest the title no longer has any meaning.”

“What are you going on about, Sensei?!” Naruto cried, jumping to his feet.  “Of course it has meaning, it’s...” he hesitated.  “Well, it has meaning anyway!”

“Konoha no longer exists,” Kakashi said.  “The village is in ruins, most of the ninja are incapacitated, and there isn’t enough food to feed all of us.”

“So I’m not exiled… because there’s no place to exile me from…?”

“You were always the smart one,” Kakashi said, standing up and patting me on the head.

I scowled at him to cover up my confusion.

“This was a nice visit,” Kakashi hummed sauntering to the door.

“S-sensei!” Naruto stuttered, chasing after him.  “You can’t mean… but how can… I don’t…”

Kakashi grinned before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

[razorblade180]

Dispute

[morning]

*mostly everybody just chillin*

Blake:Have you seen Yang? I checked her room and she’s not there.

Ruby:Nope, I’m pretty sure she’s out for a run or some-

*boom*

Weiss:.....What was that?

Ren:Souned like it came from outside.

Oscar*from outside* Guys come on, this isn’t like you!!!!

Nora:Oscar? *everyone running outside*

Ruby:Oscar what’s going.....on?

*Yang in the middle of the yard swinging at Jaune. He’s keeping his shield up and swinging back.*

Jaune:What’s wrong, beating me should be a piece of cake if I’m under your level.

Yang:Stop acting smug you little- ha! *going for a high kick*

*Jaune lifts it higher with his shield and sweeps her planted foot with his sword. She falls hard*

Jaune:Get up! *gaining distance* I’m not done beating you yet!

Yang:*growls before lunging at him*

*blake gets between them with her swords out to block*

Blake:Woah! This seems like more than just a little sparring match. What’s gotten into you to?

Yang:He needs to watch his mouth. *trying to get pass Blake*

Jaune:I can say the same for you.

Blake:*struggling to keep them apart*Oscar!?

Oscar:They were both trying to help me get better at fighting. They started of disagreeing with how I should use my cane. Then it spiraled into who was right based off experience.

Yang:All I said was you’re still lacking experience and I should know better.

Jaune:You said I’m not on anyone’s level and viable to just screw up.

Ruby:*furious* YANG!!

Yang:Don’t be like that; I’m right while he’s going for low blows.

Jaune:What, you upset because I said you’re not as good as you think you are? That maybe you should reconsider your own progress since you got taken down in one hit!?

*both closing distance*

Ruby:Jaune!!

Blake:Guys....my arms are getting.....tsk *moves out the way with a clone to escape their attacks* crap....

*both continue to fight*

Weiss:Alright both of you need to-

Nora:I wouldn’t bother; I think these two are gonna need to duke it out.

Ren:Let’s just moderate to be safe.

Weiss:You’re okay with Jaune losing to Yang like this?

Nora:Umm Yang is gonna get creamed. There’s no way she’s losing.

Blake:My arms tell me it’s anyone’s guess.

Ren:Jaune

Oscar:Yang; what do you think Ru-

Ruby:*just watching closely* I already know how this ends.

*Yang grabbing Jaune’s blade, snatching it has she sends him back with a kick*

Yang:Game over! *lunges with a right hook*

Weiss:Told you s-

Jaune:*grabs her punch and flips her over his body; slamming her on her back*

Yang:*wind leaving her body*

Ren:I taught him that.

Jaune:*retrieving sword* Can we finish this already? *changes sword*

Yang:*erupting in a pillar of fire* You brought this on yourself.

Jaune:*aura covers his entire body* likewise...

Ruby:*grabs her scythe* I swear these two.

Yang: Let’s get started! *Fires a volley of shot gun flares*

Jaune:(Here goes nothing) *knocking each flare back at her before vanishing at high speed*

Yang:Shit.....*bobs and weaves her own attack* alright, where did you- *blocks a sword coming right over head*

*shockwave pushes everyone back*

Jaune:*teeth gritted* I’m right here.

Yang:*arms going numb* I can see that... *pushes him off and dropkicks him*

Blake:Did....did he boost himself?

Ren and Nora: *shrugs* first I’ve seen it!

*a spectacle of yellow and white aura clashing in the yard glows brighter. Sparks flying off swords and metal arms alike*

Yang:*eyes getting redder* I’ll admit *left uppercut* you’ve gotten better.

Jaune:But I’m still not up to your level is that right? *mixing in slashes with thrusts*

Yang:Obviously *backflips then lunges forward with a straight punch; flames coming off it*

Jaune:*swings a glowing crocea mors*

“You’re through!!!!!”

*a tornado of rose petals sweeps them up and throws them apart*

Jaune:*crashes into a tree, breaking his aura* uuuugggghhh Ruby?

Yang:*cracks the ground with her fall, breaking her aura.* agh! What the hell?

Ruby:ENOUGH!!!! BOTH OF YOU!!!!

*silence*

Ruby:*rubbing the bridge of her nose* Seriously, what is wrong with you two!!!? You both were both dangerously close to actually wounding each other; and for what!? You both know better.

Yang:Well maybe if-

Ruby:I don’t want to hear excuses Yang. You know what? Take a walk; leaders orders.

Yang:You can’t be seri-

Ruby:NOW.....*staring her down*

Yang:......tsk, whatever...*walks off to the back of the inn*

Ruby:Can you guys give us some space? I want to talk to Jaune alone.

*Everybody slowly walks inside concerned*

Jaune:*laying on his back*I take it this is the part you yell at me?

Ruby:I just.....why would you let Yang get under your skin like that!? Egging her on into a fight? That doesn’t sound like you; and then you brought up her arm?

Jaune:*biting his lip*.... I was fed up alright?

Ruby:Of her teasing? We know that’s how she is.

Jaune:I know but....*hits the ground* I don’t know of it was the way she said or her. Those words hit harder than usual; I know I’ve made improvements but she made me feel...

Ruby:Like you’re stuck in place? That’s why you challenged her;

Jaune:I lost my cool; I’m sorry.*staring at the sky* You’re probably still pissed at me though.

Ruby:I’m a little less *sits down* regardless, as a leader you can’t lose your cool like that; I know you know that.

Jaune:.....

Ruby:*kisses his forehead* And as someone who’s very important to me, I would really appreciate you getting along with my sister. I don’t like seeing either of you like that in a sparring match.

Jaune:*sigh* I’m sorry Ruby.....

Ruby:I’m not the one who needs that apology the most. Don’t get me wrong you’re still in the doghouse but right now there’s another hothead I need to chat with. *leaving*

Jaune:Good luck.

Ruby:Don’t need it; before I forget. Just between us, you might have won that fight. You’re definitely not stuck in place. Just keep doing your best; I’ll support you like I always do. *walks away*

Jaune:......*smiles*

[backyard]

Yang:*sitting with her legs crossed*

Ruby:You know technically I said take a walk right?

Yang:You done yelling at vomit boy and now it’s my turn?

Ruby:Hopefully there won’t be any more yelling; I hate fighting with you. We’re sisters Yang.

Yang:Why does it feel like you’re about to take Jaune’s side on this?

Ruby:There is no sides Yang; you both are wrong.

Yang:But? I know there is one coming.

Ruby:*Sigh* But you were wrong first and you know that. Saying what you said to him was unwarranted. Everyone knows he’s trying.

Yang:He’s not just trying he’s....he’s striving. He’s been striving leaps and bounds. While I stumble....

Ruby:What.....?

Yang:Ever since I got back everyday has been a struggle to feel even a fraction of how I used to. Strong, courageous, ready to stand up to anything; I was thehard hitter everyone banked on. Now it always feels like I have to lean on others. Nora, You, Blake-

Ruby:Jaune?

Yang:.....It’s just, he’s catching up so fast. He’s.... helping in ways I used to. *closes her eyes* I said what I said because I was jealous. Then he called me out on the whole reason I felt like that in the first place.

Ruby:You fought him to still prove you’re better? That’s so-

“Stupid”

Jaune:*walking to them* Yang of course you’re better than me. You were back then and you are now. It’s a fact.

Yang:That body slam you did says otherwise.

Jaune:That’s one move.

Yang:It was your moves Jaune! I.....*clenching her fist* I could barely keep up the whole time. It was infuriating to me. Maybe you’re right; I’m just not as good as I always thought....

Jaune:You’re right, you’re better.

Ruby:?

Yang:What?

Jaune:I’ve only gotten this far because so many exceptional people have helped me along the way; including you. Any accomplishments I get is because of you all and the only reason it looks like I’m learning fast is because I’m starting from nothing.

Ruby:He’s right; you shouldn’t be comparing yourself to anyone here. We’re all at different stages in our development. Some take longer than others to overcome.

Jaune:I’m sorry I brought up your arm; it was wrong.

Yang:....It’s my fault *looks down* I’m the one who started acting like bully; I’m sorry.

Ruby:You guys can do better than that. Come on, hug it out you two.

.......

Ruby:*grabs both of them and hugs them* I’m not letting go until I feel the love.

*both of them eventually start hugging back*

Ruby:Promise me we won’t have to revisit this experience.

Yang and Jaune:We promises....

Ruby:Good! Now let’s go inside. If you want I can referee a clean match between you two tomorrow.

Jaune:I’m in no rush to get punched in the face.

Yang:Or stabbed in the shoulder. I didn’t know you knew Pyrrha’s stance. You use it too well. *rubs shoulder*

Ruby:Suit yourself; it’s no fun knowing how it will end anyways.

.......

Jaune:You’re saying you would know who would win if we fought tomorrow?

Yang:Care to enlighten us?

Ruby:*smiling* Wouldn’t you like to know?

[jem-jarrett]

I'd love to hear you answer 2, 10 and 16! Stay safe and have a good day!!!

Hey thanks! I love doing these. Okay here we go:

2. What is one thing you regret having done or not done in your life?

No regrets lol. I have anxiety so I’m always doubting everything I do and thinking over alternate courses of action, but I don’t think there’s anything major I regret. Maybe just not being honest and kind with myself in high school and early college. I repressed all my queerness and thought something was wrong with me. So I regret not accepting myself then. It’s such a waste of energy to beat yourself down like that. But hey, I figured it out (mostly) and I’m chillin w my identity now. 👍🏽👍🏽

10. Who are you most envious of—real or fictional—and why?

Fictional: I’m envious of Catra. Being a Magicat would be dope asf. But I’m not envious of any other aspect of her life. She’s had a difficult past and has a lot of challenges ahead of her, so I don’t want to minimize that. I just think having a tail would be neat. I’m also envious of my dogs because they get to nap all day in a sunbeam while I work.

16. What’s the saddest song you’ve ever heard?

Oh boy, well since you asked, there’s this Irish song about a highwayman who falls in love with a woman, and he visits her before riding out at night and doing crimes. He tells her to watch for him in the moonlight, and she does this every night. Except one night the British (damn colonizers) come through and tie her up, threaten to shoot her. They’re waiting for the highwayman to return so they can kill him. So his lover is watching for him in the moonlight, and when she hears the hooves of his horse on the cobblestone, she grabs a gun and shoots herself. The shot rings out and warns the highwayman that the redcoats are there. But instead of fleeing, the highwayman is enraged and rides in to town to avenge his lover. The Redcoats shoot him down in the street. So...they both die. That shit hurted. I’ll drop the lyrics at the end of the post and a link to the song. Also the entire Norah Jones album “Come Away With Me” makes me want to cry. I had a Shih Tzu growing up and he had separation anxiety, but if we put that album on he’d calm down immediately and fall asleep. He died eventually, after a long and happy life, but anytime I hear one of those songs I think of him.

The Highwayman

By Loreena McKennitt

https://youtu.be/qI_PMcFnZZw

The wind was a torrent of darkness

Among the gusty trees

The moon was a ghostly galleon

Tossed upon the cloudy seas

The road was a ribbon of moonlight

Over the purple moor

When the highwayman came riding

Riding, riding,

The highwayman came riding

Up to the old inn door

He'd a french cocked hat at his forehead

A bunch of lace at his chin

A coat of claret velvet

And breeches of brown doe-skin

They fitted with nary a wrinkle

His boots were up to the thigh

And he rode with a jeweled twinkle

His pistol butts a-twinkle

His rapier hilt a-twinkle

Under the jeweled sky

And over cobbles he clattered

And clashed in the dark inn-yard

And he tapped with his whip on the shutters

But all was locked and barred

He whistled a tune to the window

And who should be waiting there

But the landlord's black-eyed daughter

Bess, the landlord's daughter

Plaiting a dark red love knot

Into her long black hair

"One kiss my bonny sweetheart

I'm after a prize tonight

But I should be back with the yellow gold

Before the morning light

Yet if they press me sharply

And harry me through the day

Then look for me by the moonlight

Watch for me by the moonlight

I'll come to thee by the moonlight

Though hell should bar the way."

He rose up right in the stirrups

He scarce could reach her hand

But she loosened her hair in the casement

His face burned like a brand

As a black cascade of perfume

Came tumbling over his breast

And he kissed its waves in the moonlight

Oh, sweet waves in the moonlight

He tugged at his rein in the moonlight

And galloped away to the west

He did not come at the dawning

He did not come at noon

And out of the tawny sunset

Before the rise of the moon

When the road was a gypsy's ribbon

Looping the purple moor

A redcoat troop came marching

Marching, marching

King George's men came marching

Up to the old inn door

They said no word to the landlord

They drank his ale instead

But they gagged his daughter and bound her

To the foot of her narrow bed

Two of them knelt at the casement

With muskets at their side

There was death at every window

Hell at one dark window

For Bess could see through the casement

The road that he would ride

They had tied her up to attention

With many a sniggering jest

They had bound a musket beside her

With the barrel beneath her breast

"Now keep good watch" and they kissed her

She heard the dead man say

"Look for me by the moonlight

Watch for me by the moonlight

I'll come to thee by the moonlight

Though hell should bar the way."

She twisted her hands behind her

But all the knots held good!

But she writhed her hands 'til her fingers

Were wet with sweat or blood

They stretched and strained in the darkness

And the hours crawled by like years

Till now on the stroke of midnight

Cold on the stroke of midnight

The tip of her finger touched it

The trigger at least was hers

Tot-a-lot, tot-a-lot had they heard it?

The horse's hooves rang clear

Tot-a-lot, tot-a-lot in the distance

Were they deaf they did not hear?

Down the ribbon of moonlight

Over the brow of the hill

The highwayman came riding

Riding, riding

The redcoats looked to their priming

She stood up straight and still

Tot-a-lot in the frosty silence

Tot-a-lot in the echoing night

Nearer he came and nearer

Her face was like a light

Her eyes grew wide for a moment

She drew a last deep breath

Then her finger moved in the moonlight

Her musket shattered the moonlight

Shattered her breast in the moonlight

And warned him with her death

He turned, he spurred to the west

He did not know she stood

Bowed with her head o'er musket

Drenched with her own red blood

Not till the dawn he heard it

His face grew grey to hear

How Bess the landlord's daughter

The landlord's black-eyed daughter

Had watched for her love in the moonlight

And died in the darkness there

And back he spurred like a madman

Shrieking a curse to the sky!

With the white road smoking behind him

And his rapier brandished high!

Blood-red were the spurs in the golden noon

Wine-red was his velvet coat

When they shot him down in the highway

Down like a dog on the highway

And he lay in his blood in the highway

With a bunch of lace at his throat

Still on a winter's night they say

When the wind is in the trees

When the moon is a ghostly galleon

Tossed upon the cloudy seas

When the road is a ribbon of moonlight

Over the purple moor

A highwayman comes riding

Riding, riding,

A highwayman comes riding

Up to the old inn door

[am-i-invisible777]

The Dragon Egg

Here’s just something I wrote for creative writing that I decided to share here. The story is about a middle-schooler named Drake who is convinced he’s found a dragon egg. 

“I have a baby dragon,” Drake whispered to the boy next to him. The boy in return scrunched his face up, refusing to look away from the equation he was struggling to complete. Drake scooted in his seat, leaning toward the boy while keeping his eyes on the preoccupied teacher. “It’s technically still in its egg…but it’s bound to hatch any day now.”

“Leave me alone,” the boy mumbled under his breath, tapping the numbers of the old calculator provided by the school. 

“You wanna know where I found it? Wanna know how I’ve been able to keep a dragon egg hidden away from my parents and the government?” Drake continued, his half-completed math assignment completely forgotten as he looked at the uninterested classmate.  

“No. Shut up.” The boy said, glaring as he wrote down the wrong answer to the equation.

“My dad and I were finally going on this hike he promised me a while back by this trail that’s near Mr. Greenshire’s farms. When I stopped to tie my shoe, I looked over and there’s this big blue egg just chillin by this thorny bush. The second I saw it, I knew it must’ve belonged to a dragon. A real dragon, not those domestic ones.” Drake whispered excitedly, moving his hands along as he recounted the story.

“Dragons don’t exist.” He harshly whispered.

“And so I went over to it and put the egg in my bag before dad could even notice. It was lighter than it looked though. I thought it would be around five pounds max but that thing barely weighed a pound. And so when I got home—"

“Drake. This is an independent assignment. Please focus on your own work and stop talking to Alex.” The teacher called out, causing a few students to look at the two boys.

“Finally,” Alex sighed, writing down another wrong answer. Drake sunk back into his seat, a deep frown forming across his face. With a low sigh, he picked up his chewed pencil with no eraser and began drawing dragons in the margins.

 The last bell of the day rung at exactly 2:18 p.m. and Drake never reached the school bus before 2:20 p.m., except for the two times his class was held in the downstairs library. The school bus was old, with torn seats with dull writing on the backside and gum stuck to the sides and underneath. It was always too hot, the only fan being right next to the bus driver. The yellow bus smelled of mothballs and twenty-eight sweaty students. Sometimes it’d smell like the food someone had snuck in, given the fact it wasn’t allowed on the bus, even though the driver never cared. It wasn’t uncommon for some to have to sit three to a seat, four if someone was bringing their friends over, but Drake never had to worry about that. This time, he sat alone near the front of the bus in the seat right underneath the part of the bus that leaked when it rained. He preferred to be alone anyways.

Despite living in the same neighborhood for nearly his entire life, Drake barely knew any of his neighbors or the kids who always rode the bus with him for the past nine years. He tried to make friends, tried to meet and talk to new people, but it never went well. More often than not nowadays he mostly avoided his classmates, wanting to be by himself or with his close friend and next-door neighbor, Kai.

The bus jerked and squeaked as it came to a stop, its doors whining as the driver forced them open. Drake quipped a quick ‘thank you’ in an octave higher than his normal voice, he jumped down the steps and ran to his house.

He had to check on the egg, the dragon egg. His dragon egg. Upon arriving in his driveway, he noticed the absence of two vehicles, meaning that neither parent was home at the moment. Also meaning that his father was either seeing his new girlfriend or buying something for said girlfriend with the money his mother made since she was the only one in the house who actually worked. It also meant he was stuck going to Kai’s house since he left his key inside as he rushed to make it to the bus on time this morning.

He rung the doorbell twice before stepping back, adjusting the straps on his backpack and taking a moment to glare at the large, ugly sign in the front of the yard, the red letters spelling ‘SOLD’ seeming to mock him. Exactly fifteen seconds later, Kai’s older sister answered the door, letting Drake in as they exchanged a small greeting. Maneuvering around the boxes scattered everywhere and running up the carpet steps, he reached Kai’s door, the first one on the right, and knocked on it twice.

“Come in” Kai’s muffled voice called from just beyond the closed door. Drake swung the door open, not bothering to close it again, and gave his friend a smile.

“Hey Kai. How was the dentist?”

“Meh. They always tell me the same stuff. Floss more, drink less soda, yadda yadda. My wisdom teeth are apparently coming in soon. Weird right? Hope I don’t have to get them removed,” they shrugged, laying on the bed with a history book and highlighter beside them.

“I think it’d be funny,” Drake commented, taking his bag off and sitting on the floor. “Like when Hannah got her teeth pulled and she—”

“Was crying by the slushie machine at the gas station while hugging a puppy keychain? Yeah, no thanks,” Kai chuckled, remembering how their sister had behaved after the anesthetics. “So what’d I miss in Howl’s class?”

“Oh, basically nothing. We just started a new unit. Everyone’s confused,” Drake said.

“Good.”

The two were silent for a few moments, Kai preoccupied with highlighting paragraphs and Drake with staring at his phone, waiting for one of his parents to answer his texts.

“…do you think my dragon misses me?”

Kai sighed loudly, rolling their eyes. “Here we go again…”

“No, seriously. At this point it already knows and recognizes my voice. Also! What if it hatches? And I’m not there? I’ve been thinking about taking a few days off of school to tend to it after it comes into our world. I’ll need to train it,” Drake started rambling, fidgeting with his phone and he shifted uncomfortably on the floor.

“Drake, we’ve had this conversation about a million times before,”

“No, you’ve never paid attention when I talk about it!”

“Well, can you blame me?!” Kai sighed and rolled over onto their back, staring at the ceiling. “For the past, like, five weeks, that damn egg has been the only thing you want to talk about. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of telling you something that a ten-year-old already knows!” Kai turned back over to stare at Drake. “Buddy. Listen to me,” they pointed to their mouth. “Dragons. Don’t. Exist.”

“But—”

“No, no buts. What middle schooler still believes in dragons? Fire-breathing, flying, mythical dragons?” Kai asked, frustrated.

Drake remained silent, looking down at the floor as his hands trembled slightly. Although Kai didn’t raise their voice, Drake still felt like he was being yelled at and wanted to crawl away. “…maybe if the dragon could fly…and grew to be the size of a tree…I could come visit you in California…” he mumbled, his voice weak as he tried to keep it from trembling. Everyone hated it when his voice trembled.

Kai breathed deeply, facial features softening as they watched Drake struggle to keep still. “…I’m sorry, but that’s just…impossible.” They whispered. “I’m tired of talking about dragons…I just wanna have a normal conversation with you before I leave…that’s it.”

“…I gotta go home now,” Drake softly said, standing up with his bag. “…I’ll see you tomorrow.” He dragged his feet to the door and exited before Kai could say, ‘yeah, see you tomorrow.’

After leaving, Drake sat at the front steps of his house, still staring at his phone and periodically texting his parents to see when they were going to be home. He reviewed his list of dragon names while he waited, the notes organized by categories such as gender, color, element, and the presence of wings or not. He decided to erase the name ‘Kai’ from the list.

Precisely nineteen minutes later, he received a text from his father saying he’ll be there in five minutes. Thirty-seven minutes after that, his red Subaru rolled up to the driveway. The first thing he did was yell at Drake for forgetting his key. Once his father let him in, he ran upstairs, ignoring the comments made behind him and threw open his bedroom door. Right on top of his bed, wrapped up in twenty-two different blankets, underneath two lamps, was his baby dragon egg. He walked up to it, slowly and tossing his bag to the floor.

“Hey there little guy, didja miss me?” he asked softly, as if he were speaking to a baby. The egg, of course, didn’t answer. He patted the egg gently. “Yeah, I missed you too, buddy. The day sucks until you’re there.” He carefully moved to sit on the bed. “You can hatch now, you know. I read that you guys stay in your eggs for two months, and I’ve had you for a little over six weeks now.” He started fiddling with his thumbs. “Of course, you can come out at any time you want little friend. I’d just really really like it if you did.”  

Drake looked over to his desk, a large water tank sitting on top of it. “Is it because you don’t like the tank? I found it at a garage sale for real cheap. I kinda assumed you’d be some kind of water dragon since your egg is blue. Do you need a cage? Or a giant hot rock? My bed? I’ll give it to you!” He thought for a few seconds. “Are you not warm enough? Here, you can have my sweater.” He took off his large green hoodie and wrapped it around the already completely covered egg. “…please hatch soon.”

After talking with the egg for a couple of minutes, the front door opened and closed loudly, meaning that his mother was home. Not even three seconds later did both parents get into an argument about Drake not being able to get inside. He groaned and covered his ears, a futile attempt at blocking them out.

“Why, why, why, why…” Drake grumbled. He stared apologetically at the egg. “I’m sorry about them…again.” He sighed. “Dad says Mom’s just “upset” cause of his new girlfriend and Mom says Dad’s upset cause she’s “winning the legal battle” but I don’t care.” He laid down next to the egg. “Here’s another life tip I forgot to mention lil friend. Never take sides when your parents are fighting…you just end up hurt by both of them, no matter what you do and there aren’t any right answers either.” He hugged one of his pillows to keep his hands preoccupied. “…least you’ll never have to know what that’s like.”

Squeak

“What?!” Drake bolted upright quickly, almost knocking one of the lamps down. A small tap taptap tap could be heard coming from the egg, along with tiny squeaks. “Oh, oh…oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, you’re hatching!” A mix of panic and excitement bubbled up from his gut as he moved the lamps away. Pulling out his phone and going into the open page he found about early dragon care, he reread the passage he had looked over dozens of times. “Okay, okay, okay, uhh…”

Drake bounced up, sprinting to the corner of his room where a box had been placed. He lifted it up, retrieving one of the hamburgers from underneath. “Okay, so “The Life of a Dragon” s-says you’re gonna be really hungry when you hatch, so I got your first meal right here,” he said, placing the wrapped burger next to the squeaking egg as he carefully unwrapped the blankets. “It’s okay friend, it’s okay. I’m here. I won’t’ abandon you…I won’t hurt you, I swear, I’m not gonna leave you.” He cooed softly. Large cracks were already forming on one spot of the large blue dragon egg. With every tap tap heard, Drake could see the cracks expand and rise. “You can do it!”

“Drake! Come down here, now!”

Drake froze. In all his excitement, he temporarily forgot the verbal abuse that was taking place in the background.

“Uh, j-just a sec Mom!” he called out, rubbing the egg with his thumbs. “C’mon, buddy, come on…”

“Now!” Her demanding voice called out, louder and angry. Drake was too afraid to move for a second, looking from his door to his egg. With a sad sigh, he gave the egg a quick kiss before running out of his door and down the stairs, just in time to see his father stomp away and slam the door, the house shaking slightly from the force. Ten seconds later, a car engine roared.

Drake looked over to his mother, his fingers trembling and foot tapping against the floor. She sat at the kitchen table, rubbing her temples.

“Drake, would you do mommy a favor and call your father. Tell him he’s not allowed back into this house until he starts paying bills and stops eating all our food.” She wearily said, shaking her head. Drake looked up the stairs.

“…Is…um, is that all, ma’am?” he asked, attempting to keep his voice normal.

“Not yet, where has your father hidden the aspirin this time?” she stood up and looked at him, bags under her red eyes.

“Uh…it’s the…s-second cabinet on the left,” he said, pointing in the correct direction. She nodded her head and turned to the cabinet. Drake took this as his opportunity to run back upstairs.

“Drake, sweetie, before you go upstairs,” she called out as Drake was only four steps away from the top. “Please remember to slow down when you speak and talk clearly, we don’t want to have to send you back to speech therapy. And stop shaking around so much.” He looked down at his twitching hands.

“…Yes Mom!” he tried to say as clearly as possible before leaping up and past the four steps.

Afraid that the egg has already hatched and he’s not there for his new baby dragon, Drake practically fell over himself as he tried to hurry into his room. His phone rang—a call from his father—but he ignored it as he threw his bedroom door open, stumbling inside and looking at his bed. There, right where it was supposed to be, were the remains of the hatched egg. A few inches beside the blue egg shells, sitting down and now staring directly at him, was a goddamn Emu.    

[riverdaleroundup]

Riverdale Roundup 20x21: “The Killing of A Sacred Deer”

So Riverdale was on last night. I confirmed did not watch. I couldn’t watch it on my tv and I was far too lazy to get a stream up so like here we are. I go into my PVR to watch it this morning and it’s like “ no information found” and i’m ready to fume but when I pressed on it it still played so it was just god playing a little funny on me. Anyway, when I went on the internet last night people were like shitting their pants about this episode so i’m expecting something good. I’ve got my tea. Lets go.

Apparently I forgot about every single thing that happened last episode because their little recap has me straight shook. Like Reggie shot fangs? In what world?

So the Black Hood rolls up at Cheryl's house fitting to kill her and I’m just down for that. I’ve recently decided to stan Cheryl. I love the villian with a heart of gold. Please see season 1-3 Alex Karev.

So the black hood is coming after Cheryl with a casual axe because he apparently misplaced his gun, and he hacks up her lovely bedroom door. Cheryl goes all hunger games and whips out her bow and arrow and shoots the guy. I mean she could have done us all a favour and killed the guy so we can all move on to greener pastures. Like they aren’t going to drag this shit into season 3 are they? I don’t need another pretty little liars 7 seasons of dealing it, A, or the A team, or charles or whatever that stupid show morphed into.

Cheryl is the most casual girl ever. She just calls up Betty and is like “ yeah so the black hood just tried to kill me and i’m going to go hunt him in the woods. Want to do brunch on saturday?”

So Reggie didn’t shoot Fangs. I mean I guess it makes sense. Reggie was on the ground and Fangs got shot in the stomach so that would have had to have been quite the angle.

Hiram Lodge is like giddy about this whole riot. It's like christmas morning for the little guy.

Betty is uber convinced that her Daddy is the black hood and is worried that someone is going to murder him since Hermione is offering up a casual million dollars for the blackhoods head on a platter, preferably silver. Preferably polished.

So Veronica sees Midges mom wandering on the streets looking coked out as fuck and plot twist she was the one who shot fangs. I mean she thought he murdered her daughter but I mean that evidence is so damn thin.

Reggie is hiding behind a dumpster because bitches are out for him. He calls Mr Lodge and is like “ Daddy help” but Hiram isn’t his daddy anymore. He’s got to deal with this ish on his own.

All the football players + Kevin are out looking for Reggie. They end up at the high school where Sweet Pea and his boys are fitting to burn the place to the ground. Seems a little extreme but SP is cute so I probs would have allowed it.

Principal weatherbee shows up with like a bat or something and is like “ What the fuck? All you skanks better leave rn or i’m flip.” Honestly it’s very Mean girls with the principal and and the bat and i’m honestly surprised he doesn’t send them all to the gym for a seminar on confidence. He will keep them there ALL NIGHT. He can’t keep them past four. He will keep them there till FOUR.

Eventually the gang finds Reggie at Pops and honestly no one should be surprised because there are only ever 3 places anyone could ever be in Riverdale. It’s shocking that Pop had to call Archie to tell him that Reggie was there. They had basically knocked every other possibility off the list.

Betty gets a call from an unknown number and she thinks it’s the black hood, but I mean come on. Her annoying ass ringtone didn’t go off so we all know that it wasn’t going to be BH. It’s FP calling from a pay phone being like  

“ My bitch ass little son is a slithery lil snakey snake and ran off. Is he with you? Also your dad is in the ER.”

Betty promptly gets shook because she knows that Cheryl shot the black hood with an arrow so if Hal is bleeding from the shoulder shit is about to go down.

A bunch of crazies roll up to pops and Archie is pissed that Jughead hasn’t reigned in all his little friends but get shook guys. It’s the Goolies or whatever they’re called. I honestly forgot about them. It seems like decades ago since everyone put on their favourite vintage outfits and went out to watch the street race.

So the football players are trying to barricade the shop and poor pop tate is triggered. The guy has been through enough. Wars. Riots.The whole thing. But he knows how to deal with this ish. They going to lite this place up.

The Goolies are ready to take some names but boom. The Sheriffs cruiser appears out of nowhere and the silver fox fires his gun into the air sending the goolies running.

Hot dads for the win. FP and Keller are everything. Fred is there too but everyone needs a duff.  I would like to make it clear that I audibly out loud said “ yas hot dads unite” before Kevin mentioned anything about the trio. Just want to put that out there.

Betty goes running to the hospital and into her dads room but oops get shook. Hal isn’t there, but Dr Mcstuffins is dead. Poor guy. Asked too many questions. Sounds like every single one of my relatives and neighbours.

The phone beside the hospital bed rings because the black hood just magically knows that Betty has arrived in the room, and he’s like “ listen bitch, it’s past your bedtime. Get your skinny ass home or ima kill your mom. Okay. see you in 10. Byyeeee”

Jughead is brooding at the bar when his phone rings. It’s freaking Alice Jr, Penny Peabody.

She’s all like “ Hey babe. Listen i’m still kind of pissed at you so I kidnapped your girlfriend and was thinking that i’m cut her up into little pieces if you don’t come meet me by the docks.”

Jughead is all like

“Omg no not Betty!”  but Penny is behind on the times and just has Toni. At this point Jughead is just like

“Lol sorry bitch. You’re barking up the wrong tree. Maybe call Cheryl.”

Betty comes home and Alice is just chillin on the couch, enjoying her evening. Betty is like

“ We gotta go right now.”  but Alice already has popcorn on because Hal is going to show them home movies.

So Hal’s real name is Harold? What’s sad is that I find that to be the most shocking part of this. So Hal's dad murdered the conway family because they were sinners? What did these bitches do? Not recycle? So Hal went up to lil janitor before he became big janitor and convinced him that it wasn’t Hals dad who killed the guys family but some rando.

So Pappi Cooper killed Papi blossom and became Pappi Cooper as a cover. Does not make sense to me but okay. I feel like someone would done their ancestry tree and put this ish together but whatever.

So the Conway family knew the truth about this shit and blackmailed the Coopers about it. So those bitches need to die.

Hal has darkness and Betty has got it too so watch out kids. Elizabeth might kill next. I mean she already sent Chic to his death ( maybe)

Hal is like “ say it Betty. Say it out loud” and she’s like “ a vampire” jk. He’s the black hood. BUT there’s another black hood. Are they working together or is this just some random hoe? TBD.

Oh heck BH 2 is attacking Archie! Thank God Fred was there to take the bitch down. BUT makes the fatal mistake of not unmasking the guy when he had the chance.  Fred gets shot AGAIN but thankfully ex Sheriff Hot pants gave him a bulletproof vest.

Alice and Betty are confused about why Hal is telling them all this and why he wants it recorded, and he’s like

“So everyone will understand when we’re gone, or what happened to us” or some bullshit like that. I don’t remember the exact words but it was very menacing. So like is he thinking a double murder suicide type thing or? That’s the vibe i’m getting tbh.

Jughead shows up to the docks and Penny has the Goolie with the heavy eye make up with her. He’s like fitting to taze Jughead but Juggie brought Katniss with him so they Gucci.

Penny just wants to live her life and sell drugs. If they don’t let her do that then the Goolies and the serpents are going to rumble, not a midnight, but at dawn. You know. To keep things fresh.

I forgot about this small fry guy and that he’s coming after the Lodges. Also forgot all about Veronica and Hermione shit talking Hiram while he’s out. So like Hiram is going to expose Freds affair with Hermione but Fred was separated at the time and i’m pretty sure he’s not divorced. So really it was Hermione who was cheating on her spouse. I mean yeah it’s not great for Fred but he wasn’t going against HIS family.

Veronica and Hermione are still fighting when Small Fry breaks down the damn door and is like “ your daddy killed my daddy, prepare to die.”

Hermione is a terrible shot and misses the first 7 times but she gets the bitch eventually.

So Sweet Pea and Jughead are fighting about what to do about the Goolies when FP walks in the tells everyone that Fangs died. The poor baby. They vote about what to do and they decide they’re going to fight the bitches. So I mean, shit it bound to get lit.

Although Alice just found out her no good rotten husband has murdered like a ton of people she can still verbally assault him. GOD HAL YOU ARE SO STUPID.

“Are you going to kill everyone who has ever jay walked?”

And damn, bringing out FP. That cuts deep. Kill it Alice. Oh shit Hal don’t kill Alice! Betty beats him over the head with a fire poker!

FP is stressed! So there are serpent reserves? Who would that be?

So Jughead calls Hiram and is like “ Hey buddy. I know you’re the one making all this shit happen so like let’s make a deal.”

Hiriam comes home and baby boy Andre is dead! He runs upstairs all freaked out that he might have to say rip to his fam but they’re just at the table, waiting for him to come home and clean up the dead body in the study. That’s a blue job.

So Hal is being arrested and Archie is like “ omg he just tried to shoot my dad like 20 mins ago” and Betty acts all shook like she doesn’t already know that there’s another black hood. Pull it together sister.

She gets a call from Jughead and he’s like “ I love you bitch. I ain’t ever going to stop loving you biiiitch” and then he says he’ll see her soon. COULD YOU JUST EXPLAIN YOURSELF REAL QUICK PLEASE?

Oh Hell. Jughead is giving himself over the Penny and the Goolies?  So they’re just going to beat him to death and then murder all the serpents come morning? That seems extreme.

Hiriam took care of the body with the less hot ( but still hot) more crooked sheriff and Veronica is done with his shit.

Oh hell. FP carrying jugheads body? He isn’t dead. The bitch can’t be dead can he? It’s only the second season.  Well damn guys. Guess we’ll have to see.

I’m once again not reading this over because I have things to do today. Thank you and goodbye.

[the-warmest-hands]

sgw27

saturday: chillin at home tryna recover sunday: trash with cesar monday: wow so tired. um i did ballfield maintenance and then linetrimmed down the circle turf cuz no one has mowed it for like ten billion years then i added a stump border to aeonium corner and planted plants exciting thing: there is a tiny lupine seedling that came out of my wildflower seed package. i moved it and hopefully it survives the transition. btw im never fucking buying those packages again cuz fuck that shit. why would i do that when i could just collect my own seeds and grow exactly what i want or order from larner

tuesday: ?? line trimming taraval and santiago, i think wednesday: donuts in morning with nate. finished aeonium!!!! started grading winched area, planted 1 melaleuca. upgraded a tree well on santiago with yarrow thurs: more donuts dragged ballfield (tire tread cuz dragmat wont fuckin stay flat), watered everything, line trimmed down some shit at library and behind hebecorner, hung out with the crew for gopher trapping seminar (key takeaways: learned to identify fresh vs older mounds, by color and also texture; learned to trace the direction of the laterals; learned to look for airholes and create a 30′ diameter bounding circle for a gopher’s territory)

some neighbor came by to report that a head on st 23 was fucked so i dug it up and swapped it out real quick and then went to continue on with my day and planted another melaleuca

so tired

friday: donuts in morning why dropped off compost tried to hit up nmw but wasnt open yet so i went home and then was braindead and i played moonlighter for 7 hours and then my eyes hurt so i ate some food and fed the worms and im tired man

im tired

[beastkachu]

12/24: An Earth Prime Christmas

Night had fallen on Earth Prime’s Paragon City, and the towering buildings glittered in the magnificent array of dancing lights. Shops had put up their seasonal red, greening, and illuminated displays, offering candy canes and gingerbread men on napkins to passersby. Carols echoed in blissful harmony up and down the streets while bells rang in accompaniment. Blanketed in the charm of falling snow, the season of Christmas was delightfully welcomed among the old, young, and otherwise. Despite the smells and sights of the largest Primean settlement, Matt still had very much planned to complete before the glorious day arrived. Every minute mattered.

“Alright, get those boxes up and out!” Matt called, “We must ship fast but gifts too slow!” Muscles van Stranglehaus effortlessly lifted another large pallet of multi-colored crates onto a large wagon. Fully loaded, the harnessed therapod Bob Wrex pulled them into Alpha Station, where Melvin and his robots, the Unitoroids, led by Unit-46, sorted them by product for mass shipping. Unloading had taken far too long than expected, but this was a crucial step in making sure no presents got lost. Matt was not getting kitty pjs again, if he could help it. Truth be told, this was the first time had been a part of a process like this perhaps in all his life, born on E.P. and away on the Earth he lived. Despite the hectic nature of it all, a bit of him was glad to have something he felt he belonged to, if not for a moment. It was also nice to not have to rely on Sword or Knife for anything drastic, he chuckled to himself. Those two could use a break. Knife’s puffy cream-white snow cap bobbed as she chased Duke, Matt’s long-haired German Shepherd. Duke bounded over the fallen snow whenever she drew near. Sword, in a more somber black coat to Knife’s white, made the two seem more like sisters than Weaponsonas. She kept tiny glimpses of a smile on her face as she watched them play, not knowing Matt was eyeing her. He was about to say something when a purple blur filled his vision. “Merred Crambles, Kami-sama!” Junpei cheered. Matt rolled his eyes, “Not now, Junpei. Getting the last of it accounted for. How’s everything inside?” “Peach-tastic! Mr. Person says we’ll be ready in no time!” “Rinteru and Kagehiro back yet?” “Still on delivery. Must be Fumatori Kagehiro-san’s murders taking so long.” “What?” “Nothing!” “Beastakyuu and Shoto?” “Handling Tree Hollow’s gifts right now. He’ll be free as soon as he can.” “Raf and Miuna?” “Who knows?” “Fine, must be important,” Matt shook his head. “I know Efpy’s AFK and Marx is busy with his bar right now. Seems we’re stretched pretty thin.” Junpei put a sleeve to his chin. “The Red Nosed Bazilisk can still work like a charm. And no hide or hair of Afterglow or Motay!” “Good…”, Matt sighed. He ran his fingers through the black fringes of his hair. “Tell Person I’ll be inside soon.” Junpei saluted with his purple sleeve. “Roger, Kami-Salami!” He plodded through the snow in his brown boots, chanting “Yume” until he was inside. “Anything I can help with?” Sword asked, now closer to Matt. He jumped at the sudden sound of her voice. “Wah! Frag, you got me!” “It wasn’t my intention…”, Sword muttered. “No, don’t worry!”, Matt fixed his red jacket. ”I want you two to enjoy Christmas. You do so much work every other day of the year. You deserve to relax.” Matt waved her inside, Knife and Duke following behind. Sword wished to say more, but kept her request in silence. With the last shipment of gifts inside, Matt began the search for Mr. Person in the main control bay. The mysterious man in a suit and gas mask greeted Matt with a nod. The screen told him everything he needed about the stock of presents: train sets, markers, dolls and action figures; batteries for robots, model kits, and game boards; books, drones, sports gear and bikes; all shipping out to every corner of the fourteen continents. When the fifty foot Main Street Christmas Tree is lit, that is the signal to begin the gift giving. All was going according to keikaku. “All’s going according to keikaku!” said Junpei. Matt glared. “Don’t ever say that again.” Mr. Person chuckled. “Do I get a present too?” Knife asked. “Of course you do,” Matt said. “Everyone will. But it’s a secret.” Knife looked at Duke. “Yours too.” Duke tilted his head. She smiled and patted Duke’s head with her gloved hand. Matt was about to leave when a loud rumbled tripped the perimeter alarm, causing Duke to whine. “That’s coming from Shipment!” Mr. Person yelled. ”The Master Unit!” “Not the keikaku!” Junpei cried. The group rushed down to find a hole blown into the roof. Panicked Unitoroids clambered about, trying to seize fallen presents. Atop a hoverpod far too big for him smirked an all too familiar insect-like foe. “Ho, ho, ho, you tinseled fools! It is I, Weevil, the Tiny Master of Evil!” Matt growled. “Again with this slag, Weevil? I thought I left you chillin’ over an open volcano?!” “Your boy wasn’t hot! And neither will your holiday be, now that I have THE MASTER CONTROL SWITCH! And… this thing which was right next to it!” In Weevil’s gritty silhouette hand rested a tiny green and red striped box from the stack. It was dotted with snowflakes, a smiling snowman, and fixed shut with a red bow. Weevil shook it. “What is this anyway?” “Don’t shake that!” Matt roared. “It’s important inside!” “Since it’s so important to you, it’s coming with me!” Mr. Person drew his gun, but Weevil’s hoverpod had a few more gun. “Everyone, get back, Matt shouted, reaching for Sword. She transformed and shifted her stance into Greatsword. The hunk of metal easily blocked the array of lasers. Weevil took the opportunity to escape to his main ship, link the hoverpod, and fly off into the wintery night sky. Matt reverted Sword to standard and gazed after the ship, furious but reluctant. “What are you doing?” Sword asked. “I just… I wanted you to have a day off! That was the whole point of this Christmas!” “Nonsense! This is what I was made to do! Now after Weevil or everyone’s work would’ve been pointless!” Matt changed her stance to Wing, gaining four floating swords on each side. “Junpei! Person!” Matt called, “Take Knife and Duke and get everyone into position! We’re having this Christmas!” With that, he flew off after Weevil’s ship.

Weevil set the Master Control and Matt’s gift on the dash. He didn’t need to steal any presents if he could destroy the tradition. How else would anyone receive any gifts, or even know to commence the festivities? Truly a diabolical scheme. So much so, he couldn’t resist breaking into song: “I don’t want a gift for Christmas! That happiness will make me gag! My wish is true: All I want for Christmas Is Doom~!”

A violent rumble emanated through the hull. Weevil brought up his screen to communicate with his Weevbots.

“That better not be what I’m thinking it was back there, soldier.” “No, sir,” the Weevbot replied. “No violent decapitations here, sir.” “Good- wait what?” A swipe of a blade, and the screen turned static. “Gah! If ya want something done right, build a gun to do it,” Weevil grumbled. He reached for a laser gun when there was a tapping on the door. Knowing exactly who it was and how mad he would be, Weevil tiptoed closer to the door, crouched low, and open fired. Twelve smoking holes were left in the door, killing the last remaining Weevbot on the ship behind it. “Oops,” Weevil shivered. “Yeah, oops.” Matt said behind the evil bug (?) man. He kicked him through the door and retrieved both his present and the control switch. “You retrieved both your present and the control switch!” Junpei beamed, having teleported into the cockpit because it’s Junpei. “Will you knock that-look out!” Matt blocked a laser from Weevil’s gun with his present, protecting Junpei with it, while using a Wingbeam to disarm Weevil. The two escaped out the window, but not before striking the Emergency Explode on Weevil’s dash. “NOOOO! WHY DO I EVEN HAVE THAT BUTTON?!” Behind Matt and Junpei was an explosion that looked more like fireworks than anything else. The Primeans adored the lightshow above as the Main Street Tree glowed like a halo. Tonight, everyone would receive a touch of love in the holiday spirit. But it was not without its tragedies. Returning to Alpha Control, They were met by Mr. Person, Knife, and Duke once more. Duke’s present, a red and green ball, found itself swiftly buried in snow. Sword returned human, and stood by Matt’s side. “Is it okay?” She asked. Matt unwrapped it to inspect the fullness of the damage. There was nothing that could have been done to salvage the destroyed gift, a large burn through the center of the frame. “It was a picture of all of us…” Matt said. ”It wasn’t much, but I wanted to get something all of us could share. I guess with how everyone is, it was a dumb gift anyway.” “Nuh-uh!” Knife protested. “I like it!” She gave Matt a hug. “The important tasks are done here,” Mr. Person said. “Think you’ll be going back home?” “Think they’ll need me down there?” Sword looked down. “You made our Christmas great, so it’s fair you make theirs as well.” Matt nodded in agreement to her words. “And I’ll go with you!” Junpei smiled like a cat. “Heck no.”

[sunkentreasurecove]

Think love and think drugs and they're the same thing inside And we struggle or get enough but it's the same thing Burn holes in the Moleskine, bout it Been friends with a pen, gave trust to the page Turn in when the time's up earn that age know-how learned in spades They exist in the outros in the fade outs and in the background noise I wouldn't wish it on my rivals I got no enemies We all fall for the decoy Sometimes it slides right by while we're trying to decide Don't lie to yourself almost ain't good enough and there ain't no extra lives Leave em alone How we livin? Very own road and it's so, so driven In the freezing cold, y'all keep chillin We'll leave tracks you can follow in Bold, less fucks given Team The Best Team Doomtree citizen We care like it's cool still but we've risen from close to sting to post-everything How y'all livin? Very own road and it's so, so driven In the freezing cold y'all keep chillin So I do it for her and I do it for me and I do it for the word Kill it for the hunt of the beat Kill it for the hunger that will not sleep And you can stay miserable all your life but what kind of difference that make? What, you ain't had enough of that pay, ain't had enough of your way? Live from the Haunted North in the woods where the fire roars You fell for the Trojan horse Who want it more? It's already yours Live from the Haunted North in the woods where the fire roars You fell for the Trojan horse Who want it more; it's already yours Draw blood, paint life, sculpt that clay, build that bridge (suffer and pleasure) Got love, gotta write that way and filled that book from the gutter to forever But we're still gonna suffer we got burnt we met our match and struck first Suckers should have known better than to let us head our own search and destroy You would've been better centered at home Remember that road we'd take? I swear the devil's backbone would break We made it our home and it's great and it's good it's the same as it ever was We came, we saw, we came back We played em songs we made quick We went back home just to fill those pages to the edges, and it's aces It's all coming up roses Closes may come and we know this No risk, no fun, no way, nobody's gonna break my stride, no sir Those days look like these days except for maybe these grays But that's just my salt and pepper, my heart and soul won't live forever Whatever… It's gonna come some day, so come what may and I pray it comes We're still gonna run like strays, purr like kittens, and bang a gong We've sang our songs, we've seen the war, we're living that and more Knowing even the greatest dancers in the world are bound to leave the dance floor So shake, shakes, shoot it's like win, draw, lose cause dice kept cooped up just bring bad luck man is made to choose Yeah, mixed media: flesh, electricity, bone we rent, we visit, but we're never quite home cause the river can't know when the levy might go so, draw your arm and throw Bottled all in, battle with a broadsword rule with the iron cutter straight to the vital cord Lean on a land alive freed men in enterprise Does it mean you seen the sign? See what you wanna read eyes in the seams, not what it seems A better part of me will not let it be instead it seethes Does mean I believe a lie? Let it dead, let it crawl let it all count when you bet it all Say it like you mean it, just say it never better if you never even said it at all Head em off at the neck, set it off Ready for whatever with machete on the leather comrades with a letter on the wall steady head, heavy guts and a set of balls What I really gotta know, huh? How to rock a rhyme that's right in line? With the beat and ride wide to the feet, wise to the weak Why? Why we pray on the meek and pry in the speak of the “why's” and the “we's”? We don't know why why we speak with a slide of the cheek Hide Chopped in the seams Stride That's live and unique designed flight for seats, fly in the cleats Grind Lines in the sheet Slice that's all we live for Polish poison plot loss free and got a lost cause Holler if you hear me shooting Hollow Bodies High Cower salted, high exalted, colicky and alcoholic Call it when I see it all divide Hollowed head to follow tired feet disqualified Able of the cognoscente disabled from a solid mind Hollow Bodies High

Doom Tree, Team the best team

[tallsamjones-blog]

David

I woke up to Chinese water torture. Condensation was accumulating on the inside of my tiny tent and little drops of water fell on the bridge of my nose, one after another. Deep breath. Opening my eyes, the gray nylon was illuminated and long shadows were cast from the low winter sun, barely risen over the horizon. It was Friday. My favorite class was meeting today at 10:30 and it took a good 40 minutes to walk there. I had lost progress after having worn shoes for only about a week in Washington and Oregon so I still had trouble with the gravel path that ran along the lagoon.

I climbed out of my tent and dug around in my big pack. I pulled out my notebooks and a pack of instant oatmeal. Standing to watch the gulls and the runners at the edge of the sea cliffs, I ate the oatmeal raw and thought about my dad. His name was David, just like his dad. They called me Samuel David when I was born. At this point I hadn’t made it back home yet, hadn’t asked my widowed grandma for grandpa Dave’s leather-bound bible. I had yet to read about how David got lucky with a slingshot and then proceeded to lose his mind and write Psalms about pain and fire and death. I had the luck part down, at least.

Don’t believe me?

I found a pair of glasses on the ground, just lying in the dirt. Black, rectangular frames with both lenses scratched but still intact. They fit my prescription, so I wore them. I picked a yellow flower and rolled my black jeans up to my knees as I walked down to the music building. I missed World Music with Professor Novak by about five minutes. I could have probably walked in late but I looked like a goon with the flower in my hair and the pine cone hanging around my neck on a string and all. Plus I wasn’t technically signed up for the class or enrolled in the University and I was camping illegally on an area of campus that was reserved for indigenous wildlife. I took it all in stride and went to check the cans by the library instead.

After a couple of half-eaten sandwiches and probably some chips or something, I made for my recently-discovered happy hippie hole down in IV, a communal living project called The Faux Op. This was off-campus, hidden behind a bunch of more recent apartments and only accessible via a crooked driveway with a secrete entrance on Abrego Road. 

Things were relatively quiet when I got there. Everyone except for a few of the heavier mid-week drinkers had gotten up and had breakfast before going to work or school or whatever else. I still wasn’t familiar with all twenty-something people who lived there, so I took the opportunity to slink unnoticed past the mirrors and paintings and couches of the “outdoor living room” and sniff around downstairs. 

I walked into a cloud of thick, sweet-smelling white smoke. I followed the hazy trail, feeling crumbs and weird sticky stuff on the tired shag carpet with my feet. The vapor trail led to Sam and Stef’s room which they shared with two parakeets and a guy who was still asleep in his bed at the far end of the room. Sam had been talking animatedly about how the house was falling apart. Some shenanigans with the chore system and somebody wasn’t doing their dishes. I caught a glimpse of Stef putting on her most patient face before she noticed me looming in the doorway.

“Tall Sam Jones! You’re back!” She jumped up in exclamation and she and Sam both charged me and hugged around my torso. “Well hey you two!” I retreated back against the opposite wall, we all now stood in the vape-filled hallway. “Glad to see someone’s still around.” 

“Fuck yeah we’re still around!” Sam replied, stepping back and gesturing with his vape rig as he spoke. “We were just about to get dabbed out for the day. You wanna smoke some wax with us?”

I raised my eyebrows “Duuuude thanks for the offer, that sounds queso. I’m chillin’ on it though, I was actually wondering ... Stef, you said something about tripping later this weekend?”

“Uhh, yeah! We’re doing it today!” 

“Aww no way? Did I totally guess right then?”

“Mm-hmm” She nodded her head. I saw Sam get kind of distracted standing behind her. She wore her dark hair in a long braid that ran way down her back. “We’re gonna eat them and then go dance at this David Bowie party that our friend Claire told us about.” I asked about the party with the only piece of information I had relating to the late great rock star: “Woah, didn’t he just die?” Sam cut in while exhaling another dragon blast of candy smoke. “Yeah, it was just gonna be, like, a ‘funk party’ at first but I think they’re making it a tribute thing now.”

“Hey, maybe I can go play my sax there!”

“Oh! Is it at your camp?” Stef perked up a bit. “Maybe we can eat the mushrooms here and you can take us to go see your spot and grab your Saxophone and then if we feel like it we can go dance!”

That’s exactly what ended up happening, which was kind of a strange shift for me. I had been used to hitch hiking and just bumping around solo without much of a plan besides “meditate, be kind, and play music.” Now that I was latching on to my friends, I just followed the easy rhythm that they liked to lay out in front and then follow. We ate a couple of stems and caps each in the late afternoon and walked parallel to the beach on Del Playa Drive under a warbly, deep-red sunset. We had to go by the stars by the time we made it to the big field where my campsite was hidden. Somehow that method of navigation seemed easier as the Psilocybin kicked in. 

I think that seeing the place I had been living helped my new friends believe that I was for real. We sat on sandy soil in the little clearing I had made, fenced in by a natural-looking barrier of sticks and living bushes. It was all talking and laughing and feeling the sea breeze bring a chill across the mesa. The day before I had found the skull of a red fox half buried in the grass. I named him as my new pet “Smilin’ Tom Fox” as he still had some skin and whiskers and teeth on one side of his jaw that kind of pulled into a zombified grin. We buried the longest-stemmed mushroom in the sand there beside Smilin’ Tom as a “thank-you” offering to the earth. When we all felt good and it was time to go, I pulled my Soprano Saxophone and my trusty black suit jacket out of my tent. 

The stress and nervous calm-before-the-storm energy that Isla Vista had on Friday afternoon was replaced by the welcome-to-the-jungle energy of Friday night. The three of us strolled in the middle of the street among groups of giddy guys in button-ups and fierce packs of prowling high-heel miniskirt jungle cats. I remember some drama with trying to trying to persuade another group of people to come with us. With my musician’s jacket on and my horn case in my hand, pretty much all I was thinking about was “get to the funk party.” The others would end up there with us or else they’d be missing out. Stef came to the same conclusion and we continued. Music on all sides. Synchronized reactions to beer pong games cheering out over the music. Four houses on four corners all blasting different beats. It was an easy place to get lost. Luckily, I had two sentient street guides. I wouldn’t have needed one by the sound of the place. 

We entered the back yard to the fade-in intro from the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive.” At this point I became a barefoot funk monster who couldn’t stop dancing. I was instantly locked in. The party was a living and I could feel it breathing. I let instinct take over. There were floodlights illuminating a patch of grass with maybe 60 people dancing and milling around. There was a small garage with a cheap plastic table pushed against it. I ran around to the other side of the garage and threw my saxophone on the roof. Then I wedged my bare feet between two palm trees and scampered up there. The slanted A-frame gave me a minute to collect myself as I pulled the Soprano out of her case. I looked up toward the sky and saw Orion. The night was in my hands.

Lived up on that roof for a good three hours. I danced like the Pied Piper and ripped through some kind of jazz I don’t think anyone there had heard before, least of all me. I watched the size of the crowd double and then double again. Eventually people made it up on to the roof to give me cold cans of “jazz juice” and to smoke spliffs during square tunes. The night ended with “All-Star” by Smashmouth, which, in my mind, is the undisputed end-all anthem of my exact generation. Actually, the night tried to end there, with some help from the Sheriff's Department, but then somebody yelled “FREEBIRD!!!” and let me tell you, whoever was playing DJ that night, they were on it. 

I hopped down from the roof and joined in a mosh pit for that last one. I don’t know if we even played any David Bowie that night. It was mostly Ray Charles and Average White Band. I do know that he was smiling down on us that night though. He was talking me through it. 

I don’t know what much of this means. I wasn’t concerned with analyzing anything in the moment. I just went with what felt right. That’s what I’m still trying to do now. 

Pray for world peace.