#kiddo week

[echantedtoon]

Kiddo Week Day 7 The End

"You don't seem too happy to see me, Kiddo. What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

The blonde girl in front of him frowned before crossing her arms and giving the ghost a stern look from her place in front of the ghostly house as the ghost smiled down at her as if any moment he'd pull one of his pranks on her. Which to be fair he had done a few times since Mu's arrival to live with them full time-

It was a long story.

A long story that had been sprung on him by Poppy of all people! Imagine his surprise when he just randomly popped into the ship one day expecting to see his lovely rose and two pecking mischief makers, only to discover the blonde girl alongside them all making herself at home, which he didn't pay attention too at first. That cat sometimes brought along that chaos causing troublemaker to play with his own but then he came back the next week and she was still there. Again not something that he'd pay attention too. So the blonde brat was back to play again. Big deal. It's not a problem. But then something happened that DID catch his attention. He was just sitting there in his old armchair reading a book on 'One Hundred and Ten Ways to Banish Your Enemies Into The Sun' when the typical laughter of children, human children, reached his metaphorical ears. Oh boy. Those two were here to start causing trouble again weren't they? His theory was confirmed when a small subconite sized blur with brown hair ran past his spooky home in the tree.

"PFFFTTT!!"

He didn't look up from his book at the raspberry. "You're a very rude young lady. Y'know that?"

Another blur with curly hair. "Hi, Snatcher!"

He gave a small smile still reading. "Hello, Bow."

A third small blur with a male voice. "'Ello, Mr. Snatcher!"

A small sigh. Moonboy's kid. Timmy sometimes invaded his forest much to his annoyance. "Hey, Kiddo."

A..fourth small blonde blur? "Ya kooky spook!"

He made some kind of choke noise in surprise at the new voice and looked up blinking wildly. Imagine his complete surprise when he found that little blonde troublemaker laughing and playing about the mushrooms with the rest of those children and he could only stare! What- WHY WAS SHE HERE!? He hadn't ever given her permission to come into his forest! And he certainly never gave any of THEM permission to invite her inside as well! The last time she was here she insulted his forest and contractual techniques which resulted in him tossing her (literally) out of his forest. And the last time he saw her (besides the few times on the ship-) was when she nearly ended his existence (again-) along with everyone else on the planet. SHE COULD'VE ENDED THEM ALL!! And yet here she was laughing and rough housing with the other children like a normal everyday thing. WHAT THE PECK WAS GOING ON HERE!? That's the question he asked a certain red head as she walked past, garden hoe over her shoulder. Stopped by her ghastly lover suddenly popping in front of her face startling her into jumping back.

"POPPY!!"

"HOLY PECKIN' MACOB!!," Poppy yelled hand clutching at her chest at the sudden spook. "Cheese n' rice, Snatcher!" She scowled at him. "How many times do ah gotta tell ya t-''

"WHAT. IS. SHE. DOING HERE!?," he interrupted with a growl pointing a clawed hand directly towards the four children.

Poppy followed his gaze just in time to see Bow jumping from a mushroom onto Mu and making the two laughing children to the ground before just as quickly running as Mu gave chase. ..And shrugged. "Playing?," she said casually looking back to the ghost.

Purple claws raked down his face in frustration. "I can see that. I meant WHY is SHE inside MY forest!?''

A dawn of realization finally came over Poppy. "Oh. Right. I didn't tell ya yet." His claws here removed from his face as he frowned at her. Did she forget about giving him a heads up that they were bringing an extra guest? Poppy knew he hated unwanted intruders in his forest! Even if his family invited them in! She knew what that caped kid did! He told her about how she nearly wiped everyone back into dust with those dumb hourglasses!! He was expecting an apology. He was not expecting what came out of her mouth next. "I took her in. Mu's living with us now."

He stared at her blankly. "......W H A T!?"

The yell was loud enough to make the children and some minions stop and look at the two adults, but Poppy just placed her free hand on her hip used to his personality by now. "Would you keep it down? You'll wake the dead more than what ya already are!"

"That's not the point, Red!," he hissed through fangs claws balling into fists. If he was still human his face would've become red in anger. "May I ask you WHY you all of a sudden decided to become oh so generous to the one who nearly wiped me off the face of the earth!?"

Poppy's irritation also grew. "Fine. I guess you have a right to know. But if ya insist on wonderin' why, it's cuz Cookie can't look after 'er in the long run." She stated matter of factly scowling back.

"What?!,'' his angry looked turned into one of disbelief and he threw his arms out towards her. "What's wrong with the cat!?"

"If you haven't noticed Cookie's not exactly a spring chicken anymore, Snatcher," she pointed out noting the cat's older age compared to the lot of them. "An' it's somethin' she was worried about." She shrugged at the ghost's dumbstruck expression. "We jus' happened to discuss one day and one thing lead to another and well-" Her free hand motioned towards the children who had resumed playing. "Mu's staying with us now."

"...." He frowned again. "And you didn't think to tell me about this!?"

"I tried! But ya left before I could even try talking to you twice!"

"Why though!? Don't you know what she's DONE to us-"

"Because I ain't gonna abandon a little girl on the streets when she's already suffered!," Poppy practical yelled back at his face making Snatcher flinch back when a hand firmly poked him in his chest fluff. "She's just a lil girl!"

"Poppy..." He frowned. Ok. Clearly anger wasn't getting through to Poppy. Maybe a more calm approach. "A little brat who stole those time pieces and tried to destroy the entire planet. Not half. Not a quarter. The ENTIRE planet. Which included my forest. If she had succeeded in that little plan..." A small growl escaped his lips as his grip on her hand lightly tightened. "I would've never been able to bring you back since that was before we even met again. He would've destroyed you too! She's ruthless and unforgivable! WE don't need a wannabe hero!"

Poppy stared at him for a good moment before frowning again narrowing her eyes. "Are you even hearing yourself?" He blinked. "Do you know who she sounds like?"

"Who?"

"You."

"ME!?," he squawked staring at her, "How is she anything like me!? We aren't the same!?"

"Oh really? You're angry about her nearly wiping the planet into nothin'." She pulled her hand away and poked his 'nose' watching as he looked cross eyed at her hand. "May I remind you of a certain ghost who's entire job is STEALING souls!! And get this. You do it to anyone who just walks in here regardless if they do anythin' or not!" He felt a small bead of ectoplasm sweat form on his forehead when the red head hummed and tapped her chin. "How many souls did you say you collected again? A few hundred? Maybe a few thousand even? And what was it that you made Hattie do in her contracts? Climb a dangerously tall well through a cursed swamp. Sent her to check up on Vanessa, who by the way, could easily freeze her- " Her arms were thrown into the air her garden hoe dropping down with a thud. "HOW is that any different or better than almost wiping the world out once? And may I remind you that Mu almost wiped out the world, she never actually went through anything like that unlike someone who actually did!''

"S-So what if I stole a few hundred-thousand souls!?,'' he huffed but still felt the ectoplasm run down his face, "She's the one who stole the magic things responsible for giving her those powers."

"SO DID YOU! Or did you forget how I unfroze? It wasn't the microwave that heated me back up, ya purple pool noodle!"

"She stole more than me!"

"Well you both stole them for the same reason!"

"HA!!" He scowled again now looking at her with a brow. "Oh really?," he challenged crossing his arms, "I suppose she has an evil ex with ice powers too! If that's the case I gotta know how she still has her body! I'd love to have been able to keep mine!"

Poppy flinched for a moment wide eyed, before a deep scowl speared her featured. "You know sometimes you can be the biggest PECKING jerk on the entire peckin' planet! You should have some sympathy for her considerin' what she went through!!"

"That blonde caped crusader of chaos went through NOTHING even remotely close to me!! If you think-"

"SHUT UP, PHILIP!!"

Silence rang out. Silence that was followed by the Snatcher snapping his jaws shut and leaped back a few feet from the tyranitcal yell that brought forth by the angry red head. Poppy was..Poppy was heaving now. Breathing through her crunched up nose, fists balled like she wanted to hit something, and her face seething red that was enough to freeze even Vanessa if she had looked at her. Her angry burst sending crows chirping and spiders into hiding. Subconites and dwellers stopping what they were doing to stare at the two of them. She-...Po-Poppy had used his name. His DEAD name. The one she used only when she was emotional. Whether it be out of sadness, happiness,...or raw anger. Which was now. The ghost flinched hard when a hand whirled out to hit against his chest and the shove was enough to make him yelp and shoot backwards a few decent feet.

"How DARE you say that about a child!!," she raged like a bull temper flaring making him shrink back dumbstruck. If it was anyone else, they would've been added to his collection of souls now, but this was different. "You don't know her situation! Would ya'll like ta know!?" She shouted and he didn't answer. "Imagine THIS if ya will! A person just goin' 'bout their day ta day lives an' then all of a sudden someone comes along and takes EVERYTHING from ya and changes your home forever! And no matter how hard ya try there's nothin' ya can do about it cuz it's beyond your control! ARE YA TELLIN' ME YA WOULDN'T TRY TA MAKE EVERYTHIN' RIGHT IF YA HAD A CHANCE!?" She shouted at the shrinking spook, daring him, challenging him to say the opposite. "ARE YOU SAYIN' YA WOULDN'T PASS UP THE CHANCE TA USE SOMETHING TO FIX SOMETHING WRONG IN YA LIFE EVEN IF IT MEANT STEALING IF YA WAS DESPERATE ENOUGH!? OH WAIT- YA DID DIDN'T YA!?" Her hands came back to pat her body and look at herself as if making sure she was still there. "That's how I'm still here isn't it?! Or was it a magic toaster oven ya used ta wake me up, Philip!? She was stranded all alone without any family thanks to some evil person who destroyed her home! Now who does that sound like!?"

He floated there in shock, not saying anything and just staring at Poppy who panted from her earlier burst chest heaving. The both of them stared at each other for a long time before Poppy just huffed and turned her head away.

"She's....scared, Philip. And I don't blame the poor thing." She slowly turned and bent down retrieving the gardening tool from the ground and placing it back over her shoulder. "Just cuz ya don't know her that doesn't mean she hasn't been through somethin'...Maybe ya shouldn't forget that either."

And that's how she left him. Shrunk in on himself and dumbstruck for hours. He wasn't even sure how or when, but somehow he managed to get back into his armchair and slump into it staring into space and letting new thoughts rebound around his head at what Poppy said. ..Before shaking his head and facepalming himself with a tired sigh. Great. HOW did he keep getting himself into these things? He was getting too old for this- FINE! After much consideration and hard thought- And yelling in frustration and pulling at his chest fluff- He'd let Poppy take care of the child and allow her access to his forest but that doesn't mean he would like it! Or her! He was only doing this to get Poppy off his back and to appease her anger though, not because he felt sorry for the brat! It seemed to have worked for the most part, because when he showed up days later with a few packets of seeds (which he totally didn't steal-) and told her Mu could come into the forest WITH SUPERVISION, she seemed to let all the anger held for him disappear and accepted his form of apology.

"Alright. But ya gotta be nice to 'er."

He rolled his yellow eyes. "Ugh. Fine."

"And you gotta promise me you won't try to take her soul or make her do ridiculous contracts! Or try to trick her into doing something!"

"Yes, yes. No manipulations, soul stealing, or contracts. Got it."

"And you have to start talking to her more."

"WHAT!? But I already promised so much!"

"M' not saying ya got to talk to her all the time, but enough to where she'll be used ta seeing you around. You can at least do that much."

"But-...RRRR!! FINE! Whatever! I'll...talk."

"Good boy."

"*sigh* This'll be more annoying then the time I tossed her into mud.'

"....You did WHAT?!"

"....Oops."

He ...did try talking to her, after Poppy's yelling session about finding out he literally tossed her out of his forest at one time. To his surprise she wasn't scared of him. Like...at all. The blonde gal scowled at him with the same energy of Poppy's called him names like the 'Kooky spook', purple pool noodle, and the bad guy. ...Yeah, they definitely told her about him and everything else. He didn't have to ask. His questions were answered when she told him one day-

"I don't care if ya was wronged! It's still a bad guy things to do taking souls!"

Although he wasn't sure who told her. Most likely Poppy perhaps in order to hopefully get the two closer to an understanding. Ugh. Like that'd happen. He felt irritated every time she was near him with her attitude and scowls and the few arguments they had-....Why was this feeling so familiar to him? Oh well. He did get her back. He promised he wouldn't do anything to harm her, but that doesn't mean he couldn't get back at her in other ways! Hiding her cape. Keeping her things away. Moving around her things. Hiding a small beetle in her bedsheets. Oh it wasn't as satisfying as he would've liked, but seeing her get irritated and unable to do anything was good enough. Ah. It was good to be a ghost. Poppy was irritated with him as well but he could argue that he did this to the other kids too so it wasn't like she was the only one experiencing it, which he did, but his direction he had towards Mu was obvious his recent target. Although there was one thing that also irritated him. It was inevitable that Mu would eventually meet Hazelle and Moonjumper. She had already met Timmy a couple times and was fascinated by his powers, she was REALLY fascinated by Hazelle's magic when she showed off a couple of her tricks, which did irritate him. HEY!! He was cool as well! He could do plenty of things! He was a Undead King! How much more impressive could you get!? But he was REALLY on edge when Moonjumper showed up one night out of the blue. Luckily he had been there at the same time he showed up and was right there when he came to 'visit' his kids-...His contractors again! His surprise wasn't lost on Mu who stared wide eyed at this glitching, floating ghost with wide eyes. Meanwhile he was greeted with a growl and snarl by the other ghost upon letting his prescence known. He still hadn't forgotten anything this FOOL tried to pull on HIS people.

His growl made Moonjumper freeze. "What are you doing here?", Snatcher demanded.

"Calm down, Old Boy," Moonjumper waved him off with a frown, much to his other half's annoyance. "I'm simply here to visit the dear children whom I love dearly. Is that so wrong?"

"Yes. You never come here for anything simple."

"Well you would be right about that." Moonjumper's red eyes gazed past down him and at Mu who flinched wide eyed under his smile. "I heard from a little bird-" Either Hazelle or Timmy he means. "-that there was a new little one amongst the stars here." His head tilted at the small blonde gal as she stared back at him and flinched at the unnatural twitching of his next as it moved in his glitching fashion, the chains clanking with his floating a bit closer. "So...I took it upon myself if it happened to be true."

Mu flinched and on instinct dove behind the nearest person to hide away from this scary new comer, which just so happened to be the other ghost in this situation. Snatcher blinked and looked down at his tail where he found her hiding behind the dark purple ghost with a face he was all too familiar with. Fear. Her eyes wide with the gold pupils shrinking to the size of pins, her hands clinging onto his tail, half peeking out from behind him at the other ghost. That's the expression he saw time and time again from his victims and the one he wanted from her from the first times he was stuck with her, but seeing her give that expression to Moonboy while choosing to hide behind him was...different. And then he remembered a very important detail that he let fly over his head up until now. Mu didn't sign any contracts with him. Not the kind that Poppy or the other children had. The ones that prevented Moonjumper from trying to pull the same stunt he pulled on Poppy and succeeding. Which meant that if any of those red strings decided to loop themselves around the brat's body, there wouldn't be anything stopping Moonjumper from whisking her away to the Horizon. In an instant his fluff bristled and bunched up, his eyes narrowed, and an unholy growl came from the depths of his throat that made Moonjumper instantly freeze. Red eyes snapping from the child up to the other half of him as he leaned over Moonjumper and snarled.

"Get. OUT. Of. This. Ship. NOW!!" Moonjumper had froze staring up at Snatcher whether it be out of fear or defiance he didn't know or care. He felt angrier that he had to repeat himself hissing. "GET OUT!!" He bellowed voice reverberating off the walls and echoing around the room with the power of a thousand thunderstorms. It was enough to make him disappear. Vanish into thin air scattering blocks in his way. Letting silence resettle once again in the ship's face. After a tense moment Snatcher untensed, letting out a disgruntled snort at the nerve of Moonjumper coming here 'oh so innocently' like that. Like Peck he'd let that happen. After all this was HIS territory...He slowly rose a brow back down to his tail tip which was still being death gripped by the blonde tot and after a moment wriggled it a bit. "Hey. You can seriously let go now."

Instead of listening she just gripped onto him tighter pressing her forehead into his tail making him sigh and reluctantly reach a hand down to pat her head. Guess he'd humor the brat just this once. And maybe it was because of that that the two of them would slowly start talking more. A little good morning there or a question about his forest here. Ok. SO WHAT!? So what if he maybe brought extra food for her along with the others? So he didn't want her to starve. Poppy would've bothered him for it anyways. So what if he maybe sewed a few outfits together for her? It's an eyesore to see her walking around in old rags. So what if he stopped complaining as much about her in his forest along with the others and stopped playing so many pranks on her? He got bored of it anyways! And complaining strains his throat! ...Nevermind he doesn't have a throat. It's easier to live with her if he treated her like the others- NOT THAT HE LIKED HER!! And he totally did NOT cackle to high heavens when she told him about her exploits against the mafia-

A wild evil sounding cackle rang out through the forest from the Snatcher's treehouse. In front of him was a proud blonde child looking pleased with herself hands on her hips as he cackled away.

"W-Wait. Tell me the part where you put all of his smashed bits in the bottle again!," his evil smile spread across his face wider. His distaste for those men ran about as deep as hers, especially with a certain red suit wearing mafia who flirted with a certain redhead.

"Well that wasn't my plan at first really," Mu confessed rolling her wrist, "All assaults need a good plan after all! I wanted to strangle 'em at first. Watch them choke and beg for mercy!" She proclaimed holding a fist up...before rolling her eyes, and letting her shoulders drop with a shrug. "But strangling would've been too kind. So then I came up with the idea of mushing them up in a jar and giving them a taste of their own medicine!"

Poppy's face was one of slacked jawed shock at what this teeny child just said but Snatcher looked more intrigued a clawed hand coming to rub his chin with a hum of interest. "Placing your enemies somehow still conscious remains in a jar huh? That sounds....devious. But quite messy. Not sure if I would want to have all that gunk entangled on me."

Mu shrugged. "Eh. I didn't have to get my hands dirty. It was easy to do after Hattie made him explode during their big battle."

"She did what? Really? AHAHAHAHAHA!! I knew she must've had some unspoken side to her! So tell me! How did you two pull it off?! She used that umbrella's laser beam didn't she?"

"PHILIP!! Don't encourage her!"

"WWWhhhaaaaatttt? You're the one who said I should be more encouraging."

"NOT 'BOUT THAT STUFF!!"

Safe to say that the both of them got another long talking too from Poppy, but..Despite the kid becoming not (totally so-) closer to him, there was still one thought that made him uncomfortable. And that thought started with a capable M for Moonboy. Moonjumper saw her, Mu was obviously scared of him, and the trick he pulled to gain Poppy still hung fresh in his mind. The advantage of taking anyone of importance was a too sweet deal even for Moonjumper to ignore and that thought still didn't sit right with him. Always made him growl and curl his claws at the thought. There was an obvious way to keep her safe, but he was very reluctant to do it. But everyday he put it off, the more the thoughts swirled, and the more the chance of Moonjumper snatching her away from him-...THEM was present. Until the boiling point tipped and he couldn't hold it anymore, which was exactly the reason why he was here now. Staring at her, having gotten her away from the others with one of his little teleportation tricks. He smiled at her despite her frowning face and raised brow with her arms crossed.

"I was just about to win against that cheeky minion of yours!," she complained stomping her foot, "What was so important you had to pull me out of that tree?!"

"Despite the fact Poppy would've killed me for letting you climb that thing?,'' he deadpanned, "I have some important investments to take part in! I've been thinking about this for quite some time and I've decided to expand my business endeavors! And lucky you gets to be the first one to experience this once in a dead-line opportunity!"

Before Mu could ask what the peck he meant by that, his hand reached up and snapped his claws, a single contract and quill appeared from no where. She blinked watching the paper unfurl itself and the feathered quill extend itself out to her. A...contract?? Narrowing her eyes, the girl directed her golden orbs suspiciously upwards to the ghost who gave nothing but a smile.

"A contract? Really? So you're actually going through with that part? I thought you'd actually make this more stupendous."

He surprisingly didn't get angry about that part and shrugged. "I'm more interested in making your stay here actually permanent. You could be highly useful to me and it's not everyday I stumble across someone who I actually make an investment like this in. Just sign on the dotted line and you won't ever have to worry about a home again!"

She blinked again, then looked at Snatcher, before taking a good at the new contract. The paper looked old and slightly torn around the edges here and there. At the very top of the paper was a fancy drawing of the creature before her with the face and his arms outstretched, beneath that was some very fancy writing that read "CONTRACT" in fancy bold capital cursive letters. The Rest was also in fancy cursive but lucking she could read it pretty well reading. It read as followed:

CONTRACT

SERVE THE DEAD WITH WHAT THE AGREEMENT STATES

You have been chosen by the benevolent and merciful the Snatcher. The terms and services will include your life long servitude and loyalty to said ruler The Snatcher. You have been lost but you are lucky enough to have been selected as few mortals to help the eternal after life and anything the Snatcher requests within reason of the servants morals and abilities. The following territories of the forest shall be available for the signer to visit willingly as they please.

-The Subcon Forest

-The Employer's Home (with special permission)

-The Subcon Village

These parts shall NOT be available for any reason and will not be negotiated unless the employer says otherwise.

-The Hat Brat's Time Piece Vault (you know why)

-The Haunted Manor

-The Frozen Bridge

-The Subcon Swamp

-The Subcon Well

-The Frozen Territory

-Any place my employer has said is off limits

By signing this the signer shall be paid for their service and loyalty with immortality (non ageing), protection from the Snatcher and those under him, a home, and anything the signer requests within reason. Binding by contract means your soul shall remain bound to the contract which cannot be broken by any means except by will of the employer, a.k.a the Snatcher. And in return the signer shall do ask the Snatcher asks with they're full cooperation and be given full custody of the signer. If the Snatcher at any point terminates the contract the signer's soul shall be released from his care and they shall live a normal rest of their life. By agreeing you shall also be safe from other supernatural entities and their influences whatever they may be, including influences from the employer and other minions. Also by signing this the signer agrees to willing do this and become a certified minion of The Snatcher. If you have complaints, suggestions, or other, the signer must report them to their employer immediately. As a down payment for all provided by the Snatcher, he shall be given the contract with your soul will be bound to for eternity unless decided otherwise, but the servant will be allowed free of will, full freedom, favors the employee asks of The Snatcher, with full control of their mind, body, and their soul in their body. Room and board, immortality, food, and any other living necessities shall also be provided by the Snatcher as stated.

SIGNED

And then there was a small line where her name would go.

Again she looked between him and the contract before narrowing her eyes at him again. "Alright. What's the catch here?"

Ugh. Did she seriously still think he was trying to trick her? He sighed. "It's not an enslavement deal and it isn't a work contract either. Don't get that mixed up with what it actually is." He placed a hand to his chest. "I'm simply offering you a deal that greatly benefits you and keeps that Moonshined idiot from taking what I consider to be mine. You even get to keep your free soul and will! Ain't you lucky?"

She deadpanned looked at him. "....This is a lowkey adoption thing ain't it?"

The noise he made sounded like something between a deflating balloon's wheeze and turkey choking underwater. "WHAT!? N-NO!! This isn't any kind of adoption!" Her brow rose further. "I'm just offering you a job for one of the best employers in the world!" He insisted. "I'd be a pecking fool to pass up on having someone who's determined enough to almost bring the world to it's knees working for me! HA! I could use someone like that to help me take down Vanessa-"

"Ok, ok. Yeesh! I'll sign it if it gets you to shut up."

He paused for a moment blinking. "....Wait. Really? That easy huh?"

She rolled her eyes grabbing the piece of paper from the air with the pen. "Yeah. They told me you'd pull this sooner or later. Why don't you just say you want to adopt people? Makes it less complicated!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME IT'S NOT L-LIKE THAT!!"

Uh huh. Sure. She really believed him and may have found amusement in that pout- Scowl of his! Once she did sign the pen disappeared in a small puff of smoke and she jumped, her grip on the contract loosening enough for the giant ghost to snatch it from her. At the same time a giant burst of energy throbbed hard within the very core of her body. Temporarily knocking the wind outta her. She gasped and fell to her hands and knees at the sudden tight feeling within her. Her body emitting a small purple light in the dead center of her chest before as soon it came it left and Mu stayed laying down gasping and blinking at the sudden sensation that came and left. Leaving goosebumps across the her flesh and shaking like a leaf again. Coughing and eventually snapping up to him. He smiled reading over the contract before it disappeared in a puff of flames too.

"Oi! What the peck was THAT about ya kooky purple onion!?", she demanded sitting up and pointed her hand accusingly at him. Ah...Someone's picked up some nicknames from Poppy.

He waved a hand away. "Relax. You're unharmed. It was just the bond ceiling between us and the magic forming a strong protective shield around your soul so no one, not even Moonboy, can harm you. Don't worry. You're perfectly fine. Although you might feel winded for a bit."

"It would've been nice to know that beforehand!"

She huffed before standing up and dusting herself off from the black dirt. Her annoyance was worth it though, he was satisfied and relieved. Moonjumper being a threat was taken cared off and this way Poppy wouldn't have to worry about her anymore than the other two-....Yeah. He could make this work with the four of them around. Of course he'll have to make a few adjustments as soon as possible, but nothing he couldn't manage-

"So do I get to call ya the 'dead-beat' dad now?"

"Absolutely pecking NOT!"

[abloomntime]

Kiddo Week Day 6 (DLC) Nyakuza Metro/Artic Cruise

Prompts by @kinglieste and @snatchersnatched

Prompts found here

https://at.tumblr.com/abloomntime/kinglieste-kinglieste-a-hat-in-time/gfyc7trjfxj4

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She was always a different cat from the rest of the litter.

Welcome to Nyakuza Metro where the blinding lights would bedazzle you and blind you from thievery that would take place there. Giving the city a bad rep. Giving CATS a bad rep. Fur as black as night. Claws all sharp. Faces constantly hidden behind masks. Every single cat the same except for one place. Welcome to Alpine Skyline Mountains. Where the cats were tan, wore more masks,....and were still thieves honing the mastery of cloaking magic to disappear without a trace after they nabbed your things. Thieves. Thieves. THIEVES!!! All thieves. The planet of Subcon knew of Nyakuzians and their kind. Thus after countless years of thievery and bad reputations a stigma was born. All cats were untrustworthy no matter which corner of the planet they came from. So cats were not to be trusted. And you either followed the crowd or were labeled an outsider. But what happened when one was born an outsider? Well...I guess you would get her. From the moment she was born she knew she was different. For one she wasn't even a cat at all. A human. Born and then abandoned within the city of cats. That what happened to her for as long as she could remember.

Bow was always very away she was different. It was hard not too notice when she wasn't even the same species with no fur or claws at all. Growing up in that orphan's home wasn't the greatest either in a city known for it's high crime rate especially to those of the younger age. She never knew how she came to be here or where she came from or even if she even had a family anywhere out there. She once asked, only to be told she was found on the doorstep one rough night like every other cliche kitten that she had to bunk with. At first it wasn't too bad. Some of the kittens let her play with them but it mostly things like keep away with them keeping things from her and making her always picked last or being picked on. Taking her toys and teasing about how she looked so different from the others. It stung. Stung deep. She knew she was different, but it wasn't her fault. She still liked cats. The giant cats that pulled the subways were much nicer. Always purring and letting her pet and play with them whenever she walked up to them before being scolded for holding up the trains and shooed off again only to be teased and stolen from again. She felt so...alone. It was awful. Sometimes she'd cry but it seemed like no one seemed to care. She didn't fit in at all. She didn't belong here. It was...wrong.

So that's why she ran away. In the middle of the night when everyone else was cat napping, she slipped out as crafty as any other cat burglar and slipped away into the busy streets. You didn't grow up in a city of cat burglars without learning to slip away unnoticed and pick locks. That was one thing she was thankful for at least. Street smarts could make or break you out in this crowd. But then that begged the question..Where would she go from here? She didn't want to remain here. She couldn't remain here! Nothing about here was good at all! And she couldn't last forever. No money for food or shelter and even if she did have it, it'd just be eventually taken from her anyways soon with all these thieves walking around. The idea of where to go came to her as she was passing a TV store with the many expensive looking TVs stored in the windows to be displayed. She had glanced at it glumly as she walked past but stopped upon seeing someone on the screens. Someone...Who looked LIKE HER!!! The man was no cat and wore no fur but a blue suit advertising some kind of fishing business in a far off town! Mafia Town! ...Mafia Town huh? A town full of other humans like herself? That was a good place right? It must be if there was people like her instead of cat burglars that wouldn't hesitate to steal everything including the kitchen sink.

Well there was only one way to find out.

[lotus-pear]

SIGHHHH BSD REREAD…................I MISS THEM SO MUCH :(((

[natamouche-art]

Word on the street is tumblr's the place to be for posting our art from production and after.... so hi! I'm Natalie, and Chaos Theory was my first gig as a board artist, a huge honour honestly.

Over the last several years I've found it incredibly educational and fun to see what boards and development art other board artists share online, so if I'll be adding to that pool of online materials. Aaaas well as some production memes and fanart, of course. Shoutout to everyone who worked on this wonderful project!

[clowningaroundmars]

aromantic mike chilton for @aggressivelyarospec week!!!! :D

accompanying story under the cut!

It didn't work out with Julie.

They had broken up and decided it would be best to stay friends. After all, with Mike... nothing really changed at all. Like... nothing.

And that was kinda the problem.

Julie didn't think herself to be too judgmental of a person, not after everything everyone's been through. She and the Burners worked hard, played hard, and succeeded together (oftentimes against all odds).

They slept in cuddle piles after dinner some nights whenever Julie could slip away for more than a day without arousing her dad's suspicions. They passed bongs around for a lung-hacking hit or two, went skinny-dipping in the lake at night, patched up each other's bloody wounds countless times.

And then somewhere down the line, Julie fell in love with Mike.

She had no idea when exactly, since she doesn't really do feelings like that, can't afford to with a life like hers. But it happened... somehow.

Julie couldn't quite place exactly what it was that initially drew her to him, especially at first. Sure, the guy was friendly, decisive, assertive without being too overbearing, and unbearably charming. But.

It was the charm that caught poor Julie totally off-guard, really. She'd often hear her father ranting and raving about his golden-prodigal-son-turned-traitor, and his ID photo in his file wasn't really much to look at, either. Julie would never admit it out loud, but she had snuck down to Motorcity for the first time ever with low expectations.

Later, she came back up to her pod in Deluxe with stars in her eyes.

But she wasn't in love with him then, no. She knew this because she was pretty sure her constant Mike Thoughts did not manifest until after the kids all went to Antonio's together for the first time.

It was summertime, around nine months after the group was (un)officially formed. The heat had Mike shirking his jacket and leaving it in Mutt, and his old t-shirt was getting a tad bit tight after all the exercise he was getting around the hideout, especially after Texas moved his workout gear in and Mike took him up on his offer for semi-regular sparring sessions.

And boy, did that Mike fella fill out. Mhmm.

Even Julie-- a girl who was mostly blind to typical male affections directed at her in school-- had to admit to herself that when Mike put on a little more weight in the right places, when his biceps bulged a bit as he flexed an arm and his shoulders got a bit wider... it took a lot more effort to wrench her studious gaze away.

Geez Louise.

Before long, she was doodling their initials and combining both of their names in her little sketchpad. Gag. Gross.

But Mike never seemed to pay attention to her the same way in return. She didn't catch him looking away from her at inopportune times, and he'd never lay a single hand on her aside from a typical friendly pat on the shoulder, or a comfortable lean on an arm while the Burners all lounged around during movie nights. Hell, he seemed more affectionate with his best friend Chuck than he was with her most times.

So she kept her thoughts to herself. Easy peasy. She kept secrets from her dad, from her friends, and now from Mike. Like everything else, she created a neat, separate file in her head and tucked that little secret away. She managed to conceal it for long enough.

Until it became too big to ignore.

And then it happened.

And it really just... happened. Julie hardly registered herself even doing it.

It happened like this: Mike had rescued Julie from certain death at the lake after she crashed an out-of-control 9 Lives out through the barricades and into the water, and they were panting and coughing up water on the sand after Mike succeeded in dragging her out. Dutch and Texas were busy racing around and distracting the Kanebots, luring them all away from the pair.

Julie didn't say anything. Neither of them did. Julie just... surged forward when she blinked the water out of her eyes and saw him, his angelic face hovering mere inches away from hers. She remembered the dewey drops on his long lashes and the warmth of his lips more than anything else.

And then she's pretty sure she blacked out afterwards because the next thing she remembers, she's waking up on the couch wrapped in blankets and towels, wearing Chuck's hoodie.

She doesn't ask anyone why Chuck opted to be the guy to lend his clothes to her.

(It wasn't Chuck who lent it to her though.)

After Jacob makes sure she has a steaming mug of soup in her hands and is generally fussed over enough, he bids her a goodnight and leaves a big holoscreen playing old-timey anime shows for her.

Shortly afterwards, Mike slips into the room on feet far too quiet for a rowdy teenage boy like him. Julie almost misses his entry and startles when she notices him casually leaning on a wall over to her right, almost blending in against the garish grafitti and street signs.

They sat down and spoke quietly, privately.

Julie appreciated that Mike had enough tact and forethought not to confront her in front of all of the guys. Thank god. Julie wouldn't even know how to handle the endless teasing that would inevitably assault her from all angles if they ever even suspected that she had a crush on Mike.

And how embarrassing, really! The only girl on the team falling for the charming and roguish leader of a group of rebels. Double gag.

It was by some miracle that no one ever suspected Julie's true feelings, and that the actual love interest found out before anyone else did. Lucky her!

And incredibly, Mike shared her feelings too! Who would've thought it! Definitely not Julie, that's for sure.

Mike hadn't even seemed to glance her way at all in all the time they had known each other. He always maintained the same level of friendliness with her as he did with the other guys. But he confessed then that he knew Julie was special, and that their bond that grew in the time they had known each other was special, too.

Wow. Look at them, both hiding their feelings so well! It's like they were meant to be.

So they agreed to go steady.

Eventually, they told the rest of the Burners. Well, it really was just that it was kinda hard for them to ignore when Julie would sneak her index finger over to Mike's hand and hook it onto his pinkie as they walked back to their cars after a quick errand run for the Skylarks or an easy mission.

So they decided to make the announcement at Antonio's, which Julie thought was perfectly poetic. It was where she first fell in love with Mike, and now here they were a year and a half later, making it official.

They didn't expect the other guys' reactions, though. The Burners received the news... lukewarmly.

"You guys were in love?" Texas spewed bits of pizza all over the table as he chewed with his mouth open. Ugh. Typical Texas.

"Oh! Wow... uhm. Congrats, guys." Chuck seemed to hide behind his hair even more as his shoulders hiked up in a nonchalant shrug.

Dutch rubbed his chin. "...Yeah. Uh, yeah...? Cool. Congrats, you two."

And then silence fell over the table.

"Is... is there a problem with this, or?" Julie dared to press.

Everyone silently exchanged glances.

Mike-- bless his heart-- misread the situation and clasped his hands together on the table.

"Guys, look," he started, "this isn't gonna change anything about the team. We're still gonna be friends, I’m not prioritizing Julie over anyone else on missions. It's just... we're gonna... we're gonna be the Burners, except I’m dating Jules now! That's all!"

Mike smiled warmly at all his friends. Chuck chewed on his lip.

Dutch bobbed his head thoughtfully. Then, after a while, he said "nah, yeah. We figured. I mean, you're a pretty great guy so it's not like we thought you were gonna up and abandon us or anything. It's just that... uh. So when did this uhhh, yanno, this whole thing start?"

Julie blinked.

Mike cocked his head. "Start?" He asked.

"Y'know, like when did y'all start liking each other? Because uh, no offense, but this is kinda comin' out of the blue for us. Literally nobody thought this was gonna be a thing. Tell us some stories!"

Mike blew out a breath and leaned back in the booth. Julie smiled.

"Weeeellll," Julie squinted with excitement and then let the cat out of the bag.

She told them all about it, how in this very same booth she watched as Mike's t-shirt stretched over his muscles all those months ago and how his smile seemed to shine brighter than the diner's neon signs. Then about how she leaned against Mike's broad chest after agonizing for hours over not being able to free him from her father's maximum-security prison that one time. About all the dreams she'd have of them together, the intimate late-night talks they'd have while having a couple of drinks on the rooftop of some abandoned building. How she loved his bright eyes and strong hands...

When she finished, she had a dreamy kind of look all over her face. Mike had a brow quirked, but he smiled back at her all the same.

Everyone exchanged glances again.

"So Mike. Was it like that for you?" Chuck asked eventually. It had a strange sort of lilt to it, like he was in on an inside joke that Julie wasn't.

She bristled a bit.

"Oh! Uh." Mike glanced around quickly. "Not... really? But Julie's super pretty, so when she confessed to me, I was pretty stoked."

Mike grinned like a goofball. Julie grinned like a goofball. The rest of the Burners looked skeptical.

"Hm. Cool! Well, great." Chuck turned back to his loaded pizza slice.

And just like that, things mostly went back to normal.

And, uh... Mike was right, this... really wasn't changing anything between them and the Burners. Like at all.

A small part of Julie was kind of hurt by it, but she tried to wave the feeling away. It was nonsense, and she should be happy. Mike loved her! He just wasn't a romantic type, that's all. He loved his friends, loved being a Burner... it was fine.

Right?

It was normal for her to have to remind Mike every now and then to go out on a date with her. He's a busy guy, and this was his first relationship. Julie just had to be patient.

Patient... patient. Yeah. She could be patient.

It was when Chuck joined them for their sixth "movie date" in a row that the patience was starting to run a bit thin, though.

Chuck and Mike settled side-by-side on the communal couch, swapping snacks as easily as breathing and nursing a popcorn bowl between them. Mike hooked an arm over Julie's shoulder though, so Julie said nothing.

It was a couple of months later when Mike makes a quiet confession to her as they laid together in his pristine bed one night.

"I don't really like kissing all that much," he mumbles, face half-buried into his pillows. "But I like holding you. Is that okay?"

Julie's heart sinks into the covers. But she nods anyways. "Yeah. That's okay."

"Really? Do ya mean it? It's not weird or anything, right? We can still be together but not kiss. Maybe I can give you forehead kisses instead?"

Julie sighed softly. "Mmnyeah, that's fine."

"It's not you, it's me, Jules. I just--"

"Mike. Trust me, I get it. It's okay, seriously."

Mike gave her a grateful smile back.

Damnit. Well.

Anyways, life continued on. Julie resigned herself to accepting the fact that her boyfriend was just simply a guy's guy.

Julie liked cars but Mike was all over Mutt. Loved the damn thing more than he loved her, honestly. She loved being a Burner, but it seemed like it was Mike's purpose, like he was more devoted to the city under the dome than he was to his girlfriend. And above all, Mike loved the Burners. All of them. He spent a bit more time with Chuck than he did with anyone else in the team, but he was always there for everyone just as passionately.

Which was. Fine.

Freeing Motorcity from her father's reign of terror was indeed way more important than holding hands with a cute boy!

Duh, of course, stupid Julie.

Whatever.

When they inevitably broke up, it blindsided Mike. He thought they were the best of buds! The bestest of buds-- aside from him and Chuck, of course! But while he loved Chuck fiercely, his love for Julie was... different. Fierce but different. He could never describe it in words but he knew what he was feeling was real.

He loved Julie! So when she suddenly broke up with him, it was like getting hit with a sack of flour out of nowhere.

They were leaned up against Mutt's hood on a cliff overlooking Lake Erie when Julie finally broke the news. They were casually smoking a cigarette, passing it back and forth. Mike's idea of a "date." Anyways.

"I can't really keep doing this, Mike." Julie sighed out a cloud of smoke. She said it so matter-of-factly, as casually as if she were simply commenting on the weather.

Mike whipped round to look at her. "Keep doing what?"

"This," Julie threw her hands up and tucked them into her vest pockets after handing Mike the cigarette back. "This... 'relationship'. It's not working out."

"What... whaddya mean? We just started dating, it's kinda too early to tell--"

"No, Mike." Julie interrupted loudly. Her eyes were avoiding Mike's face carefully. "No... it's not. We've been together for months and we have never moved on from our friendship. You... just admit it, dude. You're just not into me."

Mike pushed himself off of Mutt and placed his hands on both of her shoulders, forcing them to stand face-to-face. "Julie, look at me." He had his jaw set.

Julie swallowed as she peered up at him from her bangs.

"I love you more than you can ever know. I know I’m messing up, but... but I’m trying, okay? Just give us one more chance, Jules. I can make it right, I know it!"

Julie took a step back, wrinkling her nose. "Mike! Just give it up, okay? I know you don't feel the same about me as I do about you," she pleaded, mortified. "It's okay! It's fine! We can just move on and let it go!"

"B-but it's not! No, Julie c'mon, bro--"

"Bro?!" Julie exploded, hands in the air now. "Are you hearing yourself right now? Am I your girlfriend, or your bro?"

Mike gaped at her like a fish, mouth opening just to close again. Then, he hunched his shoulders and shoved his hands in his pockets.

He kicked a couple of rocks off the cliff, watching the pebbles scatter and plummet dozens of feet below.

Then he ran his hands through his hair, a nervous habit of his, before returning back to Julie.

He exhaled loudly. "What... what's the difference? You... isn't that what dating is all about? Being best friends with your partner?"

Julie glared at him. "Yes! And it's also about being more than that, too!"

Mike scoffed. "More than friends? What does that even mean? Nothing is more important than friendship, Jules. Not in Motorcity."

"Nothing is more important than friendship?! Mike--" Here, Julie took a step back to pinch her nose and exhale. "Look. When I confessed my feelings to you for the first time, what were you feeling?"

"What was I feeling? Uh, I dunno, happiness I guess? What, did you want me to say that I didn't care? I care about your feelings, Julie! I do!"

"So you started dating me because you didn't want to hurt my feelings?!" Julie shouted.

"Where are you getting that from?!" Mike shouted back.

"Mike! You are just not into me! I can just tell! It's okay! W-we can just be friends, like how we used to be. I don't even know why you're fighting me so hard on this, I'm the one breaking up with you. You can't change my mind!"

"Right," Mike huffed, "because you don't love me anymore. No, I get it. It's fine."

They glared at each other for a beat.

Then, Julie shoved her hands back into her vest pockets. "No, Mike. I do love you. I just think..." she sighed, all the wind in her sails blowing away, "I just think it's best for us to go our own separate ways."

Mike startled. "Wait, what? Jules... are you...? You're not leaving the Burners, are you?"

"No, I'm not leaving the Burners." Julie says through clenched teeth. "I'm just gonna take a quick break and then when I come back? We're gonna be just friends again, Mike. Alright?"

Mike inhales deeply, his own anger trickling out of him like water as well. "... Fine. Fine, yeah. Whatever you want, Julie." He hangs his head.

They then stare off into the horizon together, watching the twinkling star-like pinpoints of light on the underside of the dome. Watching as the lake's waters undulate and shimmer in the darkness of the cool evening, a gigantic dark mirror reflecting the pinpoints back to the ceiling.

Mike idly scuffs his boot on the ground again, putting out their shared cigarette. In a sad sort of way, the dying ember of the smoldering stick being stomped out into rocks and gravel was a lot like their relationship: dead and done. And of course it had to be Mike to put them both out, huh. Right.

Real poetic.

Julie turns around wordlessly, climbs into Mutt and sits in Chuck's seat.

Time to go.

After a few seconds Mike nods once, fixes his collar and slides into his own seat.

The ride back up to Deluxe is quiet.

Except this time, it had been a long while since they had the time to relax like this. These days, Kane's attacks were getting more and more savage, brutal... and cunning.

It was a couple years later when the kids were a bit older --but not that much older at the same time-- that they all filed past the doors of Antonio's and slid right into their usual booth.

Kane's latest attempt at a hostile takeover of Motorcity involved way too many sneaky double-crossing spies all trying to break the Burners up and weaken the city's best defense. Sneaky bastard, that Abraham Kane.

But they thwarted him yet again, despite it all. They beat the bad guys, restored peace back amongst the gangs and the civilians, and saved the day.

It had taken weeks this time, but they succeeded.

So now to celebrate, they're placing their orders for the greasiest, most heart-clogging fast food on the menu and sitting back to happily sip at their drinks. They're finally enjoying their time together again, and Mike is especially pleased that everyone made it out alive.

Sitting elbow-to-elbow with his bestest friends in the world, Mike takes advantage of a lull in the conversation to clap his hands together and get everyone's attention.

"Okay, guys!" He announces. "So, I'm pretty sure we're all kinda fried after... y'know, everything. Everyone's probably too tired to care about what I'm going to say next! So... confession time."

"Hmhmm! Spill, then," Chuck smirks, his chin in his cyborg hand. It was a recent upgrade to his prosthetic, and it shone a beautiful silvery-blue under the diner lights.

Mike chuckles nervously. "Uh, I... I think that... I figured out that I can't fall in love!"

Everyone stares at him.

Chuck casually slurps his milkshake through a straw.

Dutch turns to him then. "Wait. You knew?"

Chuck sits up. "Uhh hahaha, whoa. Where'd that come from? You psychic or somethin'?" He deflects awkwardly.

"You're clearly not surprised," Dutch points out.

"Pfft yeah I'm not surprised. Who's been Mike's best friend since, like, kindergarten again?"

"Ah. And ya didn't think to let me know anything back when we were dating? Sure would've saved us a lot of time," Julie quipped drily.

Chuck holds his mismatched hands up. "Now hold on a minute! I didn't know back then, obviously. Besides, you two dated years ago for like... three seconds!"

"Two years ago, smartass," Julie snips back.

Mike clears his throat conspicuously. "Guys! Guys, no need to fight over me," he jokes awkwardly, "because I, uhm, I've decided I don't belong to anybody! I'm just me, and I'm not dating anyone. Like, ever."

Everyone turns back to him again.

With four pairs of eyes on him, Mike draws in on himself a bit as he continues. "Yeah, it's. It's something that I've been kinda discovering about myself and I'm still... exploring it. But I'm pretty sure I've never had a crush in my life. I was just walking through life distracted by everything else for so long that I never noticed it, but... yeah. I've just. I've just never felt love for anyone else before, I guess."

"Which is fine," Chuck blurts out suddenly. "It's... it's fine! That Mike's never fallen in love with anyone. It happens. Some people just don't experience a common thing most people do... like romance, or sex. Yeah! Totally normal!"

Dutch smirks at Chuck. "You too, then? You a non-romantic as well?"

Chuck shakes his head so hard his bangs swing. "No! Nuh uh, I'm a lover, not a fighter. I'm definitely a romantic!"

"Why so nervous all of a sudden, then?"

"Because," Chuck replies, "because... it's fine! To not ever fall in love or like... date, or kiss or have sex or whatever. We're in Motorcity now, and we can get to do whatever we want. And if we don't wanna date, then we don't have to!" Then he clamps his mouth shut.

Mike perks up then. "That's right! And ah, yeah! Speaking of, Chuckles... lemme tell ya, I really gotta hand it to ya. If it weren't for you, I'd've never figured this one out. So, thanks, buddy! As always, you really had my back on this one."

Chuck and Mike smile at each other and Texas raises a brow.

"Huh?" Texas says. "What's that s'posed to mean?"

Chuck titters nervously as Mike pulls up a screen and opens up a forum.

"It means that Chuckles here helped me find a site that explained everything I was experiencing! Or... not experiencing, really."

Chuck clears his throat, clearly relieved. "Uh, yeah! Well, after Mike's like, 10th girlfriend that one time he couldn't stop bringing people back home, he came to me all frustrated and stuff and... well, we went off to find my friends in the LARPing arena to see if anyone had any idea why he was burning through dates like Mutt burns through tires. And so someone suggested he might be aromantic, and uh... well, the rest is history!"

Dutch and Julie hummed in acknowledgement.

Everyone knew what that was like, how weird it was that Golden Child Mike all of sudden started bringing people home from parties and bars shortly after his breakup with Julie. Sometimes he even had two people on his arms, some men, some women. Never the same person after two or three times, though.

They were all perplexed when they first heard laughing and chattering behind Mike's bedroom door. Once the moaning started, though... well! Everyone poked fun at him the mornings after and teased him to varying degrees, but things were mostly chill in the beginning.

Everyone remembered Mike's frustrations after a while, though. How he could never quite land a steady relationship-- no matter how hard he tried, with whoever. It got to the point where the Burners stopped their teasing and became quite concerned after Mike introduced his 5th girlfriend in the span of like... 6 months, once upon a time.

It was shortly after his final breakup that Mike flopped down onto his best friend's messy bed one evening and finally had The Conversation.

It went well, all things considered. Chuck, patient as ever, listened to his friend and then when he couldn't offer any solid advice, he offered a distraction. The LARPing arena proved to be much better help than they could ever hope for.

Ever since then, Mike's been up late into the night often, completely engrossed in all things aromantic. He wanted to learn more about it, yearned for a community that knew exactly what he was feeling; so he stayed awake just swiping through sites and PDFs on his holoscreens, eating every bit of information up.

Now, it looked like Mike was at peace with himself and his station in life after all this time. That was a relief!

"Aromantic! That's it! Look at this, guys." Here, Mike grins and pulls up a photo of a striped flag. "This is the community flag. Look familiar?"

The colors of the flag had two shades of green at the top that then cascaded into white, then grey and then black.

Texas leaned forward. "It looks like Mutt!" He practically shouts.

Everyone laughs.

"Yeah, that sure is a you flag if I've ever seen one," Julie quips.

"Right? Like it was meant to be! So I guess I'm part of this community, then. I mean, this really is a kickass flag..."

"But what does that mean, though? That you can never fall in love with anyone, ever?" Julie asks.

Mike closes his screens and clasps his hands on the table, exhaling a bit. "Uhh, well? Well, yeah! I can't ever fall in love... but it doesn't feel that way to me! Ugh, I'm probably gonna do such a bad job explaining this," he laughs self-consciously.

"It's okay, dude. Take your time," Dutch smiles warmly.

Mike shoots him a grateful smile back. "... It... it's like. Well? It's like... I've never felt butterflies in my stomach before, so I have no idea what that's like. But I like you guys, a lot. Like a lot, a lot. I love hanging out with you all even though I don't think about any of you guys like that. I love making friends-- like true friends-- and I can't stop thinking about how happy hanging out with people makes me. I guess I'm just way more platonic than romantic, because I am just... so bad at love! God, I've never had so much trouble with anything in my life before like I have with romance," he groans, grimacing.

"And when Mike Fucking Chilton says that, that's how you know he's struggling!" Dutch puts in.

Everyone giggles.

"Wow," Julie gives Mike a side-long glance. "Finally. Something that The Great Mike Chilton is bad at! We've finally got him, boys."

Texas leaps out of his seat and enthusiastically karate-chops the air. "Hoo-WAH!!! Finally! Something I got over on ya, Mike. Texas is better at romancing than you!"

Julie rolls her eyes.

Mike guffaws. "Psshhwhat? C'mon guys, I'm bad at plenty of stuff. This isn't the first!"

"Oh yeah? Name one thing!" Dutch challenges.

"Uhhm well uh, I...? I'm pretty bad at... hm." Mike drums his fingers on the table. "I'm bad at coding! I'm not nearly as good as Chuck at the software and tech side of things!"

"But ya could be! You could totally learn how to, if you'd just sit down with me for more than 20 minutes," Chuck points out.

Mike stubbornly folds his arms across his chest. "Well, I don't wanna! What're you gonna do about it?"

And just like that, the kids all return back to normalcy, bickering and quibbling about nothing as they finally receive their food from the waitress. Soon after, Chuck and Texas are throwing pizza toppings and wadded up paper at each other and Mike is mom-ing at them to quit it before they all get kicked out.

It was as if nothing even happened.

It was simultaneously comforting and also thrilling how easily Mike was accepted back into the fold; the Burners' Heartless Leader who could never fall in love.

On the inside, Mike was deeply grateful and his heart felt full upon learning this, though. It was a nourishing feeling that his bestest friends in the whole world who worked hard, played hard, lived fast and free alongside him... they loved him and accepted him back, no matter what. It was a much nicer and fuzzier feeling than any romance-filled relationship or hookup ever gave him.

Now, the Burners are finally leaving the diner, all tipsy and giddy from their impromptu late-night happy hour session.

Mike has a casual arm slung over Chuck's shoulder as they traipse on over to Mutt. Everyone casually daps each other up and offers quick goodbyes before climbing into their respective cars.

Mike slides behind the wheel and exhales. Chuck clicks himself into his secure harness.

"Well! That went pretty well! A little too easily, honestly but," Mike breathes.

Chuck's blonde head bobs. "Well yeah, dude. Of course. What'd ya think, that'd we kick you out of the team for that?"

Mike shrugs and turns his skeleton key into Mutt's ignition, bringing her to roar awake again. "I mean... no. But, y'know. It's weird, having a leader of a gang that can't ever fall in love, right? Like some heartless freak or somethin'. I dunno," he chuckled wryly.

Chuck frowns. "Mike. You're not a freak," he says firmly.

Mike gives his best friend a sidelong glance. "Chuck..." he speaks, voice low, "it's not like that! You know what I mean... it's just that sometimes people who are different don't get treated so well all the time, yanno?"

"Yeah, sure, back up in Deluxe," Chuck argues. "But it's different down here in Motorcity. It's good here for people like us!"

Mike hums thoughtfully as he drums his fingers on the wheel. "Yeah, you're right..." then, he smirks at Chuck. "So if that's true, then why didn't you come out, back there? I actually thought you were gonna do it. It even looked like Dutch suspected something, too!"

Mike smiles at his friend, who is doing his best impression of a carseat cover now.

"Mmnyeah... yeah, I could've." Chuck gives a noncommittal shrug, hesitating.

"What's wrong?"

After a few seconds, Chuck swipes at his bangs self-consciously and clears his throat. "Uhmm well... being aromantic and never falling in love is kinda... badass, don'tcha think? But for a guy like me, never wanting to have sex and being a dope for romance is just pathetic," he laments. "If people hear that I'm asexual and that I never want to bang anyone, I'd get laughed out of the room! It's not an asexual thing, Mikey, it's a me thing."

Mike throws Mutt into reverse and backs her out of their parking spot with practiced ease.

"Chuckles. My guy. Look, who cares what other people think? If you don't wanna bone, you're just not gonna. That doesn't hurt anyone at all, so screw anyone who says anything about it. If anyone gives you a hard time, call me up and I'll spin the block for you,"

Chuck bursts into a peal of nervous giggles. "Whoa, whoa Mikey, geez! Christ, thanks, man but that's really not necessary. I appreciate you, though,"

They smile at each other again.

Then after a beat, Mike adds, "plus, if they know about aromanticism, they're gonna eventually find out about asexuality, too, dude."

Chuck laughs weakly as he clutches his arms. "O-oh...! Yeah... yeah that's tr--"

Mike suddenly slams his boot down on the gas pedal and Mutt growls as she lurches into hundred-mile-speeds from a standstill. Her tires screech loudly on the pavement and she leaves a giant plume of smoke and dirt behind as everyone careens over a drop straight onto the Deluxian Supply Pipes.

"Miiikkee-eeyyyy!!! We just ate!" Chuck screeches, horrified. He clings onto the car seat with both hands as Mike laughs.

Chuck's screams and Mike's loud, joyous shouting and whooping can be heard far and wide throughout Motorcity as they race all the way back home.

[shima-draws]

LET’S GO GAMERS!!!!!!!

[keri-mcberry]

Tag nine people you want to get to know better!

Thank you @sparxyv , @noelles-legacy , and @ccelicaa for the tags! It was fun getting to know more about you all on your posts, and it makes me happy that you thought of me 🫣

LAST SONG - I2I by Tevin Campbell from A Goofy Movie (my favorite movie of all time btw 💕)

FAVORITE COLOR - Sky Blue ☁️💙

CURRENTLY WATCHING - I mostly just watch YouTube haha! Right now, I'm watching the Baldur's Gate 3 cast play D&D ✨

LAST MOVIE - A Goofy Movie, which explains the song choice 🤭 My husband and I had a movie night with burgers and hot wings 😩👌

SWEET/SPICY/SAVORY - Spicy 💯!! Although, I've been craving all things sweet, spicy, and savory lately 🍨🌶️🍔

RELATIONSHIP STATUS - Married 💞 My husband is the Slytherin to my Hufflepuff 💚💛 (as sappy as that sounds 😭) I'm his emotional support, while he inspires me to pursue things I initially thought were out of my reach. He has been incredible and supportive throughout this entire pregnancy, and I honestly have no idea how I'd get by without him 🥹

CURRENT OBSESSION - Hogwarts Legacy of course lmao... but also Animal Crossing New Horizons! My grandma and I have been obsessed ever since it released in 2020. She has over 4,000 hours on it 💀 Recently, I picked it back up and restarted my island. So that would explain my absence from HL content (sorry!) because I really want to impress her next time I see her LOL 😂

LAST THING YOU GOOGLED - "How to make CoCo Ichibanya Curry" because I'm craving it terribly, and I don't live in Japan anymore 💔

When I logged on this morning, I saw so many of these on my dash. So I lost track of who all has already done it 😅

@betheckart @syaolaurant @moonstruckmoony @ethniee @wrongcog @myokk @diana-bluewolf @faustinio27 @girl-named-matty

Even if you already did one or not feeling it, just know that I'm thinking of you! 🫶 I originally had a lot more than 9 people tagged and had to shorten it 😂 If anyone else would like to participate, then consider yourself TAGGED 🫵

[jestroer]

The gang be kiddos

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

Water Gun Fight / "It's Not What You Think"

Fandom: The Bad Batch Characters: Mox, Stak, Deke, Omega, Lyana, Jax, Eva, Hunter, Crosshair Set when everyone is living happily on Pabu :) Word Count: ~1560 Read Here on AO3

Synopsis: The children of Pabu have a water gun fight

Check out a teeny sneak peek of the amazing artwork @the-little-moment did to go with my fic! Go see the full piece HERE and tell her how awesome she is!

“This isn’t fair. Whoever gets the clones on their team will win.”

Mox folded his arms, a faint, aloof smile painting his face. Either side of him, Stak and Deke stood loose and ready, empty water-pistols held with casual, easy confidence.

“Omega’s a clone too,” he pointed out. “So there’s four of us. You can have two on each team to keep it even.”

“That’s not even,” said Deke with exaggerated annoyance. “Omega was trained by the defectives. She fights dirty.”

“She fights tactically,” corrected Mox, smiling at the blonde girl whose own lips twitched in amusement. “Makes it a challenge.”

Around them the children of Pabu shifted and muttered as a ripple of discussion ran through the group. Some of the younger ones were already getting bored with the idea of teams and rules, pretending to aim at each other and pulling the triggers of their empty water pistols with giggles.

The older ones were taking the issue much more seriously. Nobody could decide what counted as an unfair advantage when it came to the former cadets’ and Omega’s training.

“I think the clones should only be allowed to target each other,” volunteered Jax. His confidence was blossoming with the care he received from his new foster-family on Pabu. “That would make it fair… right?”

“But the rest of you can still target us?” scoffed Stak. “No way.”

“We haven’t even picked team captains yet!” groaned Lyana, dragging her hands dramatically over her face. “At this rate the sea will dry up before we fill these water pistols!”

“I have an idea.”

Omega’s voice cut clearly over the chatter, and the children fell quiet. She had that effect when she took command.

She turned to Deke with a smirk that made her look oh-so-like her younger brother, if only she had a toothpick to hand. “You think I fight dirty?”

There was a deceptive casualness to her tone, the way her dark brown eyes flicked to his from under her long lashes.

Deke shifted uncomfortably, aware that being trapped in the spotlight of Omega’s attention whilst she was plotting something was not where he wanted to be.

“How about… I don’t participate?”

A cry immediately went up from the other children, the small crowd surging to surround her. Eva took her hand, tugging gently.

“You have to play, Omega. You have to.”

Omega held up her free hand, and all eyes turned to her. Mox was smiling out the corner of his mouth, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. He nodded to invite her explanation.

She fixed him with a firm look, challenge in her smile. “I won’t participate,” she repeated, squeezing Eva’s hand reassuringly. “I’ll direct them. The rest of the island against you three. Think you can handle it?”

Stak looked up at Mox, his face breaking into a wide grin. Mox glanced from Stak to Deke, taking in the latter’s nerves, then looked back to Omega.

His smile curved wide as he nodded.

“You’ve got a deal.”

*

“I don’t like this,” muttered Deke as they crept along the side of a building, pressed tight to the shadows and ignoring the glances and titters from the adults going about their daily business. “Omega will be planning something.”

“Exactly,” said Stak with a confident grin. “Wouldn’t be a challenge otherwise.”

Mox smiled but shushed their chatter, leaning round the wall to check the coast was clear. The water gun sat heavy in his hands, freshly reloaded. He’d emptied it – apologetically, almost – into a brother and sister in Lower Pabu.

That was the rule of the game. A soaked t-shirt meant you were out.

He ducked back when a jet of water streamed in his direction, accompanied by giggling.

Quirking an amused eyebrow at the other two, he gestured with his head. In moments the clones were storming the main street, water splashing everywhere, as shrieks of laughter filled the air.

In the end five dripping children stood about, huge grins on their faces, whilst the three clone boys were still bone-dry.

Lyana was among the victims. She had been drenched head-to-toe when Stak and Deke chased her into a corner, shielding her head with her arms to little effect and sobbing with laughter the entire time.

She stood proudly with her arms crossed now, her ‘troops’ at her side.

“Well, what now, boys?” she challenged.

Stak stepped forward, levelling the brightly coloured super-soaker towards her. “Tell us where your general is,” he demanded, unable to bite back his grin.

Lyana laughed. “You’ll never find her.”

“She’s at the Archium,” said Mox with a grin.

“You don’t know that,” piped up one of the Pabu boys bravely, but Mox just chuckled.

“It’s where I’d direct my squad from,” he said, tilting his head up and shielding his eyes from the glare of Pabu’s sun as he gazed up towards Upper Pabu.

“Reckon we can fight our way up there?” asked Deke, stepping to his side.

“Sure.” He glanced back at Lyana with a sly smile. “We’ve taken out her lieutenant. It won’t be long before we’ve ended this.”

*

The adults were generous about letting the clones into their houses to refill their water guns. A lifetime’s training came back easily, even after the soft months without warfare on Pabu, and Deke and Stak easily fell into their roles following Mox’s orders.

They avoided combat when they could to conserve their water supplies. Were ruthless in drenching the island’s children when they could not.

Jax made a valiant attempt to divert them, dancing tauntingly in the mouth of an alley-way which wound into darkness behind the shadow of a two-storey building. Deke laid a warning hand on Stak’s arm.

“Watch out. It could be an ambush.”

“He’s one kid,” grinned Stak. “How bad can it be?”

Jax backed away slowly as Stak advanced. He held his water pistol loosely in one hand as he raised his arms in surrender.

“See?” called Stak. “Not so bad.”

A muffled giggle sounded. Then Eva popped up from the balcony above, tipping a bucket of water which splashed squarely onto Stak, soaking his hair, his shirt, and most of his shorts.

The clone gasped with the shock of it, then a grin spread wide on his face. Jax’s face danced with mirth.

“Vengeance!” howled Mox playfully, and he and Deke dove into the alley, water guns firing. Soon the two force sensitive children were similarly drenched, laughing as Stak threw an arm around each of their shoulders.

“Guess I’m out,” he said good-naturedly, grinning at his brothers. “Think you can take the general down by yourself?”

“Leave it to us,” said Deke with a smile and a salute. “We’ll end Omega’s reign of terror. Just you wait and see.”

*

Storming the plaza in front of the Archium was a running battle. The clones ducked and hid behind market stalls, weaving between chuckling adults as they pursued their quarry, the other laughing children.

Water pistols emptied. Were refilled. Were replaced with weapons ‘looted’ from ‘fallen’ enemies.

Before long they had Omega pinned. Deke leaned over her where she lay on her back, winded but still smiling slyly, where he had tackled her to the floor.

“Orders, sir?” he asked over his shoulder.

“If we’ve captured their general we can negotiate,” said Mox with a cautious glance at Omega. She smoothed her face into an innocent expression, which was a dangerous thing.

“I say we execute her.” Deke primed his super-soaker. “She’s too dangerous to let her live.”

Mox shook his head. “Let her reach her com. She can call her troops off.”

Reluctantly, Deke lifted his foot from where he had pinned Omega’s arm. The blonde girl’s smile returned as she slowly inched her arm towards her face, activating her wrist-com.

“Havoc-1?”

“Yeah?”

The deep rumble of Hunter’s voice was so unexpected that both younger clones backpedalled in shock.

“Hunter–” said Mox, startled, and Deke glanced in panic at Omega’s prone position as he added, “It’s not what you think!”

Hunter folded his arms, tattooed face shadowed with displeasure, stepping forwards to shield Omega and loom over the cadets.

Mox glanced uneasily between them, holding his hands out to his sides in surrender.

“It’s a game–” he began.

The jet of water caught him squarely in the back, running down his spine to soak him to the skin. He yelled, and his shout was echoed by Deke when a similarly targeted blast drenched him too.

The clones spun, searching for the source of the attack. It didn’t take them long to spot Crosshair perched in the weeping maya tree, an impressively large super-soaker in his hands, toothpick clenched between teeth which were bared in a grin.

“No fair,” objected Deke. “This game is supposed to be for kids.”

“It is,” said Hunter, and now he let his brooding façade crack as he picked Omega up from the floor with a fond smile. “Didn’t you hear? We’re younger than Omega. If she can play, we can play…”

Omega returned her big-little brother’s smile and turned a sympathetic look on the two dripping cadets.

“Don’t feel bad,” she said blithely, glancing first at Hunter and then at Crosshair with adoration in her eyes. Her smile turned soft. “You were never going to win, not when I have them.”

Haha well way back at the submitting prompts stage it was my kiddo who volunteered water gun fight, and I guess you know I engaged in some spurious voting practice to get it into the top 26... thrilled that it got drawn as week 1!

With thanks to @ninjadeathblade who said Crosshair should be camping in the weeping maya tree waiting to snipe the cadets :P

And thanks to the amazing @kybercrystals94 for organising this challenge! You struck up a conversation with me out of the blue last summer and it's been so fun spending the past 10 months bouncing fic ideas back and forth as well as participating in prompt challenges with you. And now you're hosting your own one! Bad Batch Themed! How great is that! :D

[doedipus]

Guilty gear fandom misogyny is so incredibly frustrating

Like you can pick any boy out of the roster and the entire fanbase is probably falling over themselves to hype them up; people pop off for their associated players' gameplay, they construct elaborate fan media that brings out the intricacies of the characters and shows off their best points, and won't take no for an answer if someone claims to not find them maddeningly attractive

But then with the girls, at best nobody cares about them besides the dedicated superfans, and at worst literally every other player only speaks the character's name to complain. They'll get nothing but vapid pinup fanart with no regard for character, if they're even on the radar at all. Whenever one of the female characters gets a buff or a player makes a good tournament run, everyone stops what they're doing to complain for a month, until they go back to largely ignoring them again. And then whenever a patch brings a new boy people convince themselves is cool, or gives an existing one significant buffs, half the players on a female character drop her to switch. It's like clockwork.

Also for some reason every male character has people headcanoning them as trans in both directions, regardless of anything about their actual characterization, but none of the not-canonically-transfem girls really get that kind of fan attention, which is disappointing. Except that one artist who thinks elphelt should be transmasc.

I think the only guilty gear girl to escape this is Bridget, by dint of being a little sweetie pie. But she's still like a purely auxiliary character to the canon, so there's not a ton to talk about besides decade old discourse, and she's underdeveloped at a top level, with the only notable reps being players who use her to try and scam opponents out of a few games before switching to their real mains once they drop one themselves. Like despite her popularity among casual fans there's still no daru for Bridget

And honorable mention to season 2 baiken, who attracted a lot of upper level players who were unsatisfied with their mains at the time, who then nearly unanimously dropped her for John or sin in S3 when it became apparent that it wasn't as easy to win with her as they initially thought

[echantedtoon]

Kiddo Week Day 6 (DLC) Nyakuza Metro/Artic Cruise

She was always a different cat from the rest of the litter.

Welcome to Nyakuza Metro where the blinding lights would bedazzle you and blind you from thievery that would take place there. Giving the city a bad rep. Giving CATS a bad rep. Fur as black as night. Claws all sharp. Faces constantly hidden behind masks. Every single cat the same except for one place. Welcome to Alpine Skyline Mountains. Where the cats were tan, wore more masks,....and were still thieves honing the mastery of cloaking magic to disappear without a trace after they nabbed your things. Thieves. Thieves. THIEVES!!! All thieves. The planet of Subcon knew of Nyakuzians and their kind. Thus after countless years of thievery and bad reputations a stigma was born. All cats were untrustworthy no matter which corner of the planet they came from. So cats were not to be trusted. And you either followed the crowd or were labeled an outsider. But what happened when one was born an outsider? Well...I guess you would get her. From the moment she was born she knew she was different. For one she wasn't even a cat at all. A human. Born and then abandoned within the city of cats. That what happened to her for as long as she could remember.

Bow was always very away she was different. It was hard not too notice when she wasn't even the same species with no fur or claws at all. Growing up in that orphan's home wasn't the greatest either in a city known for it's high crime rate especially to those of the younger age. She never knew how she came to be here or where she came from or even if she even had a family anywhere out there. She once asked, only to be told she was found on the doorstep one rough night like every other cliche kitten that she had to bunk with. At first it wasn't too bad. Some of the kittens let her play with them but it mostly things like keep away with them keeping things from her and making her always picked last or being picked on. Taking her toys and teasing about how she looked so different from the others. It stung. Stung deep. She knew she was different, but it wasn't her fault. She still liked cats. The giant cats that pulled the subways were much nicer. Always purring and letting her pet and play with them whenever she walked up to them before being scolded for holding up the trains and shooed off again only to be teased and stolen from again. She felt so...alone. It was awful. Sometimes she'd cry but it seemed like no one seemed to care. She didn't fit in at all. She didn't belong here. It was...wrong.

So that's why she ran away. In the middle of the night when everyone else was cat napping, she slipped out as crafty as any other cat burglar and slipped away into the busy streets. You didn't grow up in a city of cat burglars without learning to slip away unnoticed and pick locks. That was one thing she was thankful for at least. Street smarts could make or break you out in this crowd. But then that begged the question..Where would she go from here? She didn't want to remain here. She couldn't remain here! Nothing about here was good at all! And she couldn't last forever. No money for food or shelter and even if she did have it, it'd just be eventually taken from her anyways soon with all these thieves walking around. The idea of where to go came to her as she was passing a TV store with the many expensive looking TVs stored in the windows to be displayed. She had glanced at it glumly as she walked past but stopped upon seeing someone on the screens. Someone...Who looked LIKE HER!!! The man was no cat and wore no fur but a blue suit advertising some kind of fishing business in a far off town! Mafia Town! ...Mafia Town huh? A town full of other humans like herself? That was a good place right? It must be if there was people like her instead of cat burglars that wouldn't hesitate to steal everything including the kitchen sink.

Well there was only one way to find out.

[abloomntime]

Kiddo Week Day 2 Act 1: Mafia Town

Prompts by @kinglieste and @snatchersnatched

Prompts found here

https://at.tumblr.com/abloomntime/kinglieste-kinglieste-a-hat-in-time/gfyc7trjfxj4

********************************************************************

The air was nice. Well a lot nicer now that the entire place wasn't dripping in lava replacing the water and making everything hotter than a solar blast! She scowled as she stomped along the town known as Mafia Town. Yeah. Maybe not a really creative name but what did she expect these guys that couldn't even say the word "i" around here? Not a lot that's for sure. After all it was their fault this whole mess started in the first place. Breaking into her ship and sending her time pieces cascading down onto this planet like they freaking owned the place!..Ok. Maybe they DID own Mafia Town but not her time pieces or ship! And now after that Mustache Girl stole her time pieces and set off the lava she had to fix their mess! Fighting their boss, cleaning up he lava, dealing with their bullying, fixing time rifts here, the Boss Jar somehow breaking into her ship, and NOW she had to race against one of these guys on a firework in order to get the last time piece from here. And now that she was done here, she had better leave and move on to the next place where she could sense the presence of a time piece. After all she needed to recollect all of them before anymore fell into the wrong hands-

Wait...What was that sound?

It sounded like...crying. Turning the hatted girl started down a path that she heard the faint crying come from that lead her down between two buildings and around the corner getting louder. And louder. Until she turned a second corner and saw it. Another child with dark curly hair and a bow on her head was sitting there crying and looked to have been pushed down as a giant Mafia man stood above her looming.

"All people needs to pay toll in Mafia Town. Even little girls!," he said sternly making the crying girl cry more. "Little girl won't pay toll? Then feel Mafia's wrath!" The man pulled his arm back- Only to feel a hard slam on his head. "AH!! HEY!!"

With a swift turn of his head and his hands flying to clutch his noggin, he looked down and saw the peculiar sight of another small girl right behind him. She GLARED at the taller Mafia man before lifting her umbrella again and with inhuman strength slammed it against his side with the force of three grown Mafia. The man obviously reeling back from the hit as he choked from the air being forced outta his lungs as pain now speared from his side. Clutching his side, he went down on one knee one hand on the ground holding him up as he looked now scared at the other little girl, as she delivered another Whack to his shoulder making him fully fall flat onto his face. The bow girl blinked and gazed on shocked at what was going on before her. Too shocked to even continue crying anymore as now in fear, the man got up and began running. The little girl with the hat chasing him a few yards waving the umbrella wildly at his feet before stopping and watching the man speed off, disappearing around a corner. After a moment she huffed. Served him right picking on a kid...Oh! The girl! When she turned back around the bow girl was still there staring at her. She smiled widely and bounded up to her.

"Man. That was close. Those guys are all brawn and no brains," she said stopping right in front of her with a smile, "You ok?" She held out her hand. "Here! Lemme help you up!"

The little girl stared back at her blinking. She had purple eyes and a blue bow holding back dark curls, and now that she got a good look at her. She wore black boots, blue skirt, a white shirt, and a green coat with cat pockets and buttons on it. She continued to stare at her for the longest moment, then she finally blinked down at the hand held out to her, then back to her. Then back and forth a few more times. Before slowly reaching her own hand out, and grabbing onto hers. With a smile the Hatted child pulled her back onto her own two feet and the bow girl sniffed and wiped her face.

"T-Thank you," she finally spoke between sniffing.

She smiled back. "Hey! No problem! That guy was asking for it anyways. My name's Hattie! Who're you?"

"*sniff*.....B-Bow."

"Oh! I get it! Because you're wearing a bow right?" She didn't give her a chance to answer before looking around. "Did you get lost or something? Where's your mom and dad?"

The little girl paused for a long moment ..before shaking her head and looked down. "...No. I'm not lost. I...d-don't have any parents."

In an instant Hattie whipped to Bow with wide eyes. "Wait! YOU TOO!? Hey! I don't have parents either!" ...Bow blinked at her. "But if you're not lost where do you live? Don't tell me you live in this dumpy alley way."

Again Bow shook her head. "I don't have a home either."

Again Hattie's eyes widened. "You don't!?"

"Nuh uh. I u-used to live in Nyakuza Metro but I ran away when all the crime got worse because of the Empress. I thought thing's would be different here but..."

Hattie scowled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Backstabbing mustache girls and big blue bullies. This town SUCKS!!" And that was the truth. But she took a moment to look back to Bow for a moment. "You...really don't have anywhere to go?" Again Bow shook her head. "Oh....Hey! I know!" Her bright smile returned as she jabbed a thumb at herself. "I don't have parents but I gotta sweet spaceship and a Rumbi! I dunno anything about any Queens-"

"Empress."

"Same difference. But if you want you can come with me!"

Bow's eyes perked up. "R-REALLY!?"

"Sure!...But first, you're not gonna backstab me or betray me right?"

"Uh....No?"

Hattie nodded before reaching over and grabbing Bow's hand, making her blink as she pulled her along. "C'mon! I can take you there no problem. You're gonna like you're new home!"

[ohshy]

The challengers for my womens circuit and mens circuit respectively !!! Meet Cassidy Cornfield, the cornfield crusher under Little Mac’s training and Poppy Ollie, the Kaiser’s academy graduate !!!

More info ab them below the cut;

Name: Cassidy Cornfield Real name: Cassidy ‘“Cassie’’ C. Campbell Pronouns: She/They Age: 18 Ethnicity: Irish/Cherokee Weight: 90 lbs Height: 5’2 ft Rank: Depends on how well you play >:) Record: Refer to ‘’Rank’’ From: Farley, Iowa, USA

Bio: A huge conspiracy nut that believes she was put on this planet by the aliens to box. Or maybe they just had a very vivid dream when gauging down one too many corn cobs! Speaking of corn, she WILL talk your ear off about all the supposed ‘’proof’’ she has of alien existence, like the crop circles that show up frequently around her hometown. That being said, she IS determined to prove herself for her alien overlords, so prepare for a challenge!

Trivia: Unlike Little Mac, she had to wait a year to get her boxing license for her 18th birthday. She simply doesn't look old for her age 😔 Speaking of Mac, he is her trainer as well! Many years into the future, he adopted her, and when she showed a knack for boxing, decided to take her under her wing as his protégé. In a hypothetical Punch-out!! game, she takes on the role of challenger.

Gimmick: When charged with enough punching power, she can unleash a painful series of punches known as the ‘’Glass corn combo’’

_

Name: Poppy Ollie Real name: Oliver Blumenthal Pronouns: He/him Age: 18 Ethnicity: British/German Weight: 120 lbs Height: 5’5 Rank: Depends on how well you play >:) Record: Refer to “Rank” From: Manchester, England

Bio: this 18 year old graduate from Kaiser ‘s academy is ready for battle ! Naming himself after poppy flowers to honor his trainer Von Kaiser, he’s sure he will crush the competition in the men's circuit ! Despite the hardships he's faced and the long hard road of becoming the boxing champ, he is a bubbly young man with a lot of confidence in himself, in no part thank to his dad's n Kaiser's tremendous support. Prepare for a challenge !

Trivia:

Aside from boxing, likes soccer (manchester united supporter).

Does soccer chants before starting a match.

Speaks both English and German.

Like Cassidy, takes on the role of challenger.

More lore: He was born in Manchester, England to a British mom and a German dad. Unfortunately, his mom died suddenly when he was just 8 years old. As a result, his dad moved back to his native Berlin, Germany. Because of her death, Ollie, once a bubbly young child, becomes reclusive and insecure. His dad, vowing to boost his confidence, sends him to a boxing school, so he can keep his mind occupied, as well as “become a real man”. He ends up rly liking it, as well as having a true knack for boxing. Kaiser takes pity on the kid, for they both lost their moms at a young age. Additionally, he doesn’t like playing favorites, but he has to admit that Ollie is a bit of a favorite of his due to his dedication to the craft. This eventually leads to him becoming Ollie’s trainer.

Gimmick: Like Kaiser, he has a powerful signature move, which Ollie called the "Poppy Punch". When he's charged up enough, it can take down an opponent in one hit. But watch out, as in Title Defense the opponents can counter it, and take HIM down in one hit instead !

[concreteclouds]

Shuake Week Day 4: Bad Ending

Guess it depends who you ask whether it's the good ending or the bad ending.

[c-kiddo]

can caduceus be in cr3 so i can see some posts about he she them it pleaaase

[fluffs-n-stuffs]

Finally catching up on the Horizons episodes I missed 👍