#the little devils communicator accessory is really good in this one

[verygayandverytired]

i fucking hate playing as viola but the strider fights with her have been really awesome

[sleazysquid]

For the requests: Do you think Dabi is into any sort of piss marking? Like internal urination/golden showers, just filthy stuff that marks you as his? I've been thinking about this a lot and always kinda waver.

Smh putting me tf out with this one I’m in adoration omg. So many approaches to this it’s hard to choose one… but I really wanna fixate on the watersports, power aspect, I feel like there isn’t a lot of love out there for that sort of fetish so.. I might have gotten a little carried away with this ask…

This Is What The Devil Does (Dabi x Reader):

Word Count: 1.1k

Tags/warnings: female reader, HEAVY watersports action, a little bit of some power play happening here, scent marking, public humiliation (f receiving), established relationship, dubcon kinkplay, a little bit of dumbification and noncon pic taking at the end.

I’m definitely leaning towards Dabi being the one to bring it up at some point or finding out on accident that the both of you have a kink for it. Maybe via… starting out as a joke and peeing on you in the shower? When he’s in the comfort of your home, he’s usually kind and loving behind closed doors. In public though? He loves to treat you lower than dirt at times.

You’ve learned that at any point if you’re walking down the streets he can just pull you into an alleyway to use you as his personal, and quite beautiful, urinal. Depending on his mood he may or may not actually aim for your mouth. Not a day goes by where you’re not swallowing a few warm (sour) gulps of his urine, opting to wipe the tip clean on your hair. It’s safe to say most of his bodily fluids have been either consumed or worn as a fashion accessory now. You nearly die of embarrassment showing up to a league meeting knowing you fucking reek of his piss. It gets him off when someone asks, “god what’s that smell?” Knowing it’s you, and watching you slowly back away from group. Even through all the precautions you take, having fresh clothes to change into in your backpack, he finds out pretty quickly and snags the clothes when you’re occupied with something else before going out.

“How else are people supposed to know you’re mine? You said you were game for anything, so. I don’t see why you’re making such a sour face when I’m just doing what you asked. Besides, your tits look great when they’re in a piss soaked shirt.” He quips while tucking himself back in, lightly slapping your face before offering the same hand to help you off your knees.

Over time, Dabi’s grown confident in himself and this newfound power dynamic. You’re his and his alone. He may let the other men in the group make their snide comments towards you, but at the end of the day you’re the one covered in his scent at all times. But of course, it’s not just the power, or the embarrassment, but most of all the act itself. He gets creative, searching for more ways to incorporate piss play more and more.

What would be the ultimate conquest than to go inside? He’s contemplated back and forth about this idea— the health consequences perhaps… he does care to a degree, but how good it’ll feel to possibly both of you (but especially him). His communication isn’t the best in your relationship. Most of these bursts of kink occur spontaneously. On a normal night, he’s got you in a mating press. Your legs are a little achy from staying like that for so long. The heat from his hands inadvertently climbing up in temperature from how rough he’s fucking you. That familiar sinister smirk peaks up from the corners of his mouth.

“ ‘want me to fill you up, baby?” He questions in a low husk. The vague wording skirting around your thoroughly fucked mind.

You nod, begging him with your voice breaking with each jolt of his hips, “please fucking fill me up, I need it so bad!”

“Hah.. you asked for it..”

A sudden warmth surges through your entire body. His mouth falls open, a long sigh drawls out from the depths of his scarred chest. Eyes flittering ever so slightly from the feeling of relief, losing focus but trying to maintain contact with you. You begin squirming beneath him. This isn’t right, this shouldn’t be happening— it’s taken too far, you’ve been pretty open to everything he’s asked to try, but this is something way out of your comfort zone, something that hadn’t ever been discussed before. Clammy palms hold you down and force you to be even more of just a warm receptacle. His other hand snakes its way to your clit, forcing involuntary spurts of your orgasm follow suit; and coupled with the hot constant stream, it forces you to cum harder around his pissing cock. You feel so full from the ridiculous amount he’s letting into you. It overflows and dampens the sheets beneath you, dripping in every possible nook and fold while soiling his legs.

“It feels… so warm. I feel… so full.” You breathe out as the initial shock wears off and twists into dumbed down euphoria. You’re already so warm to him, so inviting. A personal slut who loves milking his cock for his cum, and now his piss. It’s such a strange sensation but you’re instantly fixated on it, on him, him, only him, and everything about him. You cry out his name as he empties his bladder inside your throbbing pussy, singing praises and begging him to start moving again.

“You really like it that much, huh?” Dabi’s face lights up.

“Fuck yes! Please… fuck yes!! Please start moving, I wanna feel it more, please Dabi??” Your dumbed down brain can’t even fully form sentences anymore, just little begs like a lost puppy.

You’re both in such a vulnerable state even with him having the upper hand, he can’t help but give in to your cute little pleas. His hips snap against you at a harsh tempo; creating disgusting, sopping wet noises that compete with the volume of your moans as his piss sloshes around inside you to a disgusting degree. Dabi’s not sure how long he can even last in this state anymore as you’re now fully intentionally sucking his cock in and out, creating a tight silky friction that makes him feel like he could cum at any second now. Arms outreach to him—inviting to become even closer to your body more than ever; you grip the fluffy black locks as he fixes open mouth kisses around the corners of your lips. With hands now on either side of your head, gently caressing, he chokes out beautiful breathy moans that fan over the shell of your ear as he spills hot spurts of his seed inside your spent cunt.

When he pulls out, a mixture of piss and cum flow out of your abused pussy. The filthy sight of it nearly hardens him back up. He’s tempted to try and coax another round or two out of you, but right now you look thoroughly exhausted and completely drenched in sweat. So he does what all great boyfriends do, gently lifts you up and gets you to the tub to help clean you up of course, but not before pulling out his phone to take a couple pictures. You just look too delicious and ruined to not memorialize such a feat.

3am: Dabi sent a photo to the groupchat

“I told you I’m keeping this one all to myself, you fucking creeps.”

[waalm]

ORIENTAL - FLAMENCO DANCE: CONNECTING BODY AND SPIRIT

For this edition, we are introducing WAALM’s new collaborating artist, Martinica Ferrara Strova, a talented Dancer and Choreographer from Italy.

WT: Martinica, welcome to WAALM Tribune.

MFS: My pleasure.

WT: For those who get to know you for the first time, tell us about your background?

MFS: I’m a flamenco and oriental dancer, choreographer, and teacher, from Fiano Romano, a small but friendly town near Rome, Italy. My mother and I are the artistic director of the Omphalos Cultural Center. We are specially known for our oriental dance style and artistic interpretation in Italy. Additionally, twenty years ago, my parents founded the Breath Theatre, the only theatre created for oriental dance – a legacy that I am still following and contributing. We promote a multidisciplinary approach to performance, and our choreographies are characterized by the use of various textiles, like veils, wings, fan-veils and other props. I formally studied Oriental Dance and Flamenco, first in Italy, and then in Seville, Spain.

WT: What made you become interested in this form of art, in dance?

MFS: I grow up with dance. Actually thanks to my mother, who is a dancer too, I started dancing when I was only a little girl. I can say I am perhaps fortunate to grow up with dance as my friend, and now as my main passion. To me, dance is the art of connecting body and spirit. The overwhelming feeling of freedom of movements, improvisation, and personal expressions through dance not only can improve one’s confidence, but also can encourage others to experience the same.

WT: In your view, what distinguishes you and your technique from others?

MFS: I formally studied, and still keep studying Oriental Dance and Flamenco as a professional field of art. I’m very dedicated to the Oriental-Flamenco fusion. It’s a language full of artistic possibilities, and for the past few years, I strived to improve my craft and add more and more creativity to it. My dance and its technical execution include use of props, which I inherited and learned from my mother. I often explore objects, and do my best to give them life on stage. Whether I use a fan or a veil, I make sure props are incorporated in such way that they don’t appear simply as accessories, but the essential, integral part of the scene. In my experience, that would facilitate a more passionate, intimate and elegant performance.

WT: Artistically, what is your ultimate goal? What is it that you would like to accomplish through dance?

MFS: My desire is to produce more Oriental Dance acts at the Breath Theater, and promote the study of Oriental Flamenco. To that end, I presented and performed in a number of TV shows, and even got covered in an article by Vanity Fair. Promoting Oriental Flamenco, not just as a dance, but as a field of study in performing arts is my goal.

WT: In you opinion, how dance can address social issues? Can dance be a uniter for a greater good?

MFS: Yes, absolutely. Because dance naturally brings down walls and unites people. It’s a medium which communicates in all honesty, and can immediately connect us all, no matter how strange or how far we are from each other in the world.

WT: You have been recently invited by WAALM Productions to dance and feature on a Flamenco track scored by a highly-regarded Canadian songwriter, Mosi Dorbayani. Tell us more about this project. What was your experience like, and how did you connect with his music, personally and artistically?

MFS: Yes, the music is titled: ‘Devil in Love’, which will be released in Feb. 03. 2023. From the first listening, I liked the melancholy of the composed melody, and its lively rhythm of the Rumba-Flamenco. So, I tried to embody those two energies through my choreography for the project. Artistically, I represent the project through two different frames in the video. That is. two characters framed like paintings in movement. I really enjoyed creating them. For this project, I applied make up in an uncommon way inspiration by the aesthetic of the early flamenco dancers of the forties. It was a nice experience, and I hope viewers like it too.

WT: For those who wish to follow your art, what is next?

MFS: Effective January 2023, I’ll be engaged developing a new project in Oriental Flamenco – series of solo and group performances at our theater. You can learn more about the forthcoming projects and performances through my social media sites.

WT: Martinica, thank you for attending this interview and good luck with everything.

MFS: Thanks for having me.

-------------------

Follow Martinica:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/martinica.ferrarastrova

FB: https://www.facebook.com/martinica.ferrarastrova

YouTube: @martinicaferrarastrova5216

Related Links:

Follow Mosi Dorbayani:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/mosidorbayani/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/mosidorbayani

YouTube: @mosidorbayani

WAALM's FB: https://www.facebook.com/waalmawards

[theveryworstthing]

So over on patreon Trevor asked for my take on the Addams Family and I grew up LOVING the Addams family movies so here we are. Instead of doing a straight up style interpretation, I decided to do a full on design challenge, using the characters as bases to make a black southern gothic Addams au. I actually drew the kids first, using the character bases of Wednesday and Pugsley to create some delightful kiddos I'm calling Sunday and Blanche. I of course then redesigned Gomez and Morticia into Carlisle and Mortesha.

The Addams have a very specific high aristocratic goth aesthetic (they've got a butler and nobody really works among other things) so in this re-imagining I wanted to go with vibes that run a little more middle class/upper middle class.  I thought it would be interesting to think about what would be considered weird and off-putting in an entirely different culture, and how being a big ol' goth is way less controversial than it used to be.

I tried to keep this short (HAHAHAHAHAHA) so I didn't spin off into an essay about villain coded families, black people in the horror genre, and normalcy as it pertains to social survival, but just...bits of that are in these designs and lore. Keep that in mind.

Also I made the kids twins because they've flip flopped in age so much in different media and also twins run in my family (i'm the daughter of one). And let's face it, I'm pulling a lot of their southern gothic traits from living as a southern goth so *shrug*.

10 thousand pounds of lore incoming loooooooooool.

The Parents

From the moment he saw her he knew that there was a 50/50 chance of him either never making it out of that swamp alive or marrying the figure that was creeping out from under the distant willow tree in a black cocktail dress. The third time she found him trussed up in one of her traps, he complimented her rope work and asked if she'd like to go out sometime after his head wound stopped bleeding.

Or while it was still bleeding.

If she was into that.

Some kids and a mysteriously burnt down Piggly Wiggly later, their love is still as strong and inescapable as a bear trap in a sink hole.

Carlisle Guillermo (now Addams through marriage but I wanted to give him two first names for a name since Gomez has two last names) makes a vaguely described living practicing ‘law’ around town. A loophole king, people come to him from miles around with contracts signed in blood, fights over chunks of hair buried in their rivals’ yard, dehydrated primate hands, memories that seemed like dreams until the evidence of their happenings became too real, and other regular Legal Items asking for counsel which he is all too happy to give. For a price. Sometimes that price is a homemade pie and sometimes it’s a million dollars, depends on who you are. Whatever you’re asked to pay it’s worth that price, and if you try to scam him out of work or he just plain doesn’t like you? Well. He knows how to twist a contract better than anything at the crossroads.

And he always gets his due.

He doesn’t just serve the local (living)humans though, there are many things that need proper legal representation in this day and age. You wouldn’t believe how many city councils try to build on sacred burial grounds even after he lets them know that his ghostly clients are totally gonna haunt the FUCK out of the ensuing shitty condos and curse their families for all eternity. At least 50% of his energy goes towards dealing with real estate bullshit.

Carl is an excitable and good natured(?) man who loves his family, cigars, dancing, and his many knife-based hobbies. People find him very charming once they get past the feeling that they’re talking to a sultry gator badly disguising itself as a human. I didn’t put a ton of deep thought into designing him, mostly I wanted to make a middle aged dude who looked like he would have been voted ‘most likely to smooch the literal devil’ in high school. Tbh he probably has, but no demonic ex’s can compare to his lovely wife~

Mortesha Addams(her name was already perfect so I just tweaked it)is a woman of many talents. A self proclaimed homemaker, she prides herself on a greenhouse full of Concerning Foliage, a beautiful wasp apiary, and a coop full of what are probably chickens that she keeps for what are probably eggs. She’s also an avid creator of the outsider art that can be seen around the estate. She has taken on the family business of selling her homemade goods in a little stall by the road just outside the swamp with her mom, and makes pretty good money doing so. A surprising amount of poison gets bought in quaint southern towns.

Speaking of poison, people who come out to the edge of the swamp to buy it are usually carrying a lot of secrets around, and Mortesha knows most of them. It’s not like she pries the truth out of people, it just so happens that many nervous hellos eventually turn into the tragic backstory power hour if she’s alone with a client for long enough. She supposes that’s just how people are. Despite the fact that the Addams are very active in the community (whether the community likes it or not) she especially, as a direct descendant of the first Addams matriarch, is seen as…Well not an outsider because the community feels A Certain Way about outsiders and despite it all the Addams are their people, but maybe something like an exception. They feel like whatever weirdness they’re hiding can’t be weirder than any given Addams, so they get a little loose with their words.

This is amusing to her, since Addams’ don’t naturally keep the kind dramatic secrets that their surface level prim and proper neighbors do. It’s much more fun to openly talk about those things.

Do they have a sadly decrepit yet terrifying grandma up in the attic? Yeah, like three. They got a tv, all the creepy porcelain dolls they could want, and they’re close to family. Where do you keep your gram-grams?

Any bodies buried on the property? Yeah some, but most are thrown to the gators.

Any creeping through the balmy summer night with ill intentions? Yeah dude, everyone loves a nice family stroll.

What about dangerous forbidden love? If an adult Addams isn’t incorporeal then they’re either queer or in a torrid romance with some person/thing mysteriously drawn to that awful swamp. Sometimes both at the same time. Most times actually.

Mortesha would know.

The current head of the Addams family is just as outgoing as her husband but a lot quieter and harder to read. She never really seems to get mad about much and always has a genteel smile for everyone whether they deserve it or not. A seven foot tall human shaped “Oh, bless your heart”. A perfectly composed Lady even when she’s, oh I dunno, burning down a Piggly Wiggly. You know. A regular southern mom. Chat her up at the hair salon for 50% off a jar of wasp honey with your next purchase of a mysterious but foreboding packet of herbs.

Designing her was pretty easy because I just drew a lankier Grace Jones and called it a day. I had some problems with her outfit simply because if we were going HARD southern gothic then she’d probably be wearing a white/cream dress with a fuller skirt but I thought keeping the silhouette and the black was more important. She’s supposed to be an anti southern gothic southern gothic character anyway. A woman who looks like she has a million secrets who is actually the most open person you could meet. For better or worse. The red hair came from a coloring error that I really ended up liking (my mom had red hair her whole childhood that only darkened up in high school so I can buy that an Addams can be naturally fire engine red) and the veil was to get more of that classic Morticia silhouette in there.

The Children

Sunday and Blanche are the twin children of Carlisle and Mortesha Addams. Some say the Addams clan got their cursed homestead when a wealthy local businessman made a deal with the devil and lost, leaving his grand mansion to his least favorite maid and cutting his losses once he realized that the swamp would do everything it could to drag the house into the water and take what was owed with its horrible curse. Others say that the family has just always squatted there and no one really cares because man, fuck that particular swamp. Have you been in there? Absolute horror show.

Anyway.

Blanche is the more outgoing sibling and quite the engineer/mad scientist in the making. He started going grey at 2 weeks old but considering he was also rocking some extra fingers, toes, and a tiny tail (he takes after his dad), his parents just put it on the 'not life threatening' pile and decided not to worry about it. He's the kind of smart that teachers find utterly infuriating, less a dog eagerly learning and obeying commands and more a hyena who keeps teaching itself how to pick locks. He has a few friends in his school's robotics club (which they honestly allowed him to make so the school could contain his... creations) but mostly hangs out with his sister exploring the swamp. They find all sorts of neat things in there! wedding rings, suspiciously lumpy garbage bags, cloaked cultists who can't read private property signs, it's an adventure every day!

Blanche is all about experimentation with his creations, his look, and his tether to this mortal coil. Is lipstick a cool thing to try? Let's find out. Can he get out of a strait jacket fast enough after being pushed into the depths of the swamp by his sister? let's find out. He's not dead yet and confused local doctors can attest to the fact that he's rarely attained more than a bad bruise so he's pretty set on continuing to kiss rattlesnakes on their cute little heads and have his sister practice her knife throwing at him until that fact changes.

Blanche is very much a country goth. Cowboy boots (customized by his mom), knife, and lighter are daily accessories. He likes to wear the crusty swamp jewelry they find (the rust adds a splash of color!) and despite appearances he does try to keep himself neat. He's just got  natural Grunge Colors and a tendency to wear clothes he likes until they fall apart. Pugsley always seemed the most modernly styled to me (which might just be because little boys clothes have been the same for a long time) so I wanted Blanche to be the most purposely fashionable Addams. Everyone else is goth by nature, but he's the only one truly familiar with goth as an alternative fashion.

I got really into designing Blanche because honestly, I find Pugsley to be the most boring member of the family. And he was hard to design! I had to mess with his vibe a lot to get him looking how I wanted. I know he's supposed to evoke an " 'evil' little boy next door who's parents never reign him in", but that's just goth Dennis The Menace.  I's 2020. We can at least go queer goth Calvin.

Sunday was much easier to design. Wednesday was my favorite as a child (of course) and I really wanted to keep the spirit of her look while adding things like billowy sleeves (it gets HOT down here), big poofy twists instead of braids, and a nice tie. She's a professional after all, been running the local pet cemetery since she was 6 and the previous groundskeeper met with an unfortunate accident after telling her that tarantulas don't have souls. Her specialty is creating beautiful naturalistic animal funerals similar to those that Maquenda (https://linktr.ee/artofmaquenda) makes, and she takes pride in creating miniature dioramas of her subjects after each burial which she uses as a kind of 3D catalog for future clients.

She really wants to try out her skills on humans one day. Well. Publicly try out her skills. Lotta random bodies float into the swamp. None of them have turned down her requests for diorama models so far. Most seem downright flattered. Plus, she usually figures out which graveyard/crime scene they floated over from and gets her parents to give them a lift back. She'll even help enact terrifying revenge from beyond the grave on whoever put them there if she's not, y'know, busy.

Besides arts, crafts, and pet based funerary arrangements, Sunday is an avid lover of archery (any ranged weapon really), books where little fantasy adventure animals die dramatic deaths, and history. She is That Kid who eagerly raises her hand when asked who Christopher Columbus was and ends up being sent out of class after 15 minutes for making 'a scene'. Her favorite party trick is just picking an item in the room and talking about how it relates to either some obscure historical figure with a buck wild life or a horrible disaster. At least one charity pancake breakfast ended with children in tears after her vivid description of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

Social-wise, while Wednesday is the girl that people ask to smile because they think she'd, "look so pretty", Sunday is rarely asked anything at all. People just kind of assume from her quiet nature (in between horrible history facts) that she's angry all the time and that she hates everyone. This is untrue. She hates some people but she's ambivalent to most everyone else and even downright friendly if you bother to talk to her like a person instead of a terrifying cryptid. Like, she IS a terrifying cryptid but she's also a little girl.  

That’s about it for now. One day I might do the other family members but for now I’m happy with the four I’ve redesigned. Making an au! Lurch in a family that doesn’t do butlers could be interesting. Over on patreon I put forth that he could just be Motesha’s mute little brother (similar bone structure) but Amy Crook had the nice idea of quote: “ a mysterious "cousin" that "helps around the house" whose origins are both long in the past and faintly unsettling. He's good for lifting heavy things, like that tank of propane you're about to throw into the burning Piggly Wiggly... “ which i now consider canon. Who's kid is he? How old is he? Not important. Anyone willing to commit arson with you is family.

Annnnyway.  This challenge was a lot of fun! I love indulging in AU’s.

[dduane]

Hey, I just wanted to tell you that your Young Wizards books were what got me interested in reading when I was a kid. I don't think I would have ever read as much as I did if I didn't stumble onto them when I was ten or eleven. A few days ago I finished my first novel. I didn't even know you were on tumblr or like, accessible by a peon like me, but I wanted to say thank you. Your stories have been really influential to me and I appreciate you a lot. My favorite is probably Wizard's Holiday.

:) Thank you SO MUCH for letting me know about this.

...All of us have days when (despite how busy we are, working or whatever) we lean back at some point and rest our heads on the chair behind us and let out one of those little breaths that sound like a moan, and say, under our breath, "What. Even. Is. the POINT." Because we wonder whether our work makes the slightest damn difference whatsoever.

So (as this has been one of those days, for no readily discernibly reason) THANK you for letting me know. :)

(Now, of course, there's another part of my brain, the Routine Cynicism Dep't, that's saying, "Oh yeah, you should congratulate yourself now, by all means, for dropping someone else into the same lava flow where you've been thrashing around for forty years." ...Yet the sensible response is: "I didn't hold a gun to your head and make you do that." [helpless laughter] ...Reading made you do that. I am no better than an accessory to the crime... if reading and writing are a crime. The jury—even among readers, depending on whether they like what you did last—is out.)

I can only congratulate you (in a wry and helpless way) on your entry into the damndest line of work there ever was. (For certain values of "work". You may not want to make money at it, but you're a laborer in this vineyard now, poor baby...) You get to do this work in between all the other (theoretically) more worthwhile things you could be doing. If you don't already know, you'll soon find out: It pays badly. As a writer, you will be on the hustle all your working life. You will discover that working harder does not necessarily guarantee you a better result. (Though working less may sometimes produce a better one... if your brain needed more twisting out of shape.) You will also discover that actually producing a better result does nothing to improve your quality of life. And as a side effect: you'll discover that if you had an "honest job" shoveling shit or some such, your relatives would/will give you less grief. If you decide to make this line of work your career, you will spend the rest of your life, on and off, trying to convince those around you that it's worth something.

Yet you'll always know it is. You have a superpower: the ability to get into other people's brains, and (for good or ill) to cause them to see the world the way you're seeing it. Use this power wisely, for (as Stan Lee had our mutual young friend say) "With great power comes great responsibility", and you must always think about how people's view into your mindset can be caused to be of use to them: and to be of good use. (You are, naturally, always allowed to have FUN doing this. Jeez but what kind of world would it be otherwise. Joy is a powerful aid to communication. Never be afraid to have fun while doing the Work.)

So: Go forward. Go boldly. Fear nothing. Tell your truth, and shame the Devil. Your readers will thank you.

Also: (a) You are nobody's peon. Of all of us laboring in this vineyard together, some of our backs have more years' weight shaping their vertebrae: but that's all. (b) Some of the best work writers get done is on holiday. The same with wizards. :)

[spicysoftsweet]

Chapter 9

Masterlist

tw character death

Mitsuya was used to listening to crying, comfortable even. It was a normal human response after all, and his sisters cried all the time.

But Kumi cried in a very odd way he wasn’t exactly prepared for. Without warning, in the middle of a conversation about her and his plans for high school and beyond, tears had started to run down her cheeks and her speech had paused for a moment, before she continued to speak as though nothing had happened.

She wiped her tears with the back of her hand as though she’d simply sprung a leak, and promptly continued, her voice wobbling a little, but still smiling.

“I-if I at least stay in T-Tokyo after graduation, we can still be friends even if we don’t go to the same high school, right?”

He furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why wouldn’t we stay friends?” He asked, confused.

She grinned widely from across the low table in his home, her eyes shining still.

“Promise you won’t get tired of me.”

Mitsuya looked at Kumi’s obvious forced smile and wondered if Toman was the only thing Baji had dropped. His behavior was stranger than usual definitely, but maybe he was really just showing his true colors. Even if defecting to an opposing gang was unreasonable (even by Baji standards), Baji and Kazutora had always been terribly close, and if Kazutora changed, so could the latter.

“I won’t,” he replied.

He, like Mikey, didn’t want to end up fighting his friend, but he wouldn’t mind landing one solid punch for good measure.

---

“I don’t know if I wanna be an angel this year,” Kumi mused as she walked out of the convenience store down the street with her best friend trailing closely behind her. She unwrapped a lollipop, sighing before popping it into her mouth. “You get to look cute and sexy in the devil costume and I’m probably going to look like a nun,” she pouted.

Kaksi took the bag of discounted pre-Halloween candy from her and fished for a milk chocolate bar, unwrapping it for a bite.

“We can trade if you want.”

Kumi turned to her with surprise, but Kaksi grinned appropriately devilishly.

“But you won’t look scary at all, so how can you be a devil?” With that, she held the bar in her teeth and squished Kumi’s cheeks, causing the latter to frown and swat away at her hands.

“Stop!” She whined.

Kaksi laughed louder, which led to her chocolate falling to the ground which had her gasp in dismay.

“Karma,” Kumi pretend-disguised the remark with a loud cough, wincing as Kaksi gave her a slap on the shoulder, then giggled back. “Don’t worry, you can have mine.”

“As I deserve,” Kaksi said, then glanced at her watch. “We should head there quickly, the store will close soon.”

“Mm.”

The girls managed to find their way to the corner shop and picked out their outfits, taking pictures together as they tried their accessories, a white halo for Kumi and a pair of red devil horns for Kaksi.

“You didn’t want to trade?” Kaksi asked, looking through their pics on her flip phone as they walked home, shopping bags in hand. “We can still swap if you want.”

Kumi shook her head.

“My parents are already being too lenient by letting me go out for the parade tomorrow in the first place, so putting on leather on top of that will probably be pushing it,” she said, with a dramatic sigh.

Kaksi laughed.

“You know, for a moment I was wondering if you’d change being around gang members for so long, but it seems like you’re still a goody two-shoes after all.”

Kumi smiled in response but her smile was a little less bright this time, and Kaksi frowned. She’d almost gotten over the sting of Kazutora essentially breaking things off with her but she had to remember that Kumi’s situation was still fresh in her heart.

An idea suddenly popped into her head, and she grabbed Kumi’s hand suddenly, turning around to face her.

Kumi’s eyes widened as Kaksi’s beamed.

“Hey, we’re gonna be friends forever, right? A pair, you and me, right?’.

Kumi nodded slowly in agreement, not exactly sure where Kaksi was getting at. Of course, she was her best friend.

“So… I think we should make a pact,” she proposed.

“What kind of pact?”

The sun was starting to set, pinker than usual, and with the wind picking up in that late October evening, Kumi had the feeling that whatever Kaksi was about to say next would be terribly poignant. She found herself holding her breath, as Kaksi continued.

“When we’re old maids later on in life, we should just buy a huge house in the woods and live together. We can get dogs and cats and make a garden where we grow our own food and not worry about any mean losers that just fight all the time. We’ll buy lots of books and play music all day and you can do all the cooking because I hate cooking but it’ll be amazing. What do you think?”

Kumi’s smile was genuine this time. She clasped her other hand over Kaksi’s warm ones.

“It sounds amazing.”

Maybe Kaksi was the only person she really needed after all, Kumi thought.

---

Even if Kumi was trying to focus on literally anything else aside from Baji, there was a small part of her that still worried about the tension brewing between the Tokyo Manji gang and Valhalla, and the thought of another brawl landing him or even Mitsuya in the hospital seemed to haunt her. It didn’t help that Mitsuya had told her that there would be ‘Toman business’ on the afternoon of Halloween and so he’d have to pass on going to the parade with her and Kaksi. She had insisted that they could all go, and he’d told her that there was something big, without really giving her additional details.

Big was not good when it came to gangs.

All day Kumi dwelled on it until she felt that she had to say something by the time lunchtime rolled around, starting with a long sigh to feign nonchalance.

“So I know we’re not supposed to discuss they-who-must-not-be-named anymore,” she started, stopping abruptly when Kaksi raised her eyebrow at her, “but I feel like something bad’s gonna happen.”

“Like what?” Kaksi asked, barely looking up from her plate.

Kumi frowned.

“I don’t know, Mitsuya wouldn’t really tell me but supposedly they’re preparing for something today and with all that’s going on it seems like it might be a bigger deal this time,” she continued. At this point, Kaksi’s curiosity must have been piqued because she finally looked at her then propped her face up by her elbow on the table.

A slight embarrassment ran over Kumi when she considered how obvious it was that she was still worried about Baji despite the fact that he’d been awful to her, while her friend seemed to take everything in stride.

While Kaksi seemed to be thinking, Kumi decided instead to content herself with spoonfuls of rice.

“Maybe I am nosy,” she laughed out loud for a moment once a couple minutes passed. She considered the idea of showing up again, in front of Baji who probably only found her annoying by now, and she considered that the idea of being chased away a second time was too much to bear. Maybe if she didn’t annoy him, she could pretend that they hadn’t really broken up, just drifted apart. That would work, wouldn’t it?

“Well I’m curious now,” Kaksi said, rising suddenly.

Kumi remembered this exact scenario from just a couple days ago and immediately regretted saying anything.

“Actually maybe this time we shouldn’t-” she began.

“It’s just information. We don’t have to do anything about it,” Kaksi insisted. Kumi agreed.

“Let’s try to ask someone after school.”

...

The school seemed to empty out before either girl could corner a single person. It was odd really, and when they reunited from their different classes, both grimaced as they realized they had absolutely no intel for each other.

Despite the nagging feeling in the back of her mind, Kumi went home to prepare for the evening parade after separating from Kaksi at her house. Walking the rest of the way, she contemplated further the idea of getting over her feelings completely, reanalyzing nearly all of their interactions over the past couple of years to determine what she had missed. This only made her sadder, and by the time she was nearly at her door, she was holding back sniffles.

She hated the fact that she cried so easily.

Not paying attention to where she was going, she found herself running into another boy her age, surprised when she realized it was Yamagishi of all people, one of Takemitchi’s friends that she’d seen a couple times but not really interacted with.

“Oh my gosh, sorry!”

Yamagishi looked at her in surprise.

“Kumi-chan, what are you doing here?”

She tilted her head, surprised by the question, pointing to her house a few paces away.

“I live here?”

Yamagishi’s face turned a deep shade of red, and he laughed nervously.

“Ah, yes… well, it was nice to run into you,” he said, politely, dashing in the opposite direction.

Kumi thought about the weird encounter and considered shrugging her shoulders and going on her way, but then she stopped in her tracks, and ran back to catch up to him.

“Hey!”

Yamagishi stopped, surprised and looked at her in surprise. Kumi faltered a little, phrasing the question, then blurted out, “you know a lot about gang stuff, right?”

Yamagishi scratched his head sheepishly but was clearly pleased. “Yeah, of course. I can literally tell you anything!”

Kumi nodded. “Have you heard about anything big happening tonight? With Tokyo Manji or…?” She didn’t outright say Valhalla, but it was the more pressing question for her.

Yamagishi furrowed his brow.

“Toman’s going to have a huge fight today, if it hasn’t already started…”

Kumi held her breath.

“Where?”

“There’s an old junkyard. I considered going just to see, just because I know it would be crazy, but my parents wanted me home unless I’d get in trouble. They’re going against Valhalla, everyone in the delinquent community knows about it.”

Her heart thumped, and she immediately went ahead to send a text to Kaksi to meet up with her immediately.

“Please tell me where it is.”

---

By the time the girls made it (with multiple wrong turns) to the junkyard, where there were even more people than the Valhalla hideout those couple days before, the fight was more than half over.

At least in sheer numbers,the crowd had already started to thin from Valhalla’s 300, including Baji, Kazutora, and the tall, lanky and obnoxious-sounding boy the girls would later know to be Hanma, and Toman’s 150, including Mikey, the source of all their problems, Kisaki and the rest of the gang they knew well. There were enough bruises and injuries and unconscious boys to go around, and while Kumi and Kaksi froze in space, their eyes quickly scanned the crowd for those that they cared about the most.

The first thing Kumi saw in the distance upon arrival - what they both saw - was the knife in Baji’s hands.

A knife that was raised to the heavens, loud words that sounded like nonsense to her tumbling out of his mouth, and a bold smile on his face.

What is he-

Before Kumi could even process the situation further, or even take account of the other bodies in the junkyard, Baji plunged that very knife straight into his abdomen.

And her heart stopped.

“Kei!”

Maybe his eyes widened for a moment as he searched for her voice, and he did finally see her running towards him, as he collapsed immediately into Chifuyu’s arms who were closer, stronger and faster.

He hadn’t factored this into his move.

In fact he’d thought about what he was doing but he hadn’t really thought at all, had he? Just doing whatever it took to save Kazutora.

Making his death matter.

Bambi, I…

“Kei!” Kumi screamed again, crying this time as she ran, until she found herself intercepted by Mitsuya who saw her run into the fray in time and held her back.

“Let me go!” She shrieked.

Mitsuya said nothing, but held on to her with all his strength, arms tightening as he turned her away, as her screams mixed with Chifuyu’s.

“Someone call an ambulance! Someone stop the bleeding! Please let me,” she sputtered and choked for a moment, losing the ability to breathe. “Let me help him!”

There was nothing she could do. Mitsuya’s grip was like iron and his hold felt like betrayal, and as she watched Baji, turned away from her while he said his final words, her stomach writhed in despair.

Her voice seemed to die in her throat.

“P-please let me go,” she continued helplessly, knowing that Mitsuya wouldn’t give in even for a second, and once she had lost the strength to scream hysterically any longer and her legs grew unsteady, he allowed her to fall to her knees and double over in sobs.

This was cruel, Mitsuya thought, but he could see that Kazutora and Mikey’s standoff was escalating and she couldn’t be in the middle.

Kaksi covered her mouth as she took in Baji’s corpse in turn and it seemed as though time had gone to a stand still until she heard the sickening crunch of Mikey’s knuckles connecting with Kazutora’s jaw.

“I’ll kill you!”

The words came out of Mikey’s mouth, repeated like a mantra and with them, his punches were heavy and relentless; Kaksi could sense the immediate intent to kill.

She couldn’t pretend she didn’t understand why. Kumi was curled into a ball beside her and within Mitsuya’s reach, still sobbing inconsolably while Chifuyu’s eyes clearly went in and out of focus, staring at his friend’s body. She could see the subtle pain behind Mikey’s voidless eyes.

Mikey was absolutely going to kill him.

Her feet moved on their own, faster than she had ever done before, dodging the arms that attempted to stop her. Kaksi could feel her heart racing and her stomach turning at the sight of her ex-boyfriend’s blood being splashed onto the floor. She couldn’t understand why no one was stopping them.

Baji…

Baji had just injured himself and this fight needed to end. So she didn’t think twice, loudly screaming at them to stop before getting in between Kazutora and Toman’s leader. She faced Mikey while her ex-boyfriend was shielded by her back, even though she was slightly smaller than him and much weaker.

The look in Mikey’s eyes was one she had never seen before. She shivered, realizing in what position she had just put herself in. But Kaksi couldn’t turn back now. The fury in his eyes spoke for him and she was unsure about what would happen to her at that moment. Takemichi stood behind while Chifuyu was still focused on Baji’s cold body in his arms. He watched the scene unfold, holding his breath but thankful that the girl had been quick to act.

“Get out of my way,” Mikey told her in an icy voice.

“Mikey, ple-”

Kaksi’s eyes widened as she felt Mikey’s strong hold on her. She let out a whimper as she felt herself pushed to the side, violently falling onto the ground. Everyone surrounding them watched in shock as Mikey aimed for Kazutora again. Takemichi took a step forward but to his relief, Kaksi was standing up again.

The pain from her fall was still present but she didn’t hesitate to run over to Mikey again, this time wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling him back as hard as she could. He hit her once with his elbow and she cried out, unsure about being able to take another hit. Unfortunately, Kaksi only managed to put him off balance slightly despite being taller than Mikey and giving it all her strength.

The second hit she received had her fall back down, her hands as well as her knees covered in blood and dirt. That hurt, her breathing was heavier this time and she took a moment before standing up again. But the sight of Kazutora’s bloodied face and the sound of Mikey’s knuckles meeting bones was too much.

“Stop!” she screamed again, even louder than the first time, throwing her body in between the two boys again.

The sound of Draken’s voice calling out the girl’s name could be heard as his eyes followed Mikey’s fist but it was too late. Takemichi cried out watching her take a direct hit for Kazutora. Kaksi wanted to scream, the blunt force stronger than anything she had ever felt before but the sounds were caught in her throat as she found herself unable to breathe. She stumbled backwards. Mikey, stunned by the sight of her falling from his blow instead of Kazutora, stayed immobile.

What have I done?

Takemichi caught the girl in his arms, preventing her from hitting the ground, clearly unable to stand anymore. Horror took over Kazutora instantly as he watched her limp body, the pain probably too much for her to have withstood. He stepped forward, fury taking over him again at the sight of his unconscious darling.

Mikey didn’t move, eyes glued to her as Takemichi slapped her face gently in an attempt to wake her up. He didn’t mean to hurt her, he was aiming at Kazutora. He would never ever hit Kaksi, he thought as guilt washed over him. He would never hit a girl, and especially not this girl, his friend, or maybe more.

“You fucking asshole!” Kazutora yelled his fist connecting with Mikey’s jaw for the first time after a while.

The pain brought Toman’s leader back to his senses and it was instinctively that he blocked Kazutora’s next move. Takemichi watched once again, anger taking over him this time. They couldn’t be serious. He screamed out of frustration for Kaksi who couldn’t, Kumi who was still held back by Mitsuya and everyone surrounding them.

“What the fuck do you think Baji died for and Kaksi took that punch for?”

Kazutora’s eyes filled with tears as he looked over to his best friend’s corpse and his ex-girlfriend’s unconscious form. Mikey was about to argue but Takemichi cut him off, getting impatient now.

“He died for Toman! He died for you two, god damn it!”

Takemichi’s tears fell onto Kaksi as he gently moved her body, taking off his jacket hurriedly to put it under her head before walking over to the two boys fighting. But as the piece of clothing was folded, the charm Takemichi had kept with him fell, catching Mikey’s attention.

“Kazutora didn’t kill him!” he continued. “He killed himself because he didn’t want Kazutora to feel responsible! Because he wanted you to forgive Kazutora!”

Takemichi stopped for a moment, the sobs racking his body making it hard for him to speak.

“Everything Baji did,” he said. “He did it because he loved you guys! Why can’t you understand this?”

Kazutora found himself unable to move, too many conflicting emotions taking over him while Mikey kneeled, picking up the charm that was sent flying. He examined it carefully before asking Takemichi where he had found it. Then Mikey’s eyes widened in shock as the founding members of Toman realized who it belonged to and what it represented. He couldn’t help the tears blurring his vision at the realisation of what they had just lost and at what cost exactly. For a moment Mikey reminisced, brought back to Toman’s founding day.

“I didn’t create Toman,” he explained. “Baji did.”

Kumi, who had thought she didn’t have any more tears to cry, felt a new wave wash over her as her shattered heart ached harder. The emptiness she felt, piercing through everyone who had known Baji.

If one of us gets hurt, we’ll all protect them. I want a gang that’s all for one, and one for all.

They could all picture Baji saying those words, whether they had been there or not to witness it two years ago and at that moment everyone found that they couldn’t muffle the sounds of their pain anymore.

There was a pause that hung heavy, impregnated with tears, but where they all remained unmoving, as they considered everything that had been said.

Kumi stirred finally, wiping her tears, and turned to look at Mitsuya. He eyed her carefully, his own eyes no longer dry, and in a voice that sounded too pained to be speaking, she begged for a chance to move.

“It’s safe now, right? I’m not interfering anymore.”

Without waiting for an answer, she rose and walked over slowly to where Chifuyu still held her first crush, love, whatever she would call it. Chifuyu didn’t look up as she knelt down across from him and placed her head against Baji’s chest, her heart sinking as she couldn’t hear a heartbeat. Throat drying up, she might have deluded herself into imagining something, anything where there should be a sound, so instead she lifted her head quickly, and gently slapped him on the face.

“Wake up,” she whispered. She tapped his face again with her open palm, again trying to ignore how unnaturally cold his cheek was on contact.

She took a deep breath again, then thumped his chest again, a little harder this time. She knew very well that this was futile, and if anything she was upsetting Chifuyu even more, who had started to shake, but she was going to do this. She had to do this.

“Wake up, the fight is over and you’ll be fine. Someone called an ambulance and you need to get checked, but it’ll be okay.” She paused, and bit her lower lip.

She reached over to untie his ponytail, letting the hair tie sit on her wrist. As luck would have it, this one she recognized; he had borrowed it from her. She swallowed hard, as she ran a hand through his hair.

“Kumi, he’s-” Chifuyu started then stopped once she cut him off sharply.

“I know.”

Despite this, she still shook him.

“I forgive you for being mean, okay? We still have dates and movies to go to,” she leaned in closer to whisper in his ear, as though that was the reason why he wasn’t responding to her, not the fact that he was no longer breathing.

“I’ll learn how to make that yakisoba you like. Your mom promised to teach me before, remember? It won’t be as good but you have to promise to eat everything.”

“Kumi,” Chifuyu repeatedly her name softly, and she swallowed a sob but kept talking to the dead boy before her.

“I never gave you those chocolates I owe you, remember? You can’t die before I do that.”

As she said this, the tears she’d thought had run out just earlier seemed to replenish and she buried her face into his jacket and finally let herself weep fully, her arms around him.

“You’re so fucking mean, Baji Keisuke.”

[shanie-the-toyaddict]

Shanie’s Action Figure Update 5/26/2021 Part 1 (The Backlog)

Top Row: Firefly Fun House Bray Wyatt (Ringside Collectibles Exclusive) Second Row:  Elite 74 Andrade, Elite 83 King Corbin Third Row: Top Picks Elite Roman Reigns, Bottom Row: Basic 116 Sheamus, Cave Woman April O’Neil

Hey, so I forgot to post this last month???

Anyway, I had all the photos taken and edited, but it appears I forgot to make the actual post for the update. The folder is labeled “4/17” so that’s when it was intended to be done but there’s no listing of a post on my tumblr from then, so I guess I never followed through. Just like me, never follow through, LOL.

Anyway, a couple quick thoughts.

The FFH Bray is universally agreed in the community to be trash. No really, it’s a hated figure. The only reason to buy this box set is it’s (as of 5/26) the only way to get Abby, Mercy, and Rabbit. You can get the Devil Vince puppet from the new RSC Exclusive NWO John Cena (which I WILL be getting once it goes down in price a bit) but the other three are still exclusive to this set. Oh, and there IS a Huskus the Pig Boy puppet, but he came with a different Elite Bray which had a huge, production-run-wide factory defect and I will NOT be getting. However, I did buy Huskus loose recently and at some point when I open the set shown here, I will take photos of Bray with all his friends.

If anyone is curious, the best FFH bray to date is Basic 111.

The Andrade I didn’t even want. Not a big Andrade fan, I literally bought this figure for the mask accessory which I want to use on an artsy Sami Zayn custom.

Also already posted photos of King Corbin. He’s awesome. A bit short, but the likeness is amazing, and I love the robe and crown. So good.

The Top Picks Roman I already showed. I like him a lot but of *course* by the time I got around to buying a Ro figure, he changed his look. Naturally. Oh well.

Basic 116 Sheamus is there because I really wanted a Sheamus figure but they haven’t made an Elite Sheamus that I like yet. (Except King Sheamus which good luck affording THAT figure...). So, I settled on a Basic for now. It fills the gap.

Cave Woman April isn’t really important, but I figured I’d show her anyway. Funny story, when I was a wee little kid, I collected the original TMNT figures. I wanted them all, but it got to be too much so I decided I would just collect the April figures. I never finished that collection, and now I’m trying to go back and fill in the ones I never owned. This was my first one to add. Hopefully more come along soon.

Well, that concludes part ONE of tonight’s action figure update. Stay tuned for Part Two, coming later this... morning? I don’t know. I just woke up.

[marie-lamb-b]

Good Night

He... really... needed a good night sleep...

Heya, @a-rae-of-sunshine!! See it didn’t took too long? ^3^ (Nope, this is Not my revenge. That will come with those things I asked you on DM)

But, I had the idea stuck, and there’s only one way to take ‘em off, so~

BTW, sorry. I have no idea how this ended as something upper than 3K words when I thought this wouldn’t take longer than 1.5K or so. I have no idea how do that happen .-.

Anyways, I still hope you enjoy this!!! ^O^

‘Alright, you can do this Bendy.’ The humanized demon thought, encouraging himself. This was it, this was the night. He couldn’t keep this hidden any longer.

Anyways, it’s not like James didn’t know. He did. He always did (much for the demon’s embarrassment), but he had never seen him like that– alright, bad analogy for the blind man. But still, the last time he was like this before him was when they were kids– or younger, for the demon’s standards; just short enough to pass like any other kid– and with a lot of cloth on him like coat, scarf, hat and rain boots to make him look like any other child around.

But now, both grown up, dating each other, deciding to take the big step and spend the night together, Bendy was becoming so nervous around him, fearing to simply doze out and return to that little demonic shape he really was all the while James would hug him, cuddle him, feeling him and that change of size, of shape, of texture... Bendy couldn’t fall asleep next to him; he hadn’t had a proper night sleep since then, and that was starting to take its toll during daytime.

He started to nod while in classes, about to fall asleep. Focus on whatever the teacher was saying became a harder task as days passed by. Somehow he was thankful of some of his classmates that would nudge him awake, but he had found himself in the end of the last class of the day, late at the evening, that he simply blacked out like a light, all alone, until at least James would appear around the door looking for him, waking him up with his sweet concerned voice– quick enough to turn back to be Ben before he could reach for him. Those accidents were turning more and more frequent, and it was a matter of time for him to be unable to react on time, giving away his façade of a normal human being in the middle of the class, in the middle of the campus.

He needed to sleep. He couldn’t keep like this any longer. Besides, it was James he was thinking about. He knew. He just had to show himself the way he already knew.

He took some more time to glance the image in front of him through the mirror, shifting back and forth between those two shapes he was known for; the average boy of pale skin and dark hair, and the one he was used to be called as ‘the little devil darling’. He was doing so, shifting back and forth, ignoring his tiredness and taking over all his differences as he hadn’t done in so long.

The height was the most notorious one; weren’t for him being stood on a stepstool he would barely see the top of his horns through the mirror. Although the upper half of his forehead was missing from view when in his human form on the stepstool.

And that place above him was another difference; where as human he had dark, soft hair that his boyfriend liked to playfully ruffle every once in a while, as a demon he had, well, demon horns; pointy, stiff, not fluffy like hair. And even though as a human he fixed it so it would resemble his natural horns, they were just not the same.

And his face, yeah, both forms resembled a pale tone proper of a paper-like skin, but the lack of ears, nose and neck, and such an unnatural wide grin were a stark contrast.

Even more, where his human face held two dark brown eyes behind some fluttering lids, as a demon he had... nothing, just two empty voids whose way to blink was by morphing what seemed to be a portion of his already flat face over those voids. It was hard to imagine James kissing him like this; what if he stuck his nose on one of his eyes? Well, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about his old friend snake to peep out of one of his sockets.

He tried to look for more differences more, but probably those were the biggest ones. His hands, he kept them four fingered and with his holes on them even as a human, and he always held hands with James, as much as to communicate with each other as for the pure pleasure of holding him. He never seemed fazed by such strange sensation. Then why was he thinking this so much?

He turned once again into his bean-shaped self, ready to go with him and... Nope, back to Ben. He couldn’t!

...Alright, maybe... maybe he’d show as Ben and then would turn into Bendy. Yeah, that... that sounded... fine. Yeah, fine...

Last glance to the human in front of the mirror. He could do it.

Out of the bathroom and into the living room, he saw James as he was sitting on the couch, listening to the radio that played soft music before the radio theater transmission would start as every Friday at night. A soft smile drew on Ben’s face as he contemplated his boyfriend, tapping his fingers, bobbing his head, swaying with the music. Though his smile quickly turned into a frown as he thought once again in what he was about to... do? No. He was going to do it. No turning back. He needed to rest.

A deep breath through his nostrils, filling what he could fill of lungs, and then a deep sigh, that gave away a slight whistle through his lips.

“Ben? Is that you?” James called for him. Dammit! He forgot how sensitive his earing was. Slightly froze in the spot, Bendy tried to calm his nerves before giving away and affirmative whistle and walk towards his boyfriend. “What took you so long? Getting ready for the night? You didn’t need to prepare so much.” The blind man said jokingly, though it wasn’t too far from the truth.

Bendy moved to turn off the radio before sitting next to him on the couch.

“Ben, you alright? Something happened?” James inquired as the demon in disguise gently held both his hands, placing them behind his own, getting ready to talk.

[ACTUALLY I NEED TO TALK WITH YOU.] He started, fixing his gaze upon the floor instead his boyfriend’s face. It was hard to admit it all, even if he mentally prepared himself over and over, but he had to before reaching his worst limit. [YOU KNOW... THESE PAST DAYS HAS BEEN REALLY AMAZING, BEING ABLE TO BE WITH YOU AND ALL. BUT...] He paused, seeing James shifting in his place, his attention entirely over his words. [GOT TO BE HONEST WITH YOU. I HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO SLEEP WELL LATELY.]

Silence stretched for a little longer as Bendy lowered their hands, watching the stern features of the one before him, meditative? Disappointed?

“Ben, if you felt uncomfortable you could have just told me before. We don’t have to be–”

[NO! IT’S NOT THAT! I WANT TO BE WITH YOU!] Bendy gestured maybe a bit too abruptly as he caught James a bit shaken by his interruption, to what he shied back, holding their hands together and close to his chest before continuing. [I MEAN... I WANT TO FIX THIS, BEING ABLE TO SLEEP WITH YOU AND NOT...] He froze in middle of the air, slowly lowering his hands again as he wasn’t able to think in a proper way to continue.

“...’Not’ what?” James pushed after a while, furrowing his brows.

And Bendy looked at him. Looked those soft features his face held. Looked the concern he showed, heard the softness of his voice, felt the gentle strength of his grip. He felt so safe just by being next to him, but not entirely. He needed to change that, that’s what he was preparing for.

[JAMES... YOU KNOW I’M NOT... ENTIRELY... HUMAN...]

“Yeah, you’re not human at all. What with that? I thought we already went through that.” He answered nonchalantly, and Bendy couldn’t tell if that made it easier or harder to get to the point.

[YES, I KNOW. BUT... EVERYTIME I GO TO SLEEP, I CAN’T HOLD MY... MY HUMAN FORM. AND I REALLY DON’T KNOW HOW WOULD YOU REACT IF YOU... FIND ME... AS I REALLY AM...]

Again, silence filled their space as James pondered over these words, confused though not by their meaning, yet by how that could affect him that bad.

“Ben, I don’t get you. I’ve felt you changing before, why this is different?”

[IT IS.] Bendy kept going, trying his best to go on with as much calm as possible, though James probably was aware of the tremble in his hands. [ALL THESE OTHER TIMES, I KEPT BEING HUMAN-LIKE, NEVER CHANGED TOO MUCH.] He paused, taking a deep breath as he dared to stare right into his face. A meditative flutter of his eyelids turned to take a few seconds longer than it should; sweet Lord! If he wasn’t able to say so, he’d doze out before he could explain!

“Ben? You there?” James called him; even if he tried to lighten the tension on him he wasn’t entirely able to take apart the concern in his tone.

Bendy shook vigorously his head. He had to do it! He had to...

...But how?

[DO... YOU REMEMBER... HOW I WAS WHEN... WE PLAYED IN THE PARK... AS KIDS?] He asked slowly, slumber already taking his low energies away. The sole thing that kept him aware enough was the voice of the larger man whose hands were keeping his up in their grasp; voice that he... actually didn’t quite made the words, so quicker than he could thought let out a questioning whistle.

“I said I do.” He repeated with a little exasperated laughter; it was too obvious the lack of sleep at this stage. “I remember you, but honestly it wasn’t as I had much chance to feel how you were back then, if that’s what you mean.”

Wow, pretty nice way to go for an introduction, considering he really had no comparison point as he hoped. Oh, well, it was taking too much for the official reveal; the less he wanted was to collapse before he’d get to the point.

[WELL THEN... I GUESS YOU NOW WILL FEEL ME AS I WAS BACK THEN... AS I STILL AM...] He finished his statement, releasing his hands and preparing to shift once again as the devil he really was.

The ink in, on and around himself started to morph; his face losing its remarkable features as his body reduced in size, leaving a bean-shaped frame which only worn accessories were some black boots, gloves and a bowtie resting right below his neck wasn’t anymore. All under the now blanket-like garments he was wearing as human, which he had to take off him, dropping them next to him by the floor.

And as if a heavy burden was taken off the demon’s shoulders, releasing the form he struggled so hard to maintain in public actually made him look more rested, even if was just a little.

Although during such transformation, all James could do was to gap his mouth repeatedly as he shook a little his pinkie inside his ear. Yet the size change must have been notorious– though not as Bendy expected, as the weight shift next to the blind man left him with a puzzled demeanor.

“Ben, did you... move somewhere?” He asked around, swaying his head from side to side, unsure of where to focus. Confusion that didn’t go unnoticed by the devil next to him, though the first thing he could manage to do was to shake a little his shoulders, releasing a quiet wheeze of a giggle that indeed helped the other to find his location. “There you ar–... Ben?” His regained confidence plummeted once again, for when he reached forward to sense his partner, only air was there to greet him. “Ben?” He called once again, moving his arm unknowingly above the demon, patting around with no results. “Ben, where’d you go?”

The confusion and near worriedness drawn all by the Cohen’s face was a real show for the little demon– though his tiredness didn’t allow him to react in some another way than pure amusement. But it was being too much, he didn’t really want to scare him anyhow.

Gathering his last bits of energy, he lifted his arms, grabbing in middle air his waving hand and leading it in front of his low statured body, close to his heart, helping so his other hand to find with both the back of his.

[I’M HERE.] Bendy signed, taking on the tender confusion his partner showed from feeling his signing so low and short on movements, unable to help but projecting a wholehearted yet tired smile only for him. [I’M HERE.] Repeated, as now he held securely his hands and guided them to his face, allowing him to take on all his features– or the lack of them.

And James did, with gentle hands, trace all he could find of him; hands opened like a fan, he slid up and down, feeling the flat roundness and size of his head, up to his horns and the crescent moon-like space between them, and down from his sides and head back to his neck...less chin. A questioning hum escaped from his throat, yet all Bendy could respond was a little whistle and a shaking shrug, shoulders meeting with the back of his hands in the act, and James smiled with no more questioning, just exploring more.

He reached back up, now were his thumbs turn to feel. Cautiously he traced, feeling the edges of his round smile, and then upper, meeting a slightly sharper rim with nothing inside. He abstained of manifesting his doubts, yet the feeling of something overlaying those spaces, leaving only a couple of curve lines, gave him the clue to what he was feeling. He kept tracing those lines until his thumbs met in the middle of the place, feeling nothing else in the convergence of the three found features.

Yet he descended, finding again the space where a neck should be, and carefully turning and lowering his hands, seeking for the rest of him. His wrists tickled with the texture of his bowtie, and couldn’t help but brushing it a little with his thumbs. He kept going, finding again his shoulders and sliding down from there the short track his arms made, right to his hands and lacing his fingers, even if just for a bit; they still were the same hands after all.

He returned up, though now from below his arms to get back to his body. A little shake caught him off guard, but it was accompanied by a soft wheeze, giving away the ticklish nature of the devil. A smirk crossed James face, but nothing more than a flash before continuing his course. He practically could engulf him entirely with his hands, feeling how the tip of his fingers met in his back while he sensed the proximity of his thumbs in the front.

He kept going lower, yet as with his arms, the trail was a short one; two and a quarter of what his hands entirely extended were was all it took before reaching the beginning of his legs. James laid his hands on top, and two fingers below was his knee bent. Bendy had to move a little to unfold his legs, stretching them between them and adjusting a tad back so he could fit the entire length for James to feel, and feel he did. With a light hold of his limb, so thin, so noodlely, he kept going more and more down, yet as before was a short track, finding the brim of some sort of foot garments, boots more likely.

He reached bottom, and with so, he held his hand wide open, laying his thumb at the top of Bendy’s toes and his pinkie in the middle of his leg. Holding in spot his pinkie, he reached it with his thumb before laying it where the pinkie was and taking the latter further up by his body. James repeated this a few more times, passing by the devil’s chest, mouth and until the top of his horns. And after that, he slid his hand down once again, feeling his shoulder and reaching up to his hand, cupping it between both of his.

And silence settled in. May be reflexive, may be from the shock, or simply to just let it all sink in. But silence took place on and around them both, nearly deafening the devil from the numbness and relaxation of all that caressing he received of the man next to him while he met his real form. And now, Bendy was simply too tired to really care; he felt at peace, safe even, and the warmth the man’s hands conveyed to his only made him feel more... cozy... maybe he could take a real rest now–

A slightly forceful trembling on his hand snapped the demon out of his cotton thoughts. With concern and a shot of adrenaline he darted his sockets to his boyfriend’s face, only to find it... constricted? Was he... retaining a laughter?

“Oh my god, Ben! I can’t!” James burst with a cackle, a delightful one actually, right as he yanked the little one close to him to strangle his whole body in a tight hug. “Ha ha! Oh, Ben! You’re so small!” He kept cackling, snugging the tiny frame with so much eagerness. “Ha ha ha! I’m gonna– Ha!– Eh, I’m– I’m gonna have to be careful not to step on you!”

His hyped demeanor kept for a while as the laughter receded slowly, and Bendy’s chest honestly burst with so much warmth and joy. He almost felt ashamed for overthinking it way too much earlier; he was thinking of James, after all. He felt so safe, so warm, so... cozy... so marveled by the man who decided to be with him regardless his demonic nature. No place for doubts as to why he felt that way close to him.

Yet that line of thoughts came to a halt when a chiming sound from the hall invaded the space, silencing even James’ subsiding giggles. 10 o’clock was what the chimes announced, and James shifter around with realization.

“Oh, my, it’s time!” He chirped as he stretched to reach the radio, turning it on again and finding the broadcaster introducing what was going to be the show for the night.

After making sure it was well tuned, James retook his place on the couch, fitting his back on the corner and sprawling his legs along it, as he picked up the little bean of a boyfriend, fitting him between his side and the back of the couch, wrapping his shoulders with his arm, side-hugging him so when it bent he could reach and lace the devil’s fingers with his.

And as much as James seemed expectant and ready for the night’s show, Bendy just made sure of getting as comfortable as possible. His unlaced had went across reaching for the man’s chest, right under his own head, feeling the soft rising of his chest and the warmth it emanated, even being lulled by his heartbeats. He made his way deeper in the arm’s crouch, pulling a bit his laced hand so he could blanket himself with his couple’s arm, and slowing his own breaths, he let himself drift away in the comfort of whom he dearest most.

“You ready for this Ben– Ben?” He trailed off the moment he felt some soft low whistles escaping the devil’s tongue, so quiet that couldn’t be taken as anything other than from a sleepy little bean. His initial confused appearance quickly changed by one softer and tender, reclining him a bit so he could press a kiss in the devil’s forehead, feeling him snuggle down even more in his slumber and comfort, as he tried to disturb him the less possible, lowering the radio volume before he returned to his quietest position.

“Maybe some other night.”

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen Rambles about Dusk Diver

I finished playing Dusk Diver, a small beat-em-up by JFI Games. I originally played it because it was on sale, I’ve had my eye on it for a few months now, and I needed a break from DMC5 for a bit. And boy do I have some thoughts about it now that I’m done with the game. Namely a bunch of nitpicks, but... we’ll get there in time. 

But as always, let’s start with that Synopsis.

Dusk Diver takes place in the Ximending district of Taipei, Taiwan. The story focuses on Yumo Yang, a Taiwanese high school senior that got caught up in a spiritual adventure over her summer vacation. While out with her friend she was randomly pulled into the alternate dimension of phantoms and demons. Before she was about to get killed by one a local loin god protects Yumo by (accidentally) transferring his powers to her. After she fends off the phantoms she decides to help clean her city of phantoms over summer break with the god’s help, along with the help of his eccentric and frugal boss... Boss. 

The plot takes off from there as Yumo pummels phantoms, gains allies, brightens up her town, and learns more about why the phantom and human realms are colliding. I gotta’ say, it’s nice to actually write the synopsis without having to either look at wiki article or outright copy it. This game is very simple for both good and ill. 

So... what do I think of this game? 

Well, unlike Assassins Pride I’ll be going over the bad first and then try to end on a high note, since for all my issues and nitpicks I did enjoy this game very much.

With that said, let’s start with...

The Bad

The Localization

So the localization is very similar to Under Night In-Birth Late[st] in that it feels very unfinished. When I talked about Under Night’s localization I was a little too harsh on it for my current liking and I’ll use Dusk Diver to explain myself a bit better.

Dusk Diver’s localization isn’t bad. I played this game listening to the Taiwanese dub and nothing sounded too off, but the script, the actual words on the screen, were rife with spelling and grammar errors, inconsistent terminology, and even moments where you could read the actual code of the game in the text. This the translation was either rushed, or it didn’t have enough time to really finish it, which makes it feel really sloppy. The said thing is that this game does have a rather charming script despite this, but reading all those errors and trying to correct them in your head can be... annoying.

The RPG Elements

So... this game is a beat-em-up that revolves around doing large combos and keeping up a hit counter to get higher drops of health, SP, TP, and other resources. The main goal of combat is to get combos going, collect SP and TP, and use those to do more damage to the enemies. 

So why is there an RPG level up system in this game?

I still have a lot of DMC5′s mechanics ingrained in me, so forgive me if this sounds pushy, but in most hack-and-slash/beat-em-up style games tacking on an RPG-style upgrade system only slows down the overall gameplay. 

Let me explain. Every time you complete a level for the first time you gain skill points. You use those points to improve your HP, SP, attack, etc.. This doesn’t feel good to do for this style of gameplay. In most beat-em-ups/hack-and-slash games skill points and similar currency are typically used for new moves or special abilities. DMC5′s red orbs are for new moves, Nero’s devil arms, and a limited amount of health and devil trigger increases. Senran Kagura uses its currency for costumes, accessories, and music, with the mere act of leveling up giving you higher bases automatically and more moves when you reach a certain level that proves you’re familiar enough with your current moveset to expand it. Solely making the numbers of damage and health go up doesn’t make you feel more powerful, it makes you feel like you can just handle the enemies that have gotten a lot more health and do a lot more damage for no reason other than slowing down the gameplay. I’ll save my recommendations for later, but the quick version is that the skill points should be used for more moves, more SP, and Drive duration only, as health and attack feel really arbitrary points to tack on for this style of gameplay.

The Platform/Alternate Gameplay Modes

Not often and namely during side missions for the Boss, but sometimes you have to do platforming segments and reach a certain point on the map and defeat some enemies.

They’re terrible.

Much like Devil May Cry, movement, jumping, and generally getting around feels fine save for me wishing Yumo’s run speed a bit faster. However, precise jumping and general platforming just don’t work. I don’t believe there’s a drop shadow in this game, the jumping itself has much different momentum when trying to maneuver in the air, making some moving platforms a pain to reach, and while the platforms themselves are rather large, the moving platforms go too slow compared to a lot of the fast-paced combat, making it a painstaking wait to get to the next fight.

Again, like DMC, this most platform this game should have is fighting on rooftops. In fact, I believe in the second or third mission you did have to traverse rooftops and it was actually pretty fun. Like I said, the platforms are usually wide enough that even with the wonky jumping it’s not a pain and getting to a higher point on the map and seeing the overall scenery is... nice. 

It’s just when you want me to pull off jumps like this is a Mario game is when things get dicey.

But those are all the big issues down, or at least my top three so...

Smaller Issues that Bug Allen

Like I said, I have more nitpicks than actual problems with this game. The game itself is a fine 10-15 hour experience, but there are several smaller issues that just pile up as you play it. It shouldn’t take you out of the game, but they did frustrate me a little. With that said though:

The minimap needs an ability to mark sidequests, it’ll make for a lot less backtracking and random pausing to look at the map and see where I need to go. I understand that this game is a more or less faithful for recreation of the Ximending district, but for non-locals playing this game like me finding locations is rather difficult. 

Since this game has visual novel styled cutscenes it’d be nice to have a log button to backtrack conversations just in case you skim over some important dialogue.

On that note, an option to control the speed of the text would be great as well, as I didn’t see one in there initially.

Cutscene Skip Button. It’s annoying to do the hard mode of these stages and having replay cutscenes I’ve already seen. Especially when I’m just hunting for Dragon Vein Shards.

Dragon Vein Shards should be tied solely to upgrades, as using them for plot advancement only adds to the grind... or so I would say if not for me have twice as many of the shards needed for progression every time. Again, I’ll go more in depth when I talk about my desires in a sequel, but for now I’ll just say these items should either be for leveling up or as a sort of collectible.

I’d like the rank system to be more like DMC, tying clear time, damage taken, max combo, and things like all together so that the end goal isn’t just to speedrun a stage for the S-rank.

Can the menu option be mapped to the triangle button like every other game? It kept throwing me off when I tried to pull up the map.

There doesn’t need to be a small cinematic when you do certain guardian attacks. It locks Yumo in place and has a real high chance to miss its target save for bosses.

It’d be best to map items to the buttons instead of the d-pad, as it kept tripping me up when I was trying to heal. 

I think that’s it for the major nitpicks, so let’s move onto the the good stuff.

The Good

Story and Theme

The story of Dusk Diver is simple, but effective. You go around saving the district by fighting monsters, you see how those monsters effect the district in each arc, and you solve the problem, usually getting an ally along the way. The few people that are aware of your secret job as a magical martial arts girl, usually the elderly or spiritually attuned, are very supportive toward Yumo. 

The game has an overall light, encouraging tone. It wants you to love the city as much as Yumo and Leo do, and it works. All of your side missions have you help out the locals in some way and you gain increased power for the super mode. You work at a convenience store, you partner with the local gods and guardians. Everything you do reinforces the idea of protect, preserving, and understand the town you live in. Yumo gets bonus dragon shard veins by frequently eating at local restaurants and becoming a regular. You help tourists out finding places to visit. You help an elderly man by taking photos of his old stomping grounds and he reminisces on what those old buildings were originally for. You help a coffee shop for free drinks. The list goes on, but a lot of the game reinforces this theme of community and loving the town do so much in. This is a very comfy game despite all the action of bashing demons and phantoms.

Characters

While simple, Yumo as a character is a very cheery girl that just wants to help others. She’s a bit annoyed at being forced to help at first, but she is someone that’s helpful at heart. And seeing her want to protect her friends and town is genuinely heartwarming. 

Plus, I really like her design. I’ve always been a fan of simple street clothes, and black with yellow highlights will always sell me on a character. 

Your guardians are pretty fun too. Leo’s knowledge of the city and desire to help others really gives him a cool grandpa vibe. Bahet’s a quiet and encouraging guy with a noble background despite his punk fashion. Le Viada is a model with a complex around her age and big sister mentality, the list goes on. Again, these characters are simple, but effective.

Gameplay

While I did have my nitpicks, the gameplay is solid beat-em-up action. Light and heavy attacks with the occasional use of the the guardians. And each guardian has a special ability with their damage. Leo can do massive damage to enemy shields, getting rid of them in one or two shots with his more powerful moves. Bahet can slowly chip away at an enemy with his scythe’s poison effect. Le Viada’s guns can outright ignore enemy armor and punch through it, as well as lay down traps, and... there’s a fourth guardian for when you beat the game. I won’t spoil it, but they’re basically a turret that stays in one place while you summor your other guardians, making her unique as you can’t usually summon two guardians at a time. And like I said before, aiming and lining up certain attacks can be a bit unwieldy since some moves playcinematics that lock you in place, but it’s overall fun. Racking up combos, using big AoE moves, it all feels great.

And with all of that out of the way.

Wishes for the Future

Much like in my Fire Emblem rambling I don’t like the idea of correcting a story or game that’s already been finished, but I find no issue with discussing what I want for the future. And I really thing this game can have a sequel. The game states that Yumo isn’t the first person in recent time with latent spiritual powers, or that this is the first time that the phantom and human realms became loose. And hell, Yumo is still someone that wants to protect her town, so it’d be easy to make a game in another area of Taipei that’s gone out of whack, or even give the reins to someone else. And I do want a sequel. 

Like I said, my main issue with this game are some nitpicks that could honestly be fixed with a patch or a two-month delay. If this game sold well enough to get a sequel I’d buy it. 

That said, here are a few things I’d like to see in that hypothetical sequel. Such as...

Rankings

A lot of these are going to be taking a page from DMC since I was taking a break from DMC5 to play this, but the ranks shouldn’t be tied solely to clear time. That just makes people speedrun the stage and miss Dragon Veins. Having rank linked to time, combos, hits taken, and so on would give you some breathing room when you try and explore a stage, as you wouldn’t be punished for being curious. You’d still need to be quick, but you won’t be completely screwed either.

Leveling Up

Leveling up give you skill points that you can stick into your health, SP, attack, super mode duration, just dodge duration, luck, and moves. This game shouldn’t give attack or health for skill points. This is just my belief with design, but beat-em-ups shouldn’t just jack up the health of normal enemies as you get stronger, instead just giving us tougher enemies with different patterns of attack. The game already does this with some success, so those slots that increase health and attack seem pointless. You get skill points when you complete a stage for the first time, or find dragon vein shards. This... really puts a lot of pressure on the kinds of skills you upgrade, and while I’m not against that it does make this very light-hearted oddly restricting as you debate what to upgrade. I’d recommend using those dragon vein shards solely to level up instead of for story progression as well. With each upgrade costing more and more dragon veins as you increase your stats. In this first game you can collect over 150 dragon veins. You only need 50 to complete the story mode, and I had about 75 by the time I reached the final mission. 

I know some people struggled to grab them, but... I didn’t, so... maybe have the veins do something else than gate story progression.

Post Game Activities

If we are going to have a post game to finish up some side quests for 100%, then we might as well have some extra things to do too. 

Oh right, I never mentioned that yet.

Yeah, once you beat the game you’re essentially in a free-run mode to finish some leftover side quests and do a few extra things you might have missed, but... I finished all the side quests before the final story, so I was left with just finishing some hard-mode missions and finishing up my upgrade tree. That said, if there is going to be a post game here’s a few ideas:

Survival Mode where you fight waves of enemies. Some akin to a Bloody Palace Mode where you can compete for a high score among friends and online.

Post Game dungeons that are hard as hell, this could be DLC if you wanted as I wouldn’t mind paying for more content like this.

Extra moves/skills. Yumo’s moveset is rather small compared to DMC and Senran Kagura. If we’re going to have just one character to play as then I’d rather have a complex character that takes awhile to learn than an easy one where I’m spamming the same moves over and over... or give us more characters to play as with equally simple movesets.

That’s really it. The game overall is fun with it’s only real flaw being a rather short game for 35 bucks. Like I said, either some DLC or a sequel would make me feel better about recommend this one, but if you want a fun, short beat-em-up game then this is out on steam, PS4, and the Switch. Feel free to get... though I’d recommend waiting for a sale.

In any case, back to DMC5 for me.

[musemercenarystart]

Gunshot One: The Life of a Mercenary Girl

Word: 15k  Gotta upload this here since I need too, reviews is appreciated Anyways have a wonderful Xmas and a Happy New Year Everyone

FF.net

Ao3

Now that I really think about it, the world isn’t that of a cheerful and great place to live in if you get to see its dark face, therefore I will take on the sole job of cheering everyone on and cleaning the dirt made from the worst humans at the same time till I can’t smile anymore.

-Sweet Magnum              

Operation ‘Tropical Party’

19:00: Somewhere in the Jungles of the Amazon

ETA: One hour

Joint Mission: De μ's/Muse(μ's) and A-RISE – Hostage Rescue

“Okay, this is the plan.”

An orange haired girl with azure eyes had said this using a microphone connected to a headphone, loud noises coming from both sides since a few hours ago due to powerful engines sustaining the vehicle she rode on in the air.

The turbulence shook the sea water plane due to the heavy winds, the air was freezing since they were high above the sea level and was flying though jungles in the Amazons while it was night time.

“Umi-chan will scout the area with Kotori-chan as support when we arrive at the designated place.”

She spoke again while looking to her right to see a blue haired girl sitting on the copilot seat next to her, she was wiping a combat knife with a white cloth, only to stop and release a sigh when she met the pilot’s gaze.

“Honoka, I have no problem with the plan but aren’t you pushing Kotori so much? The last mission was a dangerously close call for us.”

The orange haired pilot looked back to see the girl called Kotori with an apologetic and guilty face to her ashen haired comrade and one of her best friends.

“Sorry Kotori-chan….” With eyes that was close to crying, her voice sounded muffled under the microphone.

“Its fine Honoka-chan, I was careless during that mission when I thought that there was no enemy left.”

Smiling wryly, she replied with her high pitched voice while recalling what happened during the deadly mission last time. Sweat forming in her smooth forehead while reloading her blue Barrett.50 cal. sniper with its magazine.

“No, it was my fault for ignoring those who went past me.” Umi instinctively replied when she saw the pitiful smile of Kotori.

“Not at all, as your leader… I made unforgivable mistakes that can cost all our lives!”

Honoka’s voice was stern when she interrupted but also held a sense of responsibility with a tint of worry for her group.

The trio became silent and the atmosphere became somewhat unbearable.

“Ahem, Honoka… Sorry for breaking the atmosphere but what will be our mission today supposed to be?”

Coughing to get some attention from the emotional trio, a blonde with freezing cerulean eyes that makes them think of the Russian Winters in Siberia had stared at them while sitting on chair with a wryly smile on her face, seemingly sorry for interrupting the romantic drama happening between her juniors causing them to blush together.

“Ahh~ Elichi… You know that it’s rude to disturb people when they are about to make out. Look, you killed the mood for them… do you also want it to happen to our quality time?”

Intruding on the conversation was a girl with jade jewel like eyes and  Royal Purple colored hair tied into loose twin tails wearing a gas mask that is used by the S.A.S Forces of the United Kingdom loosely on the left side of her head and had a smugly grin on her face.

Hearing that statement, the four of them blushed so hard that the cold air outside felt like a breeze in summer. Honoka nearly left the control stick of the plane to stand up to protest against the big breasted devil only to sit back hurriedly since the plane tilted a little downward out in the air while Umi’s hand dropped her combat knife near her foot due to her body twitching and Kotori was just sitting there frozen with a cramped smile on her face.

Eli gained her sense of time and pouted but quickly changed her expression to a stern one.

“Nozomi, it’s not the time for jokes.”

“Yeah, I am sorry but I couldn’t help it since they were acting so cute just now~” Grinning, the jade eyed girl apologized to the blonde.

“So…” A cold voice resounded in the seaplane.

The voice came from a girl who is the shortest of the group in terms of height, petit in frame but is also one of the deadliest spoke, her voice carrying a bit of annoyance and confidence making them turn to look at her. Tying her hair into twin tails with a red ribbon, her ruby like eyes that reminded them of the expensive jewels only owned by the richest fucks looked at them and it was empowering to the point of forgetting how to breathe for air.

“Can we please continue with the discussion of the plan and mission?”

She continued while putting six magazines of her guns in their holders around her thighs and lower abdomen, the glint in her ruby eyes intimidated her comrades. Noticing that they stiffened up, she coughed to clear the awkward atmosphere around them, her facial expression softened and she smiled with her usual foolish grin while scratching the back of her head with her leathered gloves.

“Sorry guys, did I scare ya?” She flashed her toothy grin once again.

Glad to see the raven haired girl back to her cheery self, the group breathed out with relief.

“Nico-chan is so scary when she is serious or moody…” Honaka had said that will piloting the plane steadily.

“Looking at her eyes is like meeting with the Grim Reaper himself…” Umi added while picking her fallen Combat Knife and started to clean it again with the white cloth in hand.

“I like Nico-chan when she is in her cute Idol persona!” Kotori’s high pitch voice went in to Nico’s ear causing her head to turn away and cross her arms together, a faint pink blush appeared due to the sudden complement she received from Kotori.

“H-hmph! Of course I am the cute Super Idol Nico-Nii~ Nico-chan~, who is so popular around the world! It’s a given!”

She replied casually, but if people where to see this Nico that was wearing an attire which is made for killing and the Nico of the Idol Universe, the people will not believe them and will just deny the reality if it were to happen but really… She is a renowned world level Idol, Actress, Singer, Model and many more to put to the list.

“Haah, that was so scary…” Eli sighed again in relief as if a burden was lifted of her body.

Nozomi was also so scared but decided to resist the urge of covering her body behind Eli and turned those feelings into mischievous thoughts of wanting to get revenge on Nico.

“Oh~ Nicocchi is so cute~ I need to give you a hug and some groping as payback for making me terrified~”

Inching closer to the small girl, Nozomi groped the air with her hands opening and closing in intervals.

Sensing that Nozomi is on her Fondle Thirst mode, Nico got ready for the usual situation that will happen in few seconds.

“No~~~ Stay away from me Nozomi!!”

Nico reacted with the usual routine to Nozomi’s teasing and was caught in Nozomi’s arms where she started to grope the small girl’s breast in an excited matter, the others laughing when seeing those two.

It was a really a peaceful atmosphere although it will be changed to a bloody struggle in an hour.

The reason why this former school Idols was now aboard a seaplane on some distant place while carrying weapons that can take the life of people with ease was because they were Mercenaries, trained to kill, sabotage, rob important packages, spy on enemy organizations, rescue VIPS and many other dangerous missions.

This is also their ninth mission as mercenaries.

If people where to see their attire now, they will think that the once famous school Idol group of Japan called μ's was just cosplaying for a photo shot involving Army Uniforms. Well…. They really looked like cosplaying…. With all the cool black customized S.W.A.T like Uniforms, wearing sports bras under the uniforms and customized Beret caps for army personnel with the accessories and weapons all fitting the group’s individual tastes of fashion.

“<Captain Honkers! Come in! Come in, Captain Honkers! Nya!>”

Breaking the usual gag, a voice like that of an excited cat resounded throughout the group with their earpiece for communication hearing the caller perfectly fine under such weather.

“Geez!!! Rin-chan! Stop with the ‘Captain Honkers’ already!”

Puffing her cheeks with the blush of shame plastered on her face, Honoka complained while hearing the giggles of their fellow comrades from behind.

“Rin, how are the others?” Umi asked while sheathing her combat knife to the rear of her right thigh in the knife holder and rechecked her other knives and daggers.

“<Tsubasa-san and the others are fine! We successfully entered their territory with no problems encountered Nya!>”

What Rin referred here as Tsubasa was a girl from an another super famous group of idols named A-RISE where she is the leader and was the former rivals of μ's back on their school idol days.

“I see….” Nico sighed from relief when she heard Rin’s report.

“Ara, Nicocchi~ Who did you sigh for? Was it for Tsubasa-chan and the others or was it for Maki-chan specially?”

Nozomi grinned and began teasing Nico again while still groping the tiny breast causing Nico to be flustered.

“Hu-huh!? Of course it was for everyone else!! And stop groping me already!! Let go~~”

Kotori just kept on being silent while seeing those two playing with each other.

“Rin? How is the situation?”

Eli asked Rin through the communicator while reloading her slightly purple colored PKP Pecheneg magazine with its large bullets.

Rin’s group was on standby in a village near the enemy base.

“<Kayo-chin is eating the rice and seemed to be satisfied with it, Nya!>”

Eli face palmed and so did the others except for Nozomi and Nico since they were busy.

“It’s good that Hanayo-chan is enjoying the rice there but don’t forget that we have a very important mission here.” Honaka asked Rin while sighing.

Saying that, Honoka brought out a huge tobacco cigarette that makes people think of the classical Mafia movies or the American General stereotype where that say “God damn it!” when something unfavorable happens.

Taking it to her lips, she kept it there and waited for Rin’s reply.

“<Oh… Sorry Captain Honkers… Back to the point, we succeeded in making an escape route Nya!>”

The tobacco cigarette had nearly fallen of Honoka’s lips when she heard her ridiculous nickname again.

Honoka thought that this was not the best time to bring her tobacco since so many jaw dropping moments might happen so she put it back to its coffee colored pack.

“I see, then should we continue with ‘that’ plan.” Umi concluded, ignoring the tears forming in Honoka’s eyes and the pouting face she was making while checking her ashen colored customized M16A4 and its grenade launcher.

“I agree, if we want to make a fast get away then we should definitely go with that plan.” Eli consented with Umi’s decision.

“Hmph! At least they are fine.” said Nico while adjusting the sleeves of her mercenary uniform.

Nico was really worried for Maki since they fought a little when they left each other side even if she did not show it on her face although it was so cherry from Nozomi’s molesting techniques.

Nozomi also had stopped molesting Nico and readied her slightly blue P90 submachine gun then sat next to Kotori who was deeply thinking about something.

She noticed that something was wrong with Kotori and she whispered into her ear in a not so loud voice.

“Kotori-chan, what’s wrong…?” Without letting the others know what the topic was about, Nozomi asked her worriedly.

“Ah… It’s nothing… Nozomi-chan…” Kotori had answered in a weak voice.

“Are you sure? You have been acting strange since we left, you know?” Nozomi asked again.

“No, I am fine… Sorry for worrying you.” said Kotori while putting bullets in the magazine of her second sniper rifle, an orange Remington RSASS and smiled at Nozomi.

“Hmm, if you say so…” Nozomi was not really convinced but acted like that to let her comrade feel more relaxed.

“Can I suggest something Kotori-chan?” Nozomi asked a new question again.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Can you use your Remington RSASS as your main this time instead of your Barrett for this mission?”

Nozomi took the free hand of Kotori and stared at her comrade’s honey colored eyes while giving of the pressure that says “You can’t say no”.

Kotori agreed but thought that it was unusual for Nozomi to be demanding on how the covering fire will be used, she then shifted her eyes to her comrades.

Nico was readying her scarlet Mini-Uzi guns which was her pride and then her Night Sky colored sheaths which had the drawings of Ravens flying that contains a double deadly medium length Katanas while Honoka switched her seat with Umi and was now preparing her silver revolver magnum handgun which boosted of its high power then she went to put a magazine on her beloved brown colored customized SCAR L rifle continuing to talk to Rin on a separate radio line.

“By the way Kotori….. I know that I am not good with guns and you are a sniper rifle expert but why did you bring two snipers?” Umi asked what was on Nozomi’s mind out loud while looking at the mirror on the windshield.

Recalling that now, everybody’s attention shifted to Kotori and her weapons.

“Huh!? Ah!!” Realizing that by a second later, Kotori’s face flushed red and her eyes became teary due to making a beginners mistake of bringing two snipers when you only really needed one.

It really seemed that Kotori was really out of it which made Nozomi sigh, she really did want to point that out but couldn’t and Umi had just blurted it out without hesitation making Nozomi relieved that someone asked that.    

“I am so sorry everyone! I made such an amateur mistake!” Kotori bowed her head in apology worried that her careless mistake might disturb the flow of the mission.

“Its fine Kotori, we did not start the mission yet so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Eli tried to comfort the little bird and Nico just approached without showing any signs of emotion making Kotori slightly nervous.

Upon reaching her, Nico chopped her head with her hand and Kotori reacted with an “Ow” and her eyes became teary while the raven haired girl showed a smile like that of a senior who genuinely felt that the situation couldn’t be helped.

Lowering her head level to the little bird while nearing her face so much that their noses touched, Nico looked at the eyes of Kotori while putting a hand at the back of the other’s head.

“Listen Kotori, mistakes are used as a learning tool so that you will become better at what you do and not to lose confidence. Like what have Eli said, we did not start yet the mission so relax.”

Being looked at those irresistible fiery red jewels like eyes at point blank made Kotori gulp so hard while her blushing did not help either and the color of her face reminded the group of a certain pianist’s hair color.

Seeing that, Nico also blushed and hurriedly pulled away while Nozomi on the side of Kotori made a smug face finding amusement to the situation.

“Ni-Nico-chan, thanks for the encouragement and…. that was pretty bold of you…”  Kotori said it while shyly smiling.

“It-Its normal for the Senior to help her Juniors, right!? And stop smiling Nozomi! It’s creeping me out!”

Nozomi was smiling while the Honoka and Umi blushed at the boldness of Nico and their mouths were gaping wide while twitching at intervals.

Seeing that, Nico coughed and looked at Honoka who was still at a trance.

“Enough of that! Just leave a sniper behind Kotori and Honoka... the task briefing please!”

Saying the last part of her sentence with a commanding tone, Honoka was released from her delusions and was glad that she had kept her tobacco at its pack.

“Oh, right!” Coughing, she looked at some files on her right hand.

“Okay, the mission this time involves saving a hostage from a group of armed kidnappers. These kidnappers were part of a former Special Forces of some countries and they are mixed together. They are very well trained so it might be very dangerous if we were to be found and battles where to happen when we did not even reach the VIP.”

Honoka returned to her leader-like attitude and announced their mission to the group.

“The name of the hostage is Alice Wallcroft, daughter of the S.A.S Commander of the country Great Britain. She is in the army with the rank of Captain in the British Air Force and is also a renowned pilot of her country.” The leader of the group continued on with explaining the profile of the VIP they are going to rescue.

“The client who is Alice-san’s father is also a business partner to Nico-chan’s family so let’s not disappoint them.” Honoka concluded.

“Heh, a business partner to Mistress Yazawa it seems.” Umi remarked.

The Mistress that Umi referred to is Nico’s mother and the boss of the all-powerful Yakuza in Japan that deals with the black market, terrorist groups in other countries, Mafia’s in Italy and many more which involves the dark part of society.

“A collection of former Special Forces from different countries, eh? It would become dangerous for us if it is true but hmm, wouldn’t that be the same for them too? To work with each other being former enemies and all…” Nozomi idly commented on the unusual enemies they are having this time.

It’s true that they fought with different kind of opponents but this was a first for them.

“I think that they quit being government dogs due to the low salary they get and became underground mercenaries for hiring.” Eli replied looking slightly sour when she deduced what likely happened for those poor souls.  

“So it’s just rescuing some rich Ojou-sama again…” Nico sighed looking uninterested.

Well, it’s understandable for Nico to sigh since it’s her nineteenth time doing a mission and the tenth one involving her saving a VIP. Although it says on the mission logs of her family’s database that it was her nineteenth one, it was actually more than that. She is the only person in the group who has the most experience, kills in this hell like job, trained to kill since birth but only to stop when she entered the Otonokizaka Academy which she started her School Idol career and is also an Ojou-sama from the said Yakuza family.

“If it’s like that, then I want a distraction…. something flashy and cool….” Nico smiled like a devil scheming for something horrible to happen.

“<If that’s what our Cute Devil Nico-sama wants, then we’ll give you the greatest distraction you want!>”

A voice resounded again in their earpiece, one that they will recognize anywhere if heard once since her singing was always played in the streets of Akihabara. She was giggling while saying that, making Nico blush and gasp.

“Tsu-Tsubasa-san! Wh-What are you saying and how did you listened to us!? ” Stuttering like a fool, Nico just embarrassed herself even more.

“<I just took my chances and turned on the radio.>” A giggle was heard when the voice replied back.

It was Tsubasa who interrupted making Honoka’s face brighten instantly.

“<Just infiltrate from the eastern side of the base where our little captain is held captive while we do our part of the agreement.>”

“<Captain Honkers! We are also ready! Just say the word and we will be there Nya!>”

Rin had said that while a sound like that of pumping a shotgun was heard on the other side of the radio.

This mission was a joint one between Honoka’s group De μ's and Tsubasa’s A-RISE, both mercenary groups are famous in the dark side of society.

“Roger that, we take your offer gratefully and accept it.” Umi readily accepted the help from them since she knew that they could be trusted, it was also their fourth joint mission together.

They really trusted each other to the point of blindingly charging into the front lines just to save the other if the situation ever calls for it.

Umi smiled while shifting the control a little to the right, the water plane veered right and was lowering in attitude in preparations for the landing near the area of operation.

“Tsubasa-san, we will arrive in thirty minutes so get ready~” Honoka said that cheerfully to her admired co-leader.

Cutting off the communication with Rin and Tsubasa, the water plane neared its landing area near the rivers.

Thirty minutes have passed and the water plane landed near the shore of one of the Amazon Rivers, Kotori and Umi went on ahead and the group will follow after ten minutes since it is to see if there are traps laid in advance by enemies and also to find a good snipping position for Kotori.

“I think that we waited enough.” Honoka released the safety of her assault rifle while saying that.

“I just hope nothing goes wrong…” Eli rechecked her equipment’s function one more time.

“Is everyone ready, we are going to move out!!” Honoka once again spoke but this time in a commanding manner.

“Yes!” Nozomi and Eli replied with an attentive tone.

“Yawn…. Guess that my fatigue from my Idol Job is catching up.” Nico stretched her arms in the air and yawned.

“<Honoka? Can you hear me?>” Umi’s voice sounded through the earpiece for the group.

“Yes, I can hear you perfectly.” Honoka replied with a sigh of relief when she heard her best friend voice.

“<There are no traps laid in the area and I found the perfect place for Kotori, I will also be waiting for you at the eastern part of the enemy’s base.>”

“I see, we will reach you in five minutes.” Honoka’s face tensed while saying that line knowing that there would be a dangerous battle that would happen eventually.

“<Roger that, be careful…over.>” Umi ended the communication.

Eli gulped and then turned on her pocket flash light due to her fear of the dark.

“Okay, we are going out!” Honoka started walking while the former third years released the safety of their guns with crisp clicks and followed their leader’s back.

It didn’t take them long to join Umi since they didn’t have to worry for traps and patrolling personnel but they had to walk a little more until they reached the area and when they did, they were looking at the enemy base at a distance of hundred meters away through binoculars.

The base area was wide and had six watchtowers with six guards each that overlook the safety of the place with its big spot lights, K9 dogs that were patrolling the area with its masters, machine guns and heavily armed personnel stationed at all the right areas and armored vehicles parked perfectly to utilize speed in case of emergencies.

“Wow, it’s like an army base was established here~” Nico said that while whistling in amazement.

“Someone really invested a lot of money just for their services…”Eli sighed in defeat for this troublesome mission and just cursed their luck.

“Maybe it’s a rival group or company of our client?” Nozomi’s muffled voice came from the mouth piece of her gas mask that covered her expression. She was definitely making a tired face behind the mask Eli thought.

“The armored vehicles might become troublesome if we are going to get away from here with the Ojou-sama.” Nico looked intently at the vehicles.

The group was regretting not letting Kotori bring her Barrett Sniper which is an Anti-Tank rifle that specializes destroying heavy armored vehicles such as tanks and Humvees.

Honoka just smiled then asked their outstanding sniper her situation.

“Kotori-chan? Did the little bird have its eyes on its prey?” With a tone that carried assurance, Honoka inquired.

“<Yeah, I am locked and loaded. It might be a little difficult but I can handle them.>” Kotori’s steady breathing was heard from the communicator in their ears. Seeing that Kotori herself is pumped, everyone smiled.

“Don’t worry Kotori, I will help in sabotaging the vehicles so that you will have an easy time focusing against the armed personnel inside.” Eli said that while seeing her backpacks that held some C4 inside.

“<Copy that and thanks Eli-chan.>” Kotori sighed in relief.

“I will assist you then.” Taking one of the backpacks that Eli bought, Umi took some C4 to help ease the burden on Kotori and Eli.

“Thanks Umi, let’s do a great job together again.” Eli grinned while after saying her gratitude, Umi just smiled back.  

“Alright everyone! Tsubasa-san’s distraction will happen anytime now so be ready to storm in.” Honoka ordered while fixing her posture properly with the rifle in her hands.

The watch on the wrist of every participant of this mission showed just twenty seconds before becoming 8pm which was the initial time to start the mission.

Then came the sounds of a helicopter propeller and the engines of about 10 Humvees from the northern part of the base, panicked voices from the former Special Forces personnel on the ground and the big alarm signifying enemy intruders resounded on the once quiet base.

The helicopter that approached the base was a Military Helicopter that was used on Asian countries like Japan and is dubbed as the Ninja.

The Humvees was specially playing a rhythmic beat of a song which was quite catchy to the ears with its speakers.

The guards on the watch towers turned their spotlights to the direction where the sounds came from and then started firing on the oncoming intruders while the people on the ground braced for the coming battle with the people on the Humvees.

The time was 8pm.

“Dancing, dancing! Non-stop my dancing Dancing, dancing! Non-stop my dancing Dancing, dancing! Non-stop my dancing Dancing, dancing! Let me do!”

A melodic group of voices from some girls was heard from the Humvees speakers and the helicopter arrived while shooting its missiles to the area around a watchtower making it fall in the process.

Blasting the enemy with its attached Gatling gun, the Ninja continued to pick its victims one by one.

“Wow…. A-RISE never fails at impressing…” Nico said that while holding her breath with admiration.

“I guess that they did not lose their touch yet.” Eli scratched her cheeks wryly with her finger.

“It really is flashy and cool as they had said.” Umi stared at the commencing battle on the main entrance of the base.

Party shocking party, are you ready to get started? (Come here, right over here) Party shocking party, the world is turning (Come here, right over here)

The song that was playing from the speakers on the Humvees was one of the famous songs that A-RISE sang while they were school idols in the “Love Live” competition a few years ago. The name of the song is “Shocking Party” and it was really a shocking party for the people occupying the base indeed.

When the Humvees reached the main entrance, they rammed the gate and the people who were assigned to the Gatling Guns started shooting the people on the ground that came to intercept them.

The mercenary men from A-RISE who were inside the Humvees went outside of the vehicles and hid behind walls of the base while trading bullets with the enemy in turns.

The enemies were no pushovers either; they have also taken down some of the men from the A-RISE team and used some heavy guns against the Humvees and made them explode.

Gunshots and the agonizing screams of pain from men became the melody, smoke and burnt woods with the tint of concrete dust on air became the fragrance, and the irregular high pressured blood being pumped to the heart and heighted senses from the adrenaline rush became the power used on this battlefield.

A modern everyday battle that uses men that holds guns and ballistic weapons and aiming for the death of their fellow men.

“<Honoka-san? Come in Honoka-san?>” Tsubasa’s voice was heard on the earpiece of everyone while seeing that the helicopter continued shooting at the enemy forces on the ground. Tsubasa was probably the one who was piloting the Japanese Ninja Military Helicopter while using its mini-gun and missiles.

“<Did you guys like the distraction we mad- Woah! That was a close one!>” A guy from the opposing side who was on a roof used a RPG and tried to make the bird in the sky fall down. However, the helicopter dodged it in time.

“Tsubasa-san!!”Honoka panicked at what happened a moment ago when she saw that sight, the others where no different.

“<Don’t worry! We are fine! Continue with the mission!>” The helicopter went past them and then turned back to the base to fire its missiles again.

Hearing that their comrades where fine, they sighed with relief.

“Alright, let’s go!”Honoka’s voice had the commanding tone which gave motivation to everyone present around her.

“Yes!” With that answer and determination being felt from it, the group charged in to rescue the VIP.

KOTORI’S P.O.V

Lying in a prone position, I set my right eye on my enemies through the scope of my Remington RSASS.

I guess that the talk I had with Umi-chan before arriving her had calmed me down significantly.

I am about 1000 meters away from the base, hiding between the tall trees just in case if my position were to be compromised.  

“<Kotori-chan… Take out the people in the watch tower in front us…>” I heard Nozomi-chan’s muffled voice through my right ear; she was probably wearing her trademark mask right now.

“Wait for a moment.” I replied while adjusting the sniper sight to have better accuracy.

I saw Honaka-chan with Nozomi-chan through the scope as they were taking cover near the fences while hiding from the sight of the enemies; I hope that the enemies won’t notice them.

While Umi-chan and Eli-chan were going stealthily to the area where the armored vehicles were parked, they were going to plant bombs on the armored cars since it might become a bit of a problematic matter if it were to be used by the bad guys and follow them using it so I need to thank them later since it will keep me from focusing on the drivers later.

If they successfully planted the C4 on the cars then they would have to rendezvous with Honoka-chan and Nozomi-chan and then provide cover when Nico-chan comes out with the VIP.

Nico-chan chooses to go solo and is trying to reach the supposed location where the VIP is being held while maneuvering between the intervals where the spotlight did not went through. She is fast at her work like always be it killing bad guys or making our clothes when we were school Idols.

I just hope that she doesn’t push herself too much.

I breathed in air to slow and relax my mind before setting my aim on the head of the person who was using the spot light to follow the A-RISE helicopter.

“Just like what Nico-chan taught me, a steady aim will lead to a steady kill…” I voiced my thoughts out to no one particular.

I rested my index finger on the trigger of the rifle, holding my breath and…. then pulled it.

“Bang…”

*BANG*

A loud gunshot resounded through the night’s air that came from the sniper rifle.

The bullet that was shot pierced the head of a guard and the body fell from the watch tower, noticing that one of their buddies was shot and killed in front of them; the other five looked at each other, confused on the situation only to realize what was happening a second later but it was late for them.

Seeing the first person that I shot was hit, I moved the sniper rifle on to my next prey like a steady machine and locked my sight on him.

“Next one…” I pulled the trigger of my trusted sniper rifle with no hesitation at all.

*BANG*

Another shot was heard and another man fell down from the tower.

That’s how I kill to protect what’s precious to me and will not let that accident happen once again.

“Shit! There are enemies here!” The man spoke in English while trying to warn his comrades only to get shot in the upper area of his head. A shot was then aimed to the spotlight to give more leeway for Nico since it will disrupt the way the enemies will try to find the other intruders.

“Nice Job Kotori-chan…”Nozomi praised her junior through the communicator and looked to her left to see Honoka chewing a piece of bread while eyeing for an opportunity to distract the other enemies.

Yes, it was a plan where they will stretch the opposing forces area of operations thin then rescue the hostage while the base is in a chaotic state.

First, A-RISE will be the main distraction and will keep most of the enemy’s attention on them.

Second, Kotori will lay covering fire and will shot to keep them distracted since they will be wary of another force that is attacking them from the side.

Third, Umi and Eli will plant bombs to distract and cripple the opposing force from following their escape path.  

And lastly, bag their “Ojou-sama” as Nico liked to call her and get the fuck out before anything bad happens to them.

“Hmm… I wonder if Umi-chan and Eli-chan finished their task…” Honoka hugged her rifle after pocketing the wrapper and placed a finger on her lips to tap on it.

“Honoka-chan~ I know that you are fired up tonight since it will make Yazawa-sama happy but we shouldn’t do anything rash, okay?” Seeing her leader like that, Nozomi warned her not to do anything that will compromise the mission.

“Geez... I know that…” Honoka grumbled while pouting and repositioned her rifle to its original position on her hands.

A gust of wind came from above when the Ninja that Tsubasa was on, passed above them.

“Its fine then~” Staring at her submachine gun and chuckling, Nozomi adjusted her grip on the P90 and waited for the go signal of her twin-tailed short best friend.

“<Honoka-san? Come in, Honoka-san?>” Tsubasa’s voice was heard from the earpiece.

“Yes, what is it Tsubasa-san?”

“<I think that my helicopter can’t handle the heat anymore and I used most of my arsenal already…>” Tsubasa’s voice had a sorry tone.

Honoka then stared at the flying helicopter and found out that it didn’t have any missiles left while the ammo on its Gatling gun is low.

“I understand, you can leave the rest of the work to us!” Honoka had an assuring tone when she replied to the other group’s leader.

“<Thank you, I am leaving Erena in charge of the remaining men on the front gate; call her if you need some manpower on your area.>” Tsubasa seemed like she didn’t want to leave the place with the tone of her voice.

“Hehe! Don’t worry about us and yeah, we will contact Erena-san if the situation calls for it.” Laughing, Honoka replied with energy to show that they will be fine and the leader of A-RISE doesn’t have anything to worry about.

Cutting off the radio connection between the two leaders, the energetic leader looked at Nozomi and grinned. Seeing that bright smile, Nozomi removed her face mask and faced the orange haired girl.

“Oh my, you are really excited and it is contagious Honoka-chan~” The purple haired girl smiled back.

“I won’t be called ‘Sweet Magnum’ if I weren’t eccentric and happy, right?”

“Yeah, you are right. You really did earn that title fairly, remember the day when Ryouma-sama found out about your popularity and he was surprised.” Nozomi smiled at the memory.

“Father got worried too much to the point that he would force me to bring my family’s best men as escorts for our missions, it was so much trouble telling him not to worry.” While Honoka grimaced remembering the scene.

“It was something really.”

“Yeah and we have Nico-chan to thank for it.”

Amused by the memory that they suddenly remembered, they both smiled in appreciation while awaiting the ‘GO’ signal of the person who showed them this world.

ELI’s P.O.V

Thank God that there is a source of light at this base… Not being able to see in the dark is scary…

I thought that while sprinting to the next wall that Umi was on when I saw a group of armed men pass by us, seemingly going to the area where the fight between their comrades and the men from A-RISE is currently being held.

“Kotori? Where should we go? Go Left or go Right?” When I arrive near Umi, I heard her communicating with our trusted over-watch while she was laying low.

“<Turn left but be careful since there are some bad guys on that side that you will meet in a few seconds.>” The little bird replied with the sound of her sniper rifle being heard as she continued her job as our eyes and support, we began on sprinting.

“Roger that.” I replied then pulled my combat specific knife from its holster on my lower back while running.

Following Kotori’s directions, Umi sprinted forward past me and then kneeled on her right knee near a wall, pulled her daggers from their holders, two at each of her hands then turned around the corner and threw it.

As I was nearing her, I heard some muffled groans. It seems that she threw the sharp objects at their throats, killing with high accuracy that leaves no noise, as expected of the girl who is titled as ‘Ghost’.

I couldn’t even help her, taking all the work upon her, it’s so like her.  

As I was re-sheathing the blade back to its holster while thinking deeply, I heard a voice breaking my train of thoughts.

“Let’s go.” The navy haired girl got up from her kneeling position began sprinting again.

I ran behind her since I was carrying a heavy gun with me and half a bag of explosives, not even five seconds has passed and I saw four bodies lying on the floor impaled with Umi’s daggers in their throats.

“No time to spare for doing a maid job.” I spoke while passing the corpses. The ‘maid job’ here is meant to hide the bodies, a little customized army style language that we girls made and use now due to the influence from playing First Person shooting games that Nico forced us to play when we were training.

“But once they find those bodies, things will get hectic.” The knife specialist sighed as she continued to look forward in case that there were enemies ahead.

As we were running, our sniper’s voice resounded through our right ear.

“<It seems that the area is clear in front of you but be careful, I need to keep Nico-chan in my sights so I won’t be able to watch over you guys.>” Kotori’s gunshots is still resonating as we were running.

“You have done enough, let us do the rest.” I spoke as we rounded another corner.

“Thank you Kotori and don’t push yourself too much.” Umi replied as she was placing her right eye on her holographic sight of her rifle for a steady aim in case we see enemies in front of us.

“<Little Bird, out.> Chucking, Kotori cut off her communication and focused her main job as being Nico’s over-watch.

Umi smiled faintly as we were running straight ahead in a hallway that appeared to lead us to where the means of transportation of the opponents were placed.

“Let’s tell Ho-“

*BARK*                

Something had jumped to Umi’s right flank from a corner but she was quick to react and stabbed it with her right back thigh’s knife, her main knife.

The creature had fallen down to the ground and was whimpering, it turned out to be a K9 that had apparently lost its owner or was set loose so it could find sneaky personnel.

“Sorry…” Umi knelt down and pulled her knife out of the poor mutt’s side and swiftly stabbed the heart so the dog can be let off its misery.

“Are you okay?” I called out to her as she stood up; she smiled wryly at my concern while putting the bloodied knife back at its holster and spoke.

“Yeah, let’s just get this done…” We began sprinting again and Umi contacted our leader.

“Honoka, we are nearing the targets. How is the situation on your side?”

“<Umi-chan!>” Our leader’s loud voice echoed through the earpieces making a ringing noise that made me and Umi cringe at the sound.

“<Shh… Don’t be loud, Honoka-chan.>” I heard Nozomi’s clear voice and it seems that she is not wearing her mask. I don’t know how she does it but her voice had always calmed me in mysterious ways.

“<How are you holding up, Elicchi?>” She spoke again asking me how I am feeling, I bet that she is concerned of my problem dealing with darkness.

“I am fine and with Umi too. There is nothing to worry about it if we are working together, right?” I replied to the communicator while looking at the blue haired knife expert.

“Yeah.” Came her modest reply.

“ <What’s this? What’s this? I think that I am hearing the chorus of “Storm in Lover”!>” Our leader voice resounded reminding me that she is too loud for their safety.

“Honoka, not now and please lower your voice for your own good…” I reminded her while whispering in an attempt to divert the topic so that Nozomi would just let our junior slip of a tongue to not bother her and since we have had arrived at the area.    

“<Sorry… Sorry…>” She apologized but I heard a muffled shout of a man in the background.

“Did you just get found out and did Nozomi just take care of him, right?” I sighed when I imagined what had happened at my comrade’s side as I was scanning the area of people, Umi on high alert.

“<Ugh… How did you find out?>” Came her reply with a tint of apology for messing up and not being careful.

This leader of mine, she has no sense of responsibility and I see Umi sighing, I tap her shoulder with my left hand before she could begin her sermon.

“Let her be, Nozomi is with her so it’s going to be fine.”

“You are right, I forgot that most of the time we get in trouble, it’s either you Nico and Honoka are the people who came up with crazy ideas to bail us out.” The knife expert relaxed after saying that.

“Is that supposed to be a complement?” We giggle at my reply.

“<Are you guys done by the way?>” The cheerful voice of Honoka resounded again.

“We didn’t even start.” I replied while peeking through a gap in the wall. Seeing that there are about fifteen armed men watching the surrounding parameter and oh my… A tank…

“How in the world did a tank end up in the Amazons?” Umi spoke what was in my mind.

There were another five armed men who arrived and spoke to the leader who were looking after their vehicles and then they got on one Humvee, it seem that they are going to assist the battle on the main gate.

“<A tank…>” The normally cheerful tone of voice became serious making me a bit uncomfortable, it seems that Umi too have heard it from Honoka.

“H-Honoka! Don’t worry about us and stick to the plan!” I hurriedly placated our leader to avoid complications and to lower the chances of something going wrong.

“<Umm… If you say so Eli-chan…>” My leader’s voice seemed to relent and it was a good thing.

“We will begin our task in thirty seconds, there are fifteen lookers and we need to clean them up.” I brought back the main topic that went down the pits, signaling Umi to shoot them in my mark with my left hands.

“<Okay… Good Luck.>” She replied with a monotonous tone that was so unlike her and Umi had to stifle her laugh, it’s her first time today since our flight few hours ago.

I gripped the fore grip of the Light Machine Gun and placed my finger on the trigger already done choosing my targets, Umi done with hers too.

“Let them fall.” These words left my mouth in Russian.

A barrage of shots resounded from the guns and at a matter of seconds the men fell down one by one with death cries.

“The parameter is clear but the shots should have alerted other patrols of what happened here.” Umi jumped from the cover while opening her pack and went to the direction of the tank; I also did the same but went to a Humvee instead thanking God that they didn’t use the tank against our A-RISE comrades at the main gate.

“Let’s get out of here in two minutes.” I stuck the C4 under the backside of the tires, hoping that the number of bombs we bought will be enough for the disabling the force that will try to bite us at the back.

“Okay.” Sticking C4 on the railings of the tank, Umi replied back.

We did our part here and now the waiting time of our center to shine brightly tonight.

“It’s now up to you, Nico.”

NICO’s P.O.V

I jumped forward while stabbing a man at the back directly to his heart making him shout in agony before dying, that death cry didn’t last long when I twisted the handle of the knife and made the sharp object lodged in his heart turn – effectively killing the tall man in front me. Hearing the steady rhythm of the little bird’s Semi Automatic Sniper Rifle firing in intervals, I pulled my combat knife out from the dead corpse and watched it fell to the ground.

“Kotori?” I tapped my ear piece while putting the bloodied knife on my left thigh then began sprinting while speaking with our over-watch.

“<Yes, Nico-chan?>” My perfect sniper that I, Yazawa Nico have personally taught replied instantly.

I hate to admit it but she is getting better and better with her sniping skills and accuracy. I taught her real good.

“Am I nearing the supposed location or not?” I spoke while avoiding a patrol of five men armed with submachine guns that had found one of the few bodies of their comrades that I killed earlier.

“<You are doing just fine, look at all the fans that are searching for you.>” Kotori chuckled seemingly amused at the panicking men that is going to and fro in search of the intruder which is me.

“It’s not funny Kotori…” I grumbled as I pulled a flash bang that can blind people for a short duration from a holster attached to my back, I plan to throw it to the earlier patrolling guys that I avoided.

“<Slipping up is so ‘Ultra Rare’ to happen for you Nico-chan, what happened to you to the point of forgetting to do the maid job? Is something wrong? Are you hurt?>” Her normally cheery voice now had concern laced with it making me feel guilty but I can’t just say that I was feeling lethargic to even bother hiding the body of the first one that I killed tonight.

It’s because of the fight that I had with Maki-chan… Why can’t she just accept that she is in the wrong…?

I pulled the pin.

“I was distracted, okay…” I replied causally while throwing the cylindrical object from my hand at the patrolling group that had their formation broken when they found the body that I left behind minutes ago; I then pulled my dual medium length Katanas from their scabbards that was being held at my back with a crisp ringing that I always liked to hear as a child. It always reminded me of those days when Papa was alive and showed me his smile.

“Time to show your talons, Yazawa Nico.”

The flash bang exploded right in the middle causing the armed men to shout in pain in unison, taking that as my sign I dashed from the wall that I was hiding at and hacked the nearest one in front of me in a diagonal upward right slash causing his body to spray blood from the cut that he received.  

Before the body could fall to the ground, I already had stabbed another man through his head and then dashed to the next one to his left. When the two corpses touched the ground, I had already slashed the abdomen of a man who was still gripping his eyes with his hands due to the pain of the flash – making him vomit blood from his mouth and his body slouched forward when my blade had passed through him.

I still have three seconds remaining from the flash bang effect, I calculated from seeing the other two guys who were slowly gaining balance and awareness.

Heh, they will really get freaked out when they see what happened to their comrades but nah, sorry pals. I will put you out of your miseries now.

I rotated both my Katanas at my hands and then threw it to their direction at the same time.

When they had opened their eyes, they saw my swords coming at them but they couldn’t react in time and got pierced directly between the eyes causing them to die instantly. The force of my throws had thrown their bodies away to a little distance; seeing that the five people around me had fallen to the ground, I then moved to grab the things that I had thrown with a sigh.

“<Wow… You call that distracted but it was so amazing Nico-chan… I couldn’t follow your movements at all moments ago.>” The little bird’s high pitched voice carried amazement in it making me smile wryly.

“It’s already a given since it’s me and you have seen much more impossible feats done already so why are you acting surprised when I do this much?” I honestly don’t think that I did anything out of the ordinary with the things that I do when we have operations but they always shower me with praises and I don’t like it at all.

Yeah, I like it when they praise my cuteness and doing things concerning Idol Stuff but praising me of doing dirty work is different and I really don’t like it. Not that I will tell them about it though.

“<If you say so… But you really did great Nico-chan!>” Kotori giggled at my reply.  

This little stun had wasted me 10 seconds… I really am distracted... Maybe I should apologize to her when we get done here… But that will make me look weak and needy… This stupid pride of mine…

I thought idly on why I was doing badly tonight while walking to retrieve the dual swords though being careful not to make a noise in case there are other group of people lurking in the area.

“M-M-Monster…” An agonizing voice caught my attention when I pulled my twin Katanas from the heads of the fallen men. Turning around to look at where the sound came from, I saw the man who I slashed at his abdomen on the ground looking up at me sweating badly while clutching his stomach and body twitching. On the ground, his UMP45 had apparently blocked some part of my cut and saving his life from my blow seconds before. I slashed my twin blades to the ground to get the blood out of its blades then re-sheathing it back to its scabbards. I knelt down picking a pistol from one of the holsters of his fallen comrades; conveniently it had a suppressor on it to lessen the sound of the shot and proceeded to walk to him.

“Sorry for not killing you in one blow, it made you experience pain similar to the Japanese Seppuku.” I lined the pistol to his forehead.  

“A-a L-little g-girl…?” The man spoke breathlessly when he saw my figure completely, shocked beyond relief. Normally, this sentence would have insulted me but I am working now so I should stick to being a professional, keeping a stoic face to hide the agonizing thing that I would do in the few next seconds to the man laying in front of me.

“Yeah, I am just a little girl so please let go off your worldly desires and go to the afterlife in peace.” I replied in a perfect American accent English while flashing a smile full of melancholy at him.

“N-never knew that I w-will meet my end at the h-hands of a little girl but I am glad…” The man coughed blood as he spoke and then showed a dry smile with his twitching blood covered mouth.

He is glad…? I have met different kinds of people and some of them had said something similar like his words… When I was a child… My Papa had explained the true history of my family, clan and nature to me… Knowing that I will step into a dark hell hole, I prepared myself as a child and here I am now…

Taking the life of a person to just save another.

“You are showing a pained expression… Little girl… Don’t be…” It seems that I am really am distracted, showing a weak expression when I should have already gotten used to this.

The man took deep breaths and showed determination in his dying eyes while taking off his communicator; it seems that he wants to do something.

“This sinful profession can take your life in a second if you lose your focus and showed mercy on your enemies …” Surprisingly he didn’t cough blood as he spoke; I hummed to show that I was listening. “But hey… do me a favor and do what you have said and send me to the afterlife.”

His death wish resounded in my head, it sounded hopeful and pleading too. It seems that he have suffered in life.

“Sure.” I lined the barrel of the pistol to his head once again.

“One last thing… Can I know your name and what are you called…?” This guy is sure is talkative for a dying man but I will humor him since I made him suffer too much.

“Yazawa Nico. ‘Raven of the End’.”

“I see… Even a Monster of the Eastern Parts has emotions too…” He chuckled and then looked at the sky. I smiled sadly at the word ‘emotions’ since I know that this line of work should not have it.

“Well then, Miss Yazawa… Do the honors…”  The man closed his eyes as he smiled one last time, “Honey. I am coming for you.”

“Rest in Peace.” I pulled the trigger, “This job is so much worse than my side one.” Letting the handgun fall to the ground, I walked away from the body and then began running to my target.

“<Nico-chan…>”

“Yeah.”

“<Let me bake you some cheesecake when we get back?>”

“Yeah.” I replied once again dully. This is getting tiring but I need to keep my act together. Not for me but for them and for her too.

Running for three minutes around the directions Kotori have given to me, I stopped and instantly took cover to hide and saw the warehouse and the sharpened looks of the patrolling men who were hiding in behind walls and barricades. It seems that stealth won’t be an option, guess that I have to use my Uzis for this one.

“Kotori,” Her name left my mouth with a sigh and I grabbed one smoke bomb from a holster at the back, “keep me backed up.” throwing the sphere object that was in my hands into an arc to their position repeating what I did minutes ago.

“<Okay Nico-chan.>” Her firm voice resounded as smoke started to rise from the ball and I dashed out from my cover to kill other people once again.

A disgusting cycle that I so hated would once again happen against my will and it seems that it won’t be changing anytime soon.

I hate myself for dragging those Angelic Girls to this hell…

*BANG*

Bullets left my guns and shouts reverberated as a result of my practiced actions.

MAKI’s P.O.V

The stars on this side of the planet shine brightly than the ones back at Japan… Maybe it’s due to not having so many city lights that overshadows the ones on the sky… I wonder if Nico-chan stopped to look at the sky… No I don’t think she would do that… But then again, this senior of mine had surprised me so many times that I lost count… She is the brightness star that I laid my eyes on actually…  

Staring at the dark sky that had glittering white sand which was stars while sitting on the get-away Humvee’s hood, I immersed myself with idle thoughts while twirling a strand of my hair, an old habit of mine that I can’t get rid off since I started middle-school when I thought of something too deeply or when I feel that I am in an uncomfortable situation.

A sudden breeze of the wind found my uncovered arms, the creatures of the jungle going wild as the noises from the battle were so new to them and were not accustomed to it but I kept on ignoring my surroundings and just sat there.

“Hmm, It looks like the A-RISE boys are letting loose out there~” A cheery voice came from a few feet to my right. Turning my head to the source, I saw my two friends sitting on a vehicle that was beside mine, a customized Humvee that will provide cover for the one that I sat on.

“Fans sure would do anything for their idols.” Rin spoke again while eyeing the situation through binoculars that she held.

“Don’t underestimate what they can do if they were going to get handshakes and smiles as a reward Rin-chan.” Hanayo’s voice as she was busy reloading the cartridges of the mini-gun on top of the Humvee was firm but held a sense of warmth. I guess that being a co-fan like the men who were fighting at the base gave her a sense of camaraderie with them.

Well, they do deserve some credit since they are men that were trained by the JSDF.

I lay down on the hood as I thought on how our life had turned out like this, reminiscing on the day that changed it.

“Hey Rin and Hanayo, you girls have no regrets entering this kind of life, right?” I know I had asked this question many times before but I need to hear their answers verbally like always, I am a spoiled girl after all and I have insecurities too.

“I believe that we all agreed to do this together Maki-chan and all for Nico-chan’s sake too, right?” Hanayo soft voice had determination laced on it and it made me smile, she really had changed during the course of this year.

“μ's would be always the nine of us, no more and no less. Nico-chan is a part of μ's and it’s normal to help her, nya!” Rin’s answer made me giggle a little, yeah, we are μ's or more like De μ's now.

“Thanks for always answering this repetitive question of mine, I really appreciate it.” I word out my gratitude towards their friendship and not abandoning Nico-chan where she really needed it.

But hmph! Nico-chan should be more like these two and not be a jerk like always! How come she denies me the desire of her meeting my Papa for the second time! I know that ‘first impression lasts’ but what she did saved my soul but! Stupid! Stupid Nico-chan! So stubborn and a coward! It’s not like this would be ‘A dinner with your girlfriend’s parents’ like she thought would be! Maybe… Papa wouldn’t interrogate the future Boss of the all powerful Yakuza of Japan right?

I mean, I knew from Mother (Nico’s Mother) that Nico-chan’s Father used to be friends with Papa but that doesn’t mean that he would go easy on her. If I thought about it like that, Nico-chan might be right this time… But how could she have her way when I had to suffer under Mother’s interrogative gaze during our stay at the Yazawa Estate for a whole year! She needs to suffer her portion too! Idiot Nico-chan!!!!

“-chan!!! Maki-chan!!! Are you listening to us!? Nya!?” Rin’s shout resounded to my eardrums making it ring.

“Ow, sorry… I was just thinking about something…” I replied and realized that heat was creeping onto my face due to my embarrassment of not listening to what they were saying.

“I thought that you went to sleep, you were tossing around a lot and it felt that you were having a difficulty relaxing on the car’s hood.” The orange haired spoke once again while eyeing me with suspicion.

“I-It’s nothing…” I got up from my lying position and replied instinctively, regretting the sputtering of my voice that came out of my mouth, I hoped that they wouldn’t know what I was thinking before.

“Is it about Nico-chan?” The olive-haired girl’s soft voice tore through the winds and reached my ears.

Hanayo! I trusted you! What the heck!?

“N-No! It’s not!” Damn. Really, my throat? Are you betraying me, why did you make me croak that sentence weirdly!

“Aha! You should be honest with us Maki-chan~” Rin is ecstatic like she got a new flavor of ramen handed to her. Nope, not going to bite that bait Rin, I learned from my past mistakes.

“You should just make up with her,” I shifted my burning face to Hanayo in attempt to ignore Rin’s remark, “and not force her to do what she doesn’t like to do. It would hurt both of you.” Hmm… Hanayo’s words do have a point.

“Okay… I would do that…” I pout at them and got off the Humvee’s hood and picked the AK-12 rifle that lay on the bumper while wearing a beret on my head.

“Maki-chan sure has changed.” I heard Rin’s voice and I flashed a smile at her direction.

“Must be the affect of being the Number One Idol in the Universe’s lover I guess.” I replied coolly while going to their direction earning soft giggles from the duo.

I believe that we all have changed one way or another and I don’t know if it was the best or for the worst but one thing is for sure, I don’t regret entering this life to help the person that I have fallen in love for.

“Hey Hanayo, let me be the one who would use Puncher-chan today, can I?” I suddenly had the mood to be daring tonight and I bet that I would look gorgeous when I fire those rounds. I would love to make Nico-chan’s jaw drop like I have always done, thinking of her bewildered face excites me.

“Sure Maki-chan! Then I guess that I would have to drive the bailout vehicle, hope that I can do it properly…” Good, Hanayo have agreed to swap roles for this operation but she doubted herself if she could pull it or not.

I looked away from her lilac eyes and faced Rin who was at the driver’s seat, asking for her support to cheer Hanayo up from her usual ‘self beating’.

“You are too modest Hanayo,” I began as I opened the second door to the armored car, “Maki-chan is right Kayo-chin, your hacking skills helped us at numerous occasions!” Rin continued after me as she got out of the car from the main door, “B-But hacking is different from bailing out!” Hanayo cried out as she slipped to the other seat at the second row of the vehicle, I lay my rifle on the second seat that is beside the driver one and sat beside Hanayo while Rin entered through door I opened and sat on my left side.

“Hmph, excuses.” I snorted and lay my head on her shoulder, “If you deny your hacking skills then I would have to add your unique feats I guess.” Rin hugged my side and smiled smugly at Hanayo’s direction, “And we know how you hate it when we praise you that way, nya~” and spoke.

“Nooo~!!! Don’t make me remember the crazy stuff I did!!! Please!!!” Heh, she screamed and flailed around, it means that we got her.

“Then don’t belittle yourself, Hanayo.” I grabbed her left hand and locked my eyes on her. “You are a strong girl and the rest of the members all know it.” I felt Rin’s hand atop mine, “Kayo-chin is the strongest among all of us!” and squeezed our hands.

“G-Geez… Did you girls really have to hit me below the belt like that…? When I clearly said that I don’t want to remember it…” Oh, she is pouting! Looks like we managed to calm her, I grinned at Rin and giggled.

“Yeah, it’s your punishment, nya!” Rin giggled too then separated from the group hug that she had made a minute ago, leaving the car and started stretching outside.

“You would do fine.” I left Hanayo’s side as she hummed in response and went through a hole in the vehicle’s roof where the mini-gun was located.

Checking the condition of Puncher-chan once again if she would get a malfunction or not I spoke to Rin to give the binoculars that she was using minutes ago to me. Rin obliged and threw her binoculars to my direction and I caught it.

I peered through the binoculars and started to look all over the place for Nico-chan.

“Ah, there she is.” I voiced my thoughts as my eyes landed on a figure that dashed into a smoke covered area while shooting, she hit several men through the fog and some bodies fell without her looking at them, it seems Kotori is backing her up… They really do make a great team and it makes me a bit jealous of their chemistry although I won’t tell that to anyone.

“Rin, Hanayo. Nico-chan is going to enter the hot zone in a few seconds, get ready.” I threw the zooming device back to Rin and mentally prepared myself to shoot.

Hanayo got out of Rin’s car, bringing her Striker along with her and jogged to the other car while Rin went to the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“Let’s make this perfect.” I spoke coolly and heard the two girls cheer at my words making me smile.

Nico-chan, prepare yourself for an awesome entrance.

I grabbed with my two hands the triggers of Puncher-chan and waited for the flare that would sign our entrance to the battlefield.

“Intruders!” A shout filled with alarm along with gunshots resounded outside the warehouse.

“So this area is their real target after all. Get ready for a shot out you fags!” A man with a beard who seems to be the leader of this base ordered the ten men who were tasked to look over the hostage.

The hostage sat on a metal a chair with ropes tying the limbs and a bloodied white sack on the head to cover the face.

“We can’t see anything through this smoke!!”

“What the hell!? We can’t they be kille-Gah!!!” A scream was heard outside followed by complete silence later making the men nervous.

“The hell was that!” A person who hid behind a crate shouted in fear while nervously gripping his assault rifle.

“Suck it up fucker!” The leader stood behind the hostage and lit a cigarette that was on his mouth then proceeded to position a pistol near the hostage’s head.

“If bullets can hurt them then it can kill them!” The bearded man roared to boost the morale of his men. “Aren’t you men that came from the best of the best of your dammed countries army!? If so, then there is noth-“

*BLAST*

A blast of pure white illuminated the slightly dark interior of the warehouse and the men who didn’t hide behind obstacles as covers got blinded making them shout in pain, several small red flares were then thrown inside and lit the big room with its red color.

Taking the chance, Kotori began picking off the people inside. Bullets began breaking the glass on the second floor as it hit the head of the person who hid behind the crate.

“They even got a sniper!?” The leader was now panicking when he saw that his men fell around him one by one until he was the only person left from his group.

Nico walked through the main door with steady steps towards the only two living occupants in the warehouse.

“S-Stop right there if you don’t want a hole in his head!!!” The cigarette fell from his mouth as he threatened to kill the hostage.

“His head?” Nico tilted her head at the words uttered by the hysterical man. She tapped into her earpiece to speak with Kotori while raising her right hand that held the submachine gun and faced it into the direction of the leader.

“It seems that the Intel is off.” Nico suppressed a scoff as she spoke with Kotori, the situation was getting troublesome for her.

“A little Asian girl!?” When the leader saw the illuminated figure properly, he screamed in shock. “Wait!? Jesus Christ! You’re Mist!?” That title made Nico frown, it is one of the many titles she got was referred to in the underground society. It seems that the bearded man now knew who attacked the base as he was twitching in fear.

“Not these again, take out his leg and I will take his hand.” She lowered her Uzi and pulled out her combat knife, Nico whispered her orders to their over-watch.

“<Sure!>” As soon as Nico heard the reply, she threw the knife instantly to the direction of the hand that held the pistol.

The leader kneeled when he felt a hot object piercing his thigh then in the second that followed by, a painful sharp thing at the back of his hand.

“Aaaahhh!!!” He screamed when his nerves processed what happened to his body, lying on the ground while holding his thigh.

Nico resumed her stride to the person who sat on the chair while pulling out her katana to cut off the ropes that binds him.

“Hmm… The man is the British Air Force uniform. I think that we should bring him with us Kotori.”  The sniper hummed in response as Nico cut off the ropes and took off the sack to reveal a European man who had his face covered with bruises and blonde hair disheveled, completely knocked out.

“<Nico-chan, I need to leave your side for awhile… It seems that they sent a squad to look for me...>” Kotori’s whispering voice broke Nico’s train of thoughts on how to deal with this problem they encountered. It seems that the constant flashing of her rifle gave out her position and the enemies wanted some revenge against the person who took so many of their comrades down.

“I see... Be careful and don’t do anything rash, okay? Try contacting someone for extraction.” Nico trusted Kotori enough to say this and cut off her communication. It would be a lie if she told that she didn’t worry for the ashen-haired girl but she, herself had taught Kotori on how to get away from predicaments and even saw the Sniper’s feats.

“Everything would be okay, the last incident wouldn’t happen again…” She spoke her thoughts out aloud to reassure herself, the small red flares brightness had died and the room became dark.

“Mister? Hey! Wake up! We need to get out of here as soon as possible!” Putting her katana back to its place on her back, Nico began on shaking the sleeping European with little force. The man eventually started stirring on the chair and soon opened his eyes.

When he became aware of his environment, he instantly clenched his hands and went for a right hook to the raven-haired’s face only to be dodged even before it was released.

“Who the bloody hell are you!?”  As the fist tore through air, the man roared as he eyed Nico’s figure, it seems that his eyes has yet to adjust to the darkness of the big room which made him wary of the people in it.

“Dude ! Chill out! I was hired to save your ass. Be thankful that I accepted the job! I can’t believe that British men are brutes who would dare to punch a lady!” Nico started complaining in light manner as she approached him once again, she didn’t really have any problems but she needed to make the tall man calm down before getting out of this place and so she joked to lower his defenses.

“Huh, an American woma- wait!? You’re an Asian!?” The soldier let out a shocked gasp as the moonlight from the broken windows shone on Nico. Well, who can blame him since the accent he heard from the small framed girl was so heavily in an American one.

“I would love to chat with you but we are running out of time, pick up a weapon from the ground and let’s get the hell out of here! “ Nico ordered as she went to the neglected leader who kept on swearing at her, she kneeled beside him and spoke.

“Grit your teeth.” She pulled out her knife nonchalantly from his bloodied hand making him scream in pain during the process.

“M-Monster!” He glared at her with fear evident in his eyes as he now knew who they had fought against. This act alone showed him how true the rumors are about a group of young girls who are so skilled in this godforsaken profession.

“If I were you, I would have taken out the knife from my hand throw it back to the person who threw it, killing them in the process but even you couldn’t do that. Heh, former Special Forces… I bet that you guys were the lowest of the low from your batches and got dropped out of the army.” Nico dully spoke as she stood up and faced the British man while putting her knife back.

His hands now held a submachine gun with four magazines attached to his waist.

“Got everything you need, then let’s go.”As she began on walking to the exit, the man spoke.

“What about that guy?” He gestured to the leader who was now gasping for more air and skin paled from the lack of blood.

“Not gonna do anything to him, he will die from blood loss or you can end his misery by killing him off.” Nico’s answer was simple, although she did kill the person from before to get him out of his misery, this was a different case and she didn’t want to do anymore than she did tonight.

The blonde man thought for some seconds before lining his gun to the bearded man’s direction and pulling the trigger. “Fair enough, thanks for the hospitality mate.”

Nico shrugged and started walking away until the soldier spoke again, halting her once again.

“What is it now?” She huffed in reply and began on checking her remaining ammunitions.

“I want to ask you one thing before trusting you completely.”

“Sure, what do want to know?” Nico was honestly getting irritated with the soldier since he kept on delaying the operation time-line and it might get disrupted if the enemies found out and got them pinned down in the warehouse but she couldn’t show it in her face.  

“Who sent you?” It was a basic question and Nico had to admit that she forgot to reveal her client to the young man but then again this profession has a tendency to make people doubt each other. There was always the chance that the blonde man might be a mercenary in disguise too.

Nico contemplated on exposing the individual who hired them while staring at the eyes of the man for a few seconds. She took her chances, if he was an enemy in disguise, the raven-haired can kill him off instantly, if not then it’s all the better for her situation.

“The one who sent us is Commander Wallcroft of the British Special Air Service.” She exhaled out her reply.

“Ah, the commander himself, he sure has a soft spot for his only daughter.” The young man cackled and began on jogging to her direction, “But why Mercenaries and not the SAS?” and asked other inquiry after he reached her.

She became relived to know that she didn’t have to kill him and turned around to face the exit.

“I have answered one question of yours already, ask your higher ups once you get back instead.” Nico began on jogging herself while readying the flare to signal that she had done her part.

“Fair enough.” The man replied as they went past the big door.

“Good.” Nico squeezed the trigger and a bright pink light flew into the dark sky from the flare gun.

“That would draw a lot of attention here.” The man eyed the bright pink star in the sky.

“I know and because of that, we need to regroup with my team so follow me.” She holstered the flare gun into a small pack behind her and began sprinting to the area where Honoka stayed at, directions already memorized when Kotori had told her a few minutes ago before entering.

The orange-haired girl started on firing as soon as she saw the go signal of Nico against a group of unfortunate personnel who came in to her line of sight when they went into the warehouse direction, surprising the group and killing some of them but had to hide behind cover when a barrage of retaliating fire came her way.

Honoka had kept her calm even when sounds of some bullets hit the concrete behind her and the rest flew above her head, rummaging for a Frag grenade in her packs.

“Oh, I got extra bread here. Lucky!” Seeing her favorite bread at first before finding the spherical object next in her pack, she hid the bread at another pack while picking it.

“Nozomi-chan? Did you come across Nico-chan?” She asked as she pulled the pin out and she threw it into a group of four men who hid behind a rock, there were a horrified shout then an explosive noise reaching her ears a second later.

“<Not yet Honoka-chan, it seems that Nicocchi had encountered a problem along the way.>” Nozomi spoke through the earpiece, a few meters away from the battlefield since she was waiting to rendezvous with the raven-haired girl.

“I see, but you need to hurry since I can’t handle them if more reinforcements came from another part of the base.” Honoka spoke as she took turns on firing against the armed men only for her shots to miss since she had to duck her head under the concrete block when the barrage of bullets got intense, giving her no room to look where her enemies locations was at.

This went on for a minute or two until she saw her two comrades and a man who was supposed to be a girl from her right eye’s peripheral view. Nozomi began laying covering fire from her P90 along the blonde man as Nico sprinted to a metal crate and instantly took cover as soon as bullets had touched the ground that was near her feet.

“Hey Honoka! Are you sure Rin’s ‘Me0lthy Honney’ can ram through this side of the walls!?” The raven-haired shouted through the never ending barrage of shots as she fired with her Uzis behind her cover.

“I am sure Nico-chan! Umi-chan said that this side of the base seems to be the weakest! Rin-chan would also arri-“ Honoka’s voice got drowned out when a sound of a vehicle rammed to a wall behind them followed by sounds of successive rapid firing from a mini-gun they all knew too well.

“What took you so lon-“ The raven-haired outburst died down on her throat when she whipped her head toward the direction of the vehicle. Who can blame her when she saw Maki who kept on pressing the triggers of the mini-gun with a cold expression, hair flowing gently when her body vibrated a little from every movement she made when she pointed the barrel somewhere and completely trying to lessen the enemies in their area, she was stunned for some seconds until she saw a smile in the features of that cold expression.

“Nico-chan!? Hey! Come here!” Rin’s voice had now completely woken up from her daze, urging her to get in the vehicle, facing the place where the VIP hid, she signaled to Nozomi to throw a smoke bomb from her area.

The purple-haired threw the bomb to the middle area of the battlefield as the getaway Humvee driven by Hanayo entered through the hole in the wall.

“We are getting out of here, let’s go!” Honoka ordered and laid covering fire for Nozomi and the man, who began to run towards Hanayo’s vehicle.

“Where are Umi and Eli, weren’t they supposed to rendezvous with us here as we initially planned!?” Nico let out a second smoke bomb to strengthen the smoke surrounding the area.

“They said that they are going to pick up Kotori-chan and then join us after somewhere!” Honoka replied while reloading her rifle’s magazine.

“They better be!” Nico whipped her head to Maki’s direction and smiled at her figure. “Say, Honoka? Shouldn’t we get going too?”

“Wait for a second... There it is!” The girl with azure eyes stared at her watch and exclaimed a moment later, “Let’s go Nico-chan!”

A certain part of the base began on exploding continuously and they dashed after she said that, it seems that she had waited for the bombs Eli and Umi planted to go off.

Honoka entered into Hanayo’s car, Nozomi keeping the door open for her while Nico went for Rin’s car. The bailout car got out through the cracks of the wall first followed by the escort vehicle and both sped out of the base.

After insuring that everything was fine, Nico looked at the redhead.

“Hey, Maki-chan? Why are you the one using Puncher-chan? It’s dangerous, what if you got shot during the entrance?” Nico tried not to sound angry but it failed since there were parts in her sentences that her voice raised in pitch. “What would your father say if he found out that you got hurt?”            

“Nico-chan, you should stop treating me like a kid. I didn’t get hurt so everything is fine, okay?” Maki sighed as she went down to seat beside Nico and stared outside the window while interlacing their hands together. Rin kept her eyes on the vehicle which had the blonde man they had rescued.

“Nothing happened today but you can’t predict what will happen in the future…” Nico replied in a whisper as she squeezed the glove clad slender fingers of their medic, getting a hum in reply from the redhead.

“So Nico-chan? Why isn’t the hostage a girl but a man?” Rin took the silence of those two as her cue to ask a question she had wonder when they rammed through the wall earlier and saw the figure of the soldier.

But before Nico could answer Rin’s question, sounds of bullets hitting the heavy metal plate reverberated in their ears.

“What the hell!?” Rin grunted as she tried to keep the car from veering to another direction, Maki already clutching the mini-gun and Nico contacting Honoka.

“Honoka!? Are you girls fine in there!? Maki-chan! Three cars to our left flank!” Nico saw flashes of heavy machinegun from three cars in their left. Must be a patrol they have missed.

“<Yeah, we are all fine although Hanayo-chan is a little jittery now… Ahaha…>” Nico heard Honoka while she sheepishly laughed and a Hanayo’s scream of ‘somebody help me’ reverberated after that.

An explosion was heard followed by a crashing sound of an object hitting a tree, Nico looked again at the window and saw only one car remaining.

“Nice job Maki-chan!” Nico had to praise her lover although a subconscious part of her was saddened by that fact that she still had soiled the redhead existence with tainted hands, all of her friends now had become accustomed to killing off bad guys, at times not even feeling remorse when things got hectic, a thought that mortified her at times when she was emotionally vulnerable.

“I can’t shake the last car!” Maki yelled as her shots got blocked by the trees that surrounded them.

The chase lasted for a few more seconds until a rocket flew and hit the enemy vehicle that followed them. Smoke arising from the flames as a new vehicle came to their view, Maki already pointing the turret into the direction of the vehicle.

“<Wait, don’t shoot!>” It was Eli’s voice, it seems that they had used a vehicle from the base.

“<Ah Eli-chan!? It’s about time that you girls have arrived!>” Honoka’s voice was heard from the earpiece as Eli’s vehicle neared them.

“<Bailing Kotori took some time.>” They now can see her figure carrying an RPG on her shoulder as she waved at them.

“<We couldn’t ask more from A-RISE since their distraction team was barely standing against our opponents when we went to the area where Kotori hid…>” They heard Umi’s voice along with the humming of Kotori.

“<I see… Let’s go back to the aircraft and regroup with Tsubasa-san. We also need to report this to Nico-chan’s mother.>” The leader ordered and the three vehicles went to the direction of the river.

In one of the many skyscrapers of the capital city of Japan, a figure clad in black suit sat at a grand office in the tallest floor of the said structure, the giant room was darkened by the shutters and only having the light from the desktop illuminating the figure.

A knock resounded on the big wooden doors covered with drawings of black ravens flying to attack a dragon.

“Yes, come in.” The figure leaned at her chair and stretched her arms before settling comfortably at her comfy chair before wearing a neutral expression on her well curved face.

“Madam, you have a call from one of our business partners and it’s very important.”  A woman with short purple hair with a busty figure also clad in a slightly purple suit entered the room.

“I see, connect it to the TV screen and can you brew me some tea drink too?” The figure stood up and walked to sit on the sofa located at the right side of the room while looking through some files at her hand.

“Understood, do you need something else?” The secretary asked as she began on leaving the room.

“I need someone to be taken care off. I will send the information of the person to your husband in an hour, inform him to get ready.” The figure sat and placed the files on the glass table as she spoke.

“Do I have to get ready?” She inquired as she stopped at the door

“No, you won’t be needed for this mission. Cobra is more than enough.” The sitting figure spoke in assurance as she snapped her fingers, turning the lights in the room on.

“As you wish.” The secretary left and after a few seconds passed, the big screen hanged by the wall showed the figure of a man clad in a military uniform sitting in an office.

“Good day to you Wallcroft-kun.” The figure smiled lightly as she saw the blonde man and spoke with her mother tongue, never minding if the business partner she is speaking with is a foreigner.

“<Good day to you too Yazawa-san, did the people you sent finish their job.>” The man replied back perfectly.

“No, they didn’t find what they were looking for and it seems to be what we had predicted. A trap that was meant for you to be framed with if you had sent your boys.”

“<I knew it, politics is such a scary place to be in.>” The man joked as if the situation didn’t bother him at all.

“Shouldn’t you be worrying that your daughter got kidnapped instead of worrying about something else?” Madam Yazawa also replied in a joking manner and was clearly amused by what was happening in England, “My girls say that they have found one of her escorts though and now knew the exact location where the scumbags had hid her.”

“<No, I trust your daughter since she grew up to be like that man and the number of missions she along with her team did is more than enough evidence that they won’t mess up.>” He rotated his chair and faced the window, “<I just hope those bloody bastards didn’t do anything weird to her, if they did then your girls have the permission to go wild.>” and whispered his intentions.

“I don’t think that your political enemies would be that stupid to mess with you who are the Commander of the SAS.” She calmly spoke to dissipate the brewing fury of the man on screen. “Anyway, I don’t think that’s the only reason on why you had bothered calling me… Is something the matter?”

“<Haha, nothing seems to get by you, I actually plan to send one of my boys to your side in a year or if the situation is favorable then maybe a few months, is that okay?>” He rotated his chair to face the desktop, placing his head on his crossed hands and stared straight to her eyes.

“I don’t have a problem with it but can I ask the reason for your sudden request?” Madam Yazawa inquired as she began on checking the files she had put on the table.  

“<You will get to know the reason when he arrives…>” There was a knock heard that resounded, “<It seems that I need to go, it was nice talking to you again Yozora-san… Good bye.>” And the communication was cut off.

“Oh my, not even giving me the time to say my farewell… Tyler-kun sure is a busy man.” Madam Yazawa chuckled lightly as she put down the folders and closed her eyes and leaned on the sofa while reminiscing forgotten peaceful days.

“Dear, your close friends had become fine people and your little girl is smiling truly once again.” An expression of melancholy was last seen on the face of the boss before shifting back to a neutral expression when a knock resounded once again in the silent gigantic room.

AN: So that's 15k words of... Honestly something... And the end part is anticlimactic for my tastes...

[intuitivebiologist]

choosetofight replied to your post “choosetofight replied to your post “// protip: throws hands w/...”

Yeah, I know what you mean. I get that people have a right to their opinions of course, I'm not gonna get at people for that at all; but I do see people put these huge expectations on erwin especially and claim that he'd know "exactly what to do" & it does often ironically seems to ignore the fact that he was only human... maybe he would've done, but there's no way we could know either way - this is something completely different to anything that the SC has ever faced. 

I personally think levi's choice was meant to be ambigious regarding whether it was "right", anyway - there's no way anyone can know for sure. Maybe that's just me, haha. more importantly, levi made his choice because he wanted to free erwin from all this to begin with... I mean I'm sure he doesn't want Hange to go through what she's dealing with right now either, but he'd lived with that burden of having to be this perfect Commander/a "neccessary devil" for so long and even after finding his dream, it wasn't gonna get any better. Unfortunately, the world of SNK wasn't gonna let him retire and get therapy, as much as I'd like that for him otl... ;~; again, people have every right to disagree with me, and I get why they might, but - I think levi's choice was one of the kindest he could give in the world that they live in personally.

Anyway, I got off topic lol. But the expectations people put on Hange sometimes are insane, especially now that they're dealing with an entire world of people who want to kill them. It's so depressing reading Hange seeing herself as a failure of a Commander and trying so desperately to get Eren to just communicate her when she's in such a shitty situation... it's like man. I just wanna give her a hug ;~~~; okay, holy shit that was a long reply. sorry about all that!! ^^''

@choosetofight // I love you and your giant wall of text and I keep forgetting to break my inactiveness (busy with work) to tell you I like everything you said

People don’t appreciate the story enough for what it is. I see so much entry-level understanding about characters and relationships in this fandom. ‘Hange said she’s a bad commander so she is and that’s that.’ ‘Everyone liked Erwin so he’s the best commander that’s that.’ And often viewing Levi as kind of an accessory to other characters. I know both Eruris and Levihans are really bad at that- They just like Erwin or Hange and Levi is their funny little grumpy man rather than his own character in his own right. 

Erwin’s character arc was as an obsessed, wounded man that hated himself for being so obsessed with a goal of proving his father right to make up for causing his death, that he hated himself because he was willing to waste countless lives to follow that dream all while accidentally making people believe he was a righteous person, until it came to a head and he was able to sacrifice himself like he’d sacrificed everyone else, and became the kind of person he ‘tricked’ people into thinking he was. 

Being sacrificed was extremely important to this character arc but they complain he should have lived just because they liked who his character originally was early on.

Like people blabbering about Hange being awful but not actually picking up on her character arc and how it’s developing, especially with Flegel and the journalists popping up again recently to show she’s disappointed them, obviously to foreshadow her going back to her pre-Commander roots some time in the future. Or people just going ‘LEVI IS 2 POWERFUL!!’ not paying attention to the fact his character arc goes beyond that and he fact that he loses most of the fights he’s in because he has to run away to protect others...

I know it’s kinda dumb but it’s obnoxious to me because AoT isn’t a super derivative, turn-your-brain-off kind of manga. It’s got some actually legitimate writing, even if the anime is trash and even if it’s gone through some really bad writing points. If you can say anything for Isayama, he’s good at writing characters and having very interesting, philosophical points (that apparently people can’t pick up on). His only problem is that he’s a pansy who rolls over to others’ opinions too much.

I mean, it’s like people have gone all this way without comprehending that the running theme of the damn series is moral grayness, and how Erwin was the first big example of it. AAAAALL the way back in the FTT arc., when Armin had his whole spiel..

All I want is for people to read the fucking seriessss

[girlafraidinacoma]

IN THE LAP OF THE GODS Ch.2:

Summary: What do you get when you mix a tight-knit art community, young, hot-blooded twenty-something university students and good old-fashioned British Rock & Roll? Probably the next best hope for art and music that generation has to offer. With her friends’ band skyrocketing to fame, what exactly does a girl do when she suddenly finds herself sitting in the lap of the gods? The answer: do the only thing she can do, rise to the occasion of course!

Pairing: Gwilym Lee!Brian May x Original Female Character [chill guys, this WILL be a Bri fic…eventually].

Warnings: swearing, a very dramatic Freddie, Rog has a bit of a moment with a pastry...

Words: 2.2k +

Author’s Note: Chapter 2, Baby! I hope you guys enjoy it, and pls feel free to comment, reblog or leave a like if ya feel like it!

Kind of AU, contains both elements from real life and the Bo Rhap universe, so imagine whoever you prefer whether they be the real thing or the Bo Rhap Boys–be free.

Link to the Ao3 fic!

Chapter Playlist:

Chapter Two - That One Time When Fred Went Out for Coffee Or, Why Being a Young Entrepreneur is Harder than You Think

Kensington, 1969.

Out of breath and flushed pink, a young woman strode inside a musty little stall in Kensington Market, the shop bell giving a faint sort of ding upon her entrance. Freddie, who was quietly cataloguing their inventory in a faded blue balance book, smiled when he looked up to greet his friend.

“Wyn Clemens! You’ve come to visit me.” Fred said, ecstatically skipping his way to her from behind the counter before hugging her shoulders.

The girl made quick work of untangling the woolen scarf she had wrapped several times around her neck and mouth, placing that and her coat on the hook by the door.

“I swear I’ve gone up and down the place twice and both times I’ve managed to miss you entirely! Blimey, I didn’t think it was this small.” Her eyes scanned the darkened interior.

Currently their stall was nondescript, tucked away in between a carpet wholesaler and a shoe repair place, hidden away amongst the plethora of other stalls just like it. Cozy was one word for it, cramped was another, more accurate descriptor. Really, it was more of a booth. There they sold various garments and accessories to clothe the young bohemians, rockers, mods, punks, hippies and everyone in between who seemed to frequent the market there. Their shop was manned and looked after by Freddie and his friend Roger, and only by them, which was why, while their inventory was not exactly vast, it did quite literally seem to swallow the entire place in velvet, faux fur, leather, and brocade.

“Hey!” someone yelled in indignation, “This is a very fine establishment we run here, I’ll have you know!” A blonde head emerged from the back of the shop, a little area sectioned off by a dark curtain. It hid a tall, narrow mirror and served as both their stock room and fitting room.

The girl raised her eyebrows, feeling slightly sheepish at having offended this new person. “Wyn, this is Roger, the friend of mine I’ve been telling you about. He runs this dismal dispensary with me.” He said, not looking behind him as he gestured his head towards the blonde’s general direction. “Rog, this lovely creature you see before you is my new friend, Wyn.”

“Ah, the Ealing bird. Well, I suppose I could let that slight go for your pretty face. The name’s Roger Taylor, very nice to meet you, love.” He gave her his hand to shake, his lips upturned in a smirk.

“Careful there, Rog.” Freddie reminded him, which earned him a mischievous look from the blonde.

“Wyn,” the girl announced, unfazed by Roger’s cheesy smile, “I’ve come bearing gifts!”

“Ooh! Gimme! Gimme!” Freddie cried happily, his hands making grabbing motions all the while.

Wyn tutted at his antics shortly before presenting him a brown paper bag. “I thought it would cheer you up, while you’re stuck here.”

Freddie opened the bag and what he found there nearly brought him to tears. The bag was filled with fresh pastries still warm to the touch as he poked his nose inside and took a long whiff. He placed it on the counter before examining the goodies one by one, a hungry Roger joining his side. “You do care, Wyn! It’s just like Christmas! And here I thought everyone had forgotten about me. It feels like I haven’t seen the sunlight in days.”

“Weeks, really,” Roger added mournfully, before stuffing his mouth full of pastry. They had both been cooped inside their store trying to peddle their wares since the weekend and it was now Tuesday afternoon.

Freddie had a dramatic faraway look in his eye, his mouth shaped in a forlorn ‘O’ before finally snapping out of it. God, Wyn thought, he really should have been in theatre.

“C’mon then Wyn, tell us about all the changes in the outside world,” Fred was prattling away again, “Is dear old Liz still on the throne? How about Coronation Street, is it still playing? And what about tie-dye? Are people still wearing tie-dye?”

There was a quiet moan of “Oh Jesus, that’s the spot.” that came from Roger as he polished off an apricot danish.

Wyn gave the two of them a fond chuckle, trying to ignore the ridiculous sounds of ecstasy from the blonde as he delved into a croissant. “Let’s see,” the girl gave a pause for dramatic effect, “Yes, God forbid anyone else who’s set their eyes on that chair. Everybody knows Coronation Street is for ever. And it brings me to tears just thinking about it, but yes, unfortunately, the tie-dye lives on.”

“I knew it! It’s useless, Rog.” Freddie shouted, calling Roger’s attention. “Just bury me in these fur stoles. Even if they’re not real at least I’ll be kept warm and they haven’t assaulted anyone’s retinas.” He had trudged over to a rack of miscellaneous animal coats and stoles and buried his face in them. His further rant became muffled and unintelligible as he cried into the mass of faux fur.

“How long has he been like this?” The girl turned to the blonde with a worried look.

“On and off since Saturday,” he informed her, brushing stray crumbs from his mouth. “We’ve hardly sold anything.”

“This is no good, come on Fred. You just sit down, I’ll go out and grab us a couple of coffees and come straight back.”

Freddie perked up upon hearing this and was almost back to his usual spirits. “I have an idea, can I go get the coffees instead, darling? I want to go outside, I want to hear the birds chirping and smell that London smog. Maybe that old lady from the fruit and veg stall could yell at me, that would really get me going.”

“Alright Fred,” she said with a comforting smile, pouring into his open palm a handful of coins. “Happy hunting.”

Freddie had taken off so fast he had forgotten to bring his jacket which he left still hung up on the door.

“That’s probably the happiest I’ve seen him all weekend,” Roger said, wistful.

“If he’s happy, then I’ve done my job.”

Wyn had started to look the clothing racks, her fingers stroking the garments in fascination. She also took out two or three items she had liked, inspecting them fully before shaking her head and putting them away, Roger meanwhile stood beside her giving his opinion on them. Soon he was entertaining her by spinning little yarns about several pieces, how they acquired them, whom they were worn by, all made up but increasingly fantastic.

“You looking for anything in particular, love?”

“Not really, whatever catches my fancy, I suppose.”

“How about now,” he said as he had stood in front of her, hands on his waist and a twinkle in his eye, “Do I catch your fancy?”

“I’m in the market for clothes today, Roger, not a boyfriend.”

“Who said anything about a boyfriend?”

“Uh-huh. Maybe some other time, Taylor.”

“Alright, alright.” he said, pacifying her. “Something to wear then. Something that will work for your figure?”

“I’d never be opposed to looking good.”

Roger was still flirting with her, but he also appeared to have a clear focus now, he was a man on a mission to find her something she could be persuaded into buying. “Do you like wearing patterns?”

“I’d give it a go.”

“How about colour?”

“Love them.”

“Any you’re partial to?”

“Every colour of the rainbow!”

Roger scoffed playfully in exasperation, she really was no help, but he enjoyed her company. “I think I have just the thing for you,” Rog said with a snap of his fingers before darting behind their makeshift stock room/ fitting area. He came back about a minute later with a frock on a plastic hanger.

What he presented her with was a white and green houndstooth dress in the mod style which had a black peter-pan collar and a short mini-skirt. Wyn let out a pleased hum, “I like the way you think, Taylor.”

Roger barked a laugh though he seemed to glow in praise, “That might be the first time a woman has said that to me.” He reached into his pocket and fished out a packet of smokes and a lighter. “Go on, then. Try it on.” He urged her, pushing her behind the curtain and sticking a cigarette between his lips.

Roger sported a boyish charm, all buoyancy and pent-up energy. Wyn thought it was ironic the way that he was blessed with the looks of a cherub by Raphael, yet flirted like a devil. It was little wonder Freddie had warned her about him when the topic of his friends came into conversation. Before she could wrestle the corduroy off her legs Roger’s hand had slipped in between the partition, throwing a pair of shoes at her.

“Black gogos? Oh, you really must be out to get me. I’m going to freeze out there.”

“You’re just fitting them on!” The voice behind the curtain replied. “You don’t have to wear them out…You don’t have to wear anything at all.”

“Ha-ha.”

“Just saying.”

A couple of minutes later she stepped out from behind the curtains, smoothing down the dress where it wrinkled a bit in her midsection. “What do you think?” she asked, striking a pose.

Roger took another large puff from his half-finished cigarette before putting it down on the ashtray on the counter. He began to sing lowly as he drew near to her, “Is there anybody going to listen to my story, all about the girl who came to stay?” There was another cheesy grin on his face as he took Wyn’s hand abruptly and led her into an impromptu slow-dance. “She’s the kind of girl you want so much it makes you sorry. Still, you don’t regret a single day. Ah, girl,” he sung as he spun her.

Wyn smiled, “I’m going to take that answer as a ‘yes’, but I wouldn’t know how I’d wear it though, my hair…”

“You could wear it swept back, or up.” Roger suggested, now extremely close. He removed his left hand from her hip and used it to gather her thick hair up and away from her face, fingers grazing the back of her neck.

Wyn cleared her throat, her cheeks and neck heating. “You think Fred will let me have this for cheap if I asked nicely?”

“I think if you asked nicely, he’d let you have the whole shop.”

“It’s probably costing him more to run it at this point.”

“Us both.”

The two broke out into a fit of laughter, not even acknowledging the customer who had just walked into the shop.

“Okay, Rubber Soul. So these are the kinds of guerilla tactics you’d stoop to for a sale?” Blushing furiously, Wyn pushed away from him when they finished their dance, choosing to hoist herself up onto the counter next to her bag of sweets.

“Only the best service to our most important clientele.” he said through half-lidded eyes.

“How much for this?” a voice said from behind them.

Roger groaned in annoyance having forgotten the presence of this third person. It was a shame Fred still hadn’t come back, that way he could have dealt with this new nuisance while Roger turned his attention to the girl in front of him. Rog barely spared him a glance as the man held up the garment in question. “Seven pounds.”

Wyn watched the interaction with great amusement.

“Five quid.” the man tried to haggle.

“Seven.”

“This button’s loose, five and five pence.”

“Six if you leave here now.”

“You’re fleecing me.” the man whined handing Roger the money with reluctance.

“Actually, that’s crushed velvet.” said Roger with a cool, impassive grace, plucking his cigarette from the ashtray and taking a puff.

Slipping on his new jacket, the man set off grumbling, nearly bumping into Freddie who narrowly avoided him, carrying a tray of hot coffees in styro cups.

“Took you awhile Fred,” Roger called, leaning against the counter and smoking casually.

Freddie placed the coffees down on a bench by the window. “Roger,” he began slowly with a disgruntled look in his eye. “Was that man just now, wearing my coat?”

“Huh?” this alerted Roger somewhat, he had stopped what he was doing. His eyes grew large as he looked to Freddie and back down at the crumpled note and small coin in his palm.

“Rog, you absolute pillock, did you sell my coat?”

“...Fuck.”

As quick as a bolt Fred had crossed the room in two strides, snatched the money right out of Roger’s grasp and ran back out the door. Freddie ran after the man who bought his beloved jacket, shouting and swearing like a madman all the way.

At the end of the day, Wyn had felt so guilty she ended up paying for her things in full. She had no regrets though. Sure she was down a couple of pounds, but she had managed to get herself a great fitting dress, and a killer pair of boots, not to mention the favour of the infamous Roger Taylor -- a feat she hoped she had managed with all her dignity intact. Or at least she hoped.

[hazuukashi]

Dusty’s Plot Wishlist

Apparently I didn’t have one, or at least not one up to date on this blog, so I figured I’d fix that! Here’s a list of wanted plots that I’m absolutely interested in carrying out with anybody. Some of these are super muse specific and others are generic, but if your muse fits the criteria for any of these, by all means hit me up and we can discuss it! More will be added to this list when I can think of ‘em.

General

Music Session with Leon. It doesn’t matter what sorta style your muse likes. Let ‘em play around on instruments, sing alone or jam on headphones.

Prank Wars. Doesn’t matter if they’re between Leon and your muse, or if they team up to cause mischief around the community. Just. Let. Them. Be. Devils.

Clothing-Related? I don’t even know what to say about this but... Leon is completely down for dress up selfie shoots or just trying on the weirdest styles. Hell, he’ll buy whatever looks good on either him or your muse.

Competitive Sports. By all means, challenge Leon to a game of something. It doesn’t even hafta be baseball; He’s gonna agree to it anyway and they’re gonna go ridiculously hard even if it’s something as simple as thumb wrestling. Just gotta be enthusiastic.

Sibling-like Relationship. Leon’s cool with friends, romantic partners and bros, but where’s the relationships where he just bonds with someone so well that they may as well become honorary siblings in each other’s family? Leon’s an only child for the most part so y’know, let him have an honorary sib.

Cooking. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TEACH THIS MOTHERFUCKIN’ MICROWAVE MASTER HOW TO COOK PLEASE.

Carnival Outing. Oh fuck yeah. Leon would love any sort of amusement park or carnival. Of course he’d also win every single prize at any carnival game booth that involved throwing, but y’know, all’s fair.

General Text Threads. Not exactly a plot, but I don’t really have a lot of texting threads, and for good reason. I would sorta wanna see some goofy relationship building in text format though. Since Leon does love social media and his phone.

Working Out/Locker Room Shenanigans. Pretty much his home territory. Let him be a ridiculous fool where he feels natural.

READING WITH LEON. Teach the boy to appreciate a good book, please. Your muse can read comics and manga with him as usual, but he really needs to appreciate any book sometime before he becomes an independent adult.

Post-HPA Verse (’After Graduation’)

Literally any hanging out/catching up threads. ‘Oh we haven’t seen each other much since graduating from HPA, but we still sorta keep in touch and now we’re actually making an effort to rekindle our relationship.’

Leon’s Professional Baseball Games. Go out and accompany him to a game. Let him perform for you, whether you’re a platonic or romantic companion, he’s gonna make each game special for YOU alone.

Interviews. Post-HPA Leon’s a super successful athlete after all. He’s gonna be doing interviews. If your muse wants to come along, maybe even somehow get roped into the interview alongside Leon, that’s absolutely rad.

Travel Threads. You wanna go someplace? Let’s do it then. Doesn’t matter where, just up and go. Leon’s down, he’s got the money, just pick up and go on a week’s trip to wherever the hell you want. All he asks is that you let him take a ton of selfies while he’s there.

And of course, develop a full relationship that carries on into his adult life.

Survivor Verse (FF Verse)

Excursions into the apocalyptic cities. Sure there’s gonna be some risked lives, but... Why not actually go out there and achieve some of the FF bureaus’ goals? Leon’s game is public relations, but aside from a bodyguard or accompanying moral support, the sky’s sorta the limit for creativity otherwise.

Despair Information Session. Leon doesn’t and wouldn’t know everything anyway. He’s not really the most information-savvy guy, but he’d want to know what happened with his older classmates. 

I’m gonna list these two in here as well, because like, I don’t REALLY have a specific verse for these but they’re closer to survivor than anything else so.

MEETING MASARU. That’s... That’s the plot. Let Leon meet his mini-me. 

I dunno, I always sorta wanted a Komaeda-esque relationship with Leon and the WoH. Leon’s probably able to serve them and entertain them. In a weird way, despite the whole killing thing, he could see it as amusing enough. Hey, if he’s living, all’s good, in his mind. It could be fun to see how he interacts with each of the WoH I guess, y’know? A demon, but not the worst demon.

Muse-Specific

Leon and Sayaka/Kaede/Ibuki discussing music. Leon would be more attentive to what they hafta say, and it’s kinda a big deal for him to learn from them.

Leon defying Ishimaru. Oh please. Ishimaru can try to write Leon up all he wants, but that doesn’t mean he’s gonna listen. Leon doesn’t hate the guy, but he’s gonna tease him about being uptight, then try to understand him, maybe.

Leon and Junko discussing social media/interviews/fan life. Y’know, if she isn’t completely despair-ridden at that point, it could be a good point of conversation.

Goatee Bros. That’s... That’s the plot. Kaito where you at dude.

Leon and Amami traveling. Where the fuck to? Who knows? Who cares? They’d look great doin’ it, and they’d both be adventurous af.

Leon and Amami talking fashion/accessories. Also, I mean, there IS that one picture of Amami ‘jokingly’ painting Leon’s nails... Hmm...

Leon cool-mentoring the dweebs. PRETTY MUCH gonna be Naegi/Saihara/Souda(?)/Hajime(?) among other muses. Leon’s super outgoing and as long as they give him the time of day, he’s gonna break ‘em outta their shells and comfort zones and make them a little better socially.

Leon and Komaeda fucking destroying the carnival/arcade. Between their luck and skill, they’d clean the place out so easily wtf.

Leon and Saihara/Kirigiri/Chihiro/Byakuya/Toko/Kirumi/??? There were others, but mainly... Educate the boy. Please. Figure out a way to make the boy smarter without destroying his will to be in school completely.

Leon and Tsumugi Cosplay Hour. Hey, as long as he looks good and cool, he’ll wear literally anything. Considering the amount of times he’s changed his look, he’s pretty chameleon-like. He’ll find a way.

I’m still 1000% down for Leon and a bro roommate. Specifically a dude to room with though. Any in particular? Nah.

TBD??? More???

[theteablogger]

Oh, FFS...

I’m not going to post the CR fanart that Andy shared on Facebook, but now that I realize the significance of it, I will tell you that the character he chose to represent himself and his feelings was Mollymauk, Taliesin’s character for the second campaign. Of fucking course. For non-CR fans, Taliesin also played Percy, the character that Andy latched onto during the first campaign.

Here’s some information from the CR wiki:

Molly’s appearance is ostentatious and flamboyant, with several tattoos (including one of a peacock). He’s also pretty badass in combat and has a lot of scarring, most of it presumably self-inflicted because he uses his own blood to activate his enchanted swords. 

I don’t know how Andy actually dresses on a daily basis, but during the first year or so that he was on tumblr, he presented himself as a fashionista who was always well put together, always dressed to impress, loved eye-catching accessories, dyed his hair in bright colors, and enjoyed experimenting with makeup. He talked a lot about how pretty he was, to the point that he called himself a bishonen several times. He toned this down somewhat after discovering Supernatural and becoming fixated on Dean, but still made quite a few posts along those lines. Andy also has a number of meaningful tattoos, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he sees Molly’s scarring as analogous to the many ways that he says his harmful actions toward others (which he blames entirely on mental illness) have also damaged him.

The wiki also says:

Molly is described as a "literal and figurative peacock". He frequently tells extravagant lies with little mind for whether or not his audience believes them. He does not seem visibly affected by insults, as shown by his lack of reaction when the old man in Ye Olde Mudhole called him a devil and told him to leave town.

In Andy’s own words: “...I am a weaver of word-magic to a degree that verges on dangerous in my understanding of exactly what I’m doing as a storyteller and rhetorician. I can get inside people’s heads. I can sell you realities.” See also: his many “fuck the haters” posts about how he doesn’t care what we think of him because we don’t really know him, and besides, people even come up with negative things to say about Gandhi, right?

Molly's [sic] acts as a promoter for the carnival and as a "fortune-teller" within it. His "abilities" in the latter area are the result of the application of cold-reading techniques and sleight of hand, not actual magic.

As far as I know, Andy has never had a fortune-telling shtick. But he has claimed at various times to be clairvoyant, to be telepathic, to be a medium, to be able to influence the natural world in ways such as reversing the flow of a river, to have a psychic connection to an alternate universe in which the events of his DAYD series were real, to have roughly 160 “Others” from alternate timelines who communicated through him... And I’m not sure whether anyone has actually said this, but based on things that Abbey, Little Sam, and some former DAYDians have written about their early interactions with Andy, I think he’s probably pretty good at cold reading. Even the promoter angle fits, as Andy has written many times over the years about how good he is at marketing and promoting himself and his work.

Elsewhere, I’ve seen mentions of Molly having a “mysterious past” about which he's been dishonest with the group. Apparently he seems to know an awful lot about some of the creatures that they encounter, for reasons that he can’t explain. He is a master of disguise. This is all very similar to the way Andy has portrayed himself--having a dark and mysterious past, “just knowing” things about a wide variety of subjects, being able to blend in anywhere in an Abagnalesque manner...

There may be even more there for Andy to identify with, but I’m not sure, as I don’t watch CR. Anyway, in Mollymauk, the above traits make him a fascinating character who’s probably a lot of fun to interact with as a party member. In Andy, these traits have led to a lot of people being hurt. I don’t know for sure that he was planning to start another “channeling” thing with Molly, or another fandom cult based on CR, but I am not inclined to give Andy the benefit of the doubt.

[clovexei]

An Honest Review of the Emoji Movie

Longer than intended! Tbh I’m just leaving this here as physical evidence of the fact that I watched the whole thing. What was The Emoji Movie? Honestly we just don’t know.

The world-building was cool in concept but underdeveloped. It feels like a knock-off of Inside Out, but I spent most of the movie plagued by the same sort of stressful confusion that accompanies the Cars universe. A sampling:

Where do emojis come from? Are they born? Are they initially created in heterosexual sets of two so that they are able to procreate? If they're not born, why do some of them have children? How does the Princess family work, where there are apparently no male princesses? Is the Poop emoji an only father? What about the emojis who don't apparently have children/a heterosexual counterpart? Are those emojis going to grow old and die? What happens then? Do emojis die natural deaths? Do emojis age?

Why do the face emojis have to express the same emotion all the time and not just when they're on screen? It's like they're actors, but they have to be in their roles forever. Why? Why not just take pictures of the emojis and put those in the cubicles? Why do emojis have to physically stand in the cubes and wait to be picked, if they're only going to be face-scanned anyway? If there are multiple emojis, do they all take turns in the cubicles? Do they have to eat or sleep? If they do, then why? Aren't they made of code? Do they have to be in the cubicles whenever the phone is on? What if that's all day, every day?

Most of the questions I have about this movie carry over from world-building into the plot. Most of the events driving the plot feel like thinly-veiled plot holes. For example, the reason Alex is going to wipe his phone is to keep it from acting up – but it's acting up because Gene and company are moving from app to app. Buy why do the emojis hopping from app to app activate each app? If they're bopping around behind the scenes, why does that activate the user interface?

Another: A big scene happens in a Just Dance app, but Just Dance isn't an app? It's a motion-based dancing game, and you can get accessory-style apps for it, but the game itself is only on consoles/systems with a sophisticated motion-following camera. So it's not something that Gene an Jailbreak would be able to activate as a game on a phone.

(As an aside, I am human proof that you can suck at dancing and still pass levels in Just Dance so cut Jailbreak some slack, she was doing fine.)

Hi-5 is presented with a character goal (be a part of the Elite Favorite Emoji Club), but he doesn't actually do anything to achieve this goal. He wants to be a part of the club, joins Gene on his adventure, learns nothing, and gets to have his goal as a result, despite having no character growth and no indication that he's done anything to actually earn his goal. It's given to him as a way to wrap up the movie in a neat little bow.

As much as I didn't like that Jailbreak rejecting Gene's romantic advances was what finally turned Gene into the “Meh” emoji of his dreams, I do appreciate that him getting his Good Feelings back wasn't dependent on her reciprocating his feelings. That's a very good post-rejection message, and as much as this movie was weird and bad-romantic (“I've known you for twenty minutes but I LOVE YOU so let's  BE TOGETHER FOREVER like in the FAIRY TALES”), at least it dodged that particular bullet.

The characters in general were likeable but ultimately uninteresting. It's the same standard fare that I think is the easy trap to fall into: bland but relatable main guy, tomboy girl, and comedic side character.

Jailbreak was my favorite, but even so, I'm not sure what to think about what her arc was. The intended direction felt like “girl feels oppressed by rigid gender roles and leaves home, forms agreement with fellow outcast to further both her goals and his goals, realizes that she can be different and returns home to create her own rules about how she represents herself.” And this largely feels like what does happen in the movie, but I'm not sure how I feel about the execution of it?

She makes some interesting comments about feminism that seem like Character Flavor, and have elements that fit into the story overall, but her backstory and thought process isn't explored beyond “I had to do princess stuff and I HATE princess stuff so I left.” It falls into a style that I think is in vogue right now: to present girls as being Princesses and Not-Princesses. (This is especially popular in movies that are deliberately lampshading Disney's princess movies, but Brave did this, too.) And while I like that, at the end, Jailbreak realized (apparently) that she didn't need to not be girly in order to be happy and express herself, I don't know if that message carried over really well in general. We last see her in her original princess design as she runs the tech board for the emoji cubicles, so I guess she's comfortable with herself? And she's not picking Princess or Not-Princess but occupying a gray area in the middle? So that's good? But everyone else is still in one box or the other? So that's maybe not good? But with Gene paving the way to “be different,” there's a place for her and for others to be more socially flexible? But it felt like a sudden and easy resolution to something that was something that was so ingrained in their society that Gene was going to be executed for diverging from it.

Anyway. That was a tangent. TL;DR: Jailbreak is very queer and I like her but if feminism was going to be a part of her character arc, then I want it to be done with a lot more focus and nuance than there was? Yeah.

I liked Gene in the beginning of the film, when he was set up to be this energetic force for ENTHUSIASM, but Hi-5 muscled him out of that. Hi-5 is excitable, energetic, causes more trouble than good, and honestly, why do they even need Hi-5 as a character? He has the role that should have been absorbed by Gene. Within the first five minutes of Gene's introduction, we know that Gene is goofy, cheerful, and doesn't fit in. Hi-5 coming in as the goofy and cheerful side character demonstrably pushes aside those traits in Gene so that Gene can, nearly every time, play the straight man to Hi-5's hi-jinks.

If Hi-5 wasn't in the movie, then Gene would be both comic relief and the protagonist, which suits the energetic, playful way in which he was introduced. He would also have a much more interesting dynamic with Jailbreak: Jailbreak is jaded and bitter; Gene is (or should have been allowed to be) peppy and enthusiastic. With that push-pull dynamic, the interactions between the two would have been much more exaggerated and engaging, and it would have been believable that Gene encourages Jailbreak to be less standoffish and isolated.

Recommendation: Instead of relying on one-time gags and overdone food-related jokes, drop Hi-5 as a character and let the interactions between Gene and Jailbreak carry the comedic weight of the film.

Also, what is the target audience for this movie? Kids? Kids younger than 12? High schoolers? What do you gain by portraying students who have smart phones as mindless phone-obsessed zombies? Aren't you alienating your target audience? You're making fun of the people you're making this movie for?

There's a lot of that: of the creators being out of touch with their target audience. The gag of the text-based emoticons being old and out-of-date struck me as odd, when people are still using emoticons like that all the time. And, on top of that, we've developed new ones.

I also can't tell if Jailbreak's asides about feminism and female stereotypes are supposed to reflect her Cool, Modern persona or if they're meant to be funny? I think they're supposed to be the former, but they come across as the latter, especially since she gets so angry about the “Birds come when princesses whistle” stereotype... and then that stereotype turns out to be true and also plot relevant.

It did have some good jokes overall. The constant mismatch between Gene's parents having no visual expressions or tonal inflections paired with lines like, “I'm on the edge of my seat,” was right up my alley of humor. I also liked the Devil emoji's poop joke followed by the Poop emoji's tired sigh and “Aim higher, Steven,” but overall there were rather too many toilet jokes. “Aim higher” is kind of a good overall takeaway: this movie had jokes, but most of them felt like the same basic fare that one can usually find in kid's movies. It felt a lot like the humor in The Smurfs: The Hidden Village in that they cracked a lot of jokes, but most of them were overused or borderline mean, and so I didn't spend much time laughing, despite the fact that I was watching a comedy.

As for overall theme/message, I am biased on this front because, with little effort, this movie is a really odd, definitely unintentional allegory for, like, gay conversion therapy? And why it's not good? And why it's okay to be queer? This movie is about a cheerful, enthusiastic young man who disrupts serious social norms in his home community, who sets out to find a way to artificially alter his genetic make-up and encounters a young woman who likewise does not fit in and has rejected the social role/gender role she was expected to embrace, and the two of them realize together that what makes them different isn't bad and their differences should be embraced both by themselves and the wider community. Gay.

That metaphor is PROBABLY DEFINITELY very unintentional, but the romance between Gene and Jailbreak feels ham-fisted even without the queer undertones.

So, for a takeaway message, we have “It's okay to be unique,” which is the same message 50% of the rest of the kids' movies have these days, so cool, I guess. It's good to have that message reinforced, but there are also, as a result, more cohesive movies with the same message but better plotting and more interesting characters.

Overall Verdict:

Not great, could have been worse. I left The Bee Movie brimming with a confused and impotent rage, but this movie left me with vague good feelings and no deep impressions. I couldn't remember anyone's name either during the viewing or after. The animation was stretchy and bright and expressive, which I really liked. And the soundtrack was bright and bouncy. But the message was muddled, and I think the world-building/plot could have been (and should have been) a lot stronger than it was.