#there ya go. needless to say our guy had a rough start and a rough middle and also a rough ending

[ranticore]

Chapter 1 - Seven Years

[Forward by the author]

The protagonist of our story was born like this:

At an engineering facility on a planet called Ceti, a Human named Dan Loris worked for an entity called Atom GeneWEAVE. He* was tasked with writing the genetic code of a variety of engineered humans and he composed them with the skill of a master musician, for a very particular brief. The first six attempts were not viable and his computer** simulations didn’t predict a favourable outcome for them. The seventh attempt, however, would work. He implanted this genetic code in a Human egg and fertilised it in an incubation chamber, and it began to grow.

Outside his facility, under the unknowable sky of mysterious Ceti, there was a great ship called The Lonely Sailor. This ship was larger than you could ever imagine, large enough to hold thousands of Humans and the requisite cargo to let them live on a new world long enough for them to become self-sustaining there. Measurements on record state that The Lonely Sailor was more than a kilometre long.

The Lonely Sailor was owned by Atom GeneWEAVE and would carry a cargo container full of fertilised Human eggs to the new world. These were known as embryos and were mostly held in a frozen state, but there were twenty of them which were not frozen. They were placed in false amniotic sacs and allowed to continue growing throughout the entire voyage of The Lonely Sailor, even though the adult Humans themselves would be frozen instead.

Dan Loris slotted his first viable attempt at life into the cargo hold last, knowing that it would be the first to wake. He used a computer machine called a Deep Dreamer to monitor the growing life, and encoded within it an operation called ‘Athletic_Boy_Childhood_03.deepdr‘. He wrote on the amniotic sac the name of his creation: Ishmael© property of ATOM GENEWEAVE®.

Dan Loris then settled himself into a sleeping chamber which would freeze him harmlessly for the duration of the voyage.

The journey from Ceti to Siren would take seven years. Ishmael grew from fertilised egg to embryo and then became a baby in the normal period of time that these things take. But he was not born then. He remained asleep, dreaming that he was living a Human childhood.

We can only guess at what he dreamed of, as the memory encoded into him was designed to fade, leaving behind only the lessons that Atom felt were necessary for him to learn, to function normally and not emerge from the seven year journey in a feral state. He learned how to speak, how to read and write, all without ever having taken a single breath. When he was old enough, he moved his body as though he were engaging in games of chase and team sports, and this allowed his muscles to develop.

Atom was as a deity to the Humans sleeping in The Lonely Sailor – Atom decided that they were going to Siren and they were not able to refuse. Throughout every source I could find, I never came across one that described what Atom was at its heart, only that it was unimaginably powerful and had bases on several planets.

Atom was so omnipresent, so all-encompassing, that no one thought to explain it, or question it, or even remark on its presence particularly often. The Humans worked for Atom. Ishmael and his cohort of engineered embryos were born to work for Atom. Working for Atom, it seemed, was the only reason for anybody to live in Precursor society, and they were utterly shackled to its side whether they liked it or not.

Atom chose Siren for three reasons: the atmosphere had the right sort of air and had grown its own plantlife; there used to be very extensive ice caps around North; and a rival entity known as The Authorities could not interfere with Atom on Siren. The writings of Dan Loris state several times that Atom held The Authorities in contempt, but they were the only force powerful enough to punish Atom for poor behaviour. Genetic engineering such that had been planned by Atom was not permitted by The Authorities, and Atom GeneWEAVE, the part of Atom responsible for it, wanted to work with projects which would be profitable in spite of their illegality in the eyes of The Authorities.

Despite the unclear nature of Atom and The Authorities, I believe this is a story which has been repeated time and time again throughout the centuries. Whom among us has never found a secret corner to hide our trespasses? This was a game of chase, and the only thing that motivated Atom, the thing which caused it to sink a considerable amount of resources on The Lonely Sailor, was the pursuit of profit on a scale so grand that the modern Sirenian can hardly comprehend it. And, in the face of this monumental scale of profit, it was hoped that the Authorities would be rendered ultimately powerless.

The Lonely Sailor arrived on Siren on the date ‘20/07/2378’, which I am sure was significant to the Precursors. For the sake of legibility I will refer to this year as Year 1, the first year of Humans on Siren. The Sailor found pleasant weather, low winds and a water level slightly raised from the baseline in West, where the settlement began. While this was noted by the meteorologists aboard The Sailor, they weren’t to know its significance, which any one of us will recognise immediately; West was recovering from a High Tide which must have taken place only months before.

The captain of the ship was a Human called Ivana. She* was the highest authority under Atom itself on the ship, and the first to wake from her frozen sleep. She gazed down at Siren from above and wrote her observations, which I can reproduce here following extensive translation work:

Beautiful morning on Siren. What I wouldn’t give to show Dad this. A career first! We will land in seventy-two hours after finishing our preliminary rotation and once the landing crew have walked off the brain freeze.

I assume ‘Dad’ is a significant other of some kind, perhaps deceased, judging by its absence.

The landing was described in a series of cargo logbooks and completed by a small crew which had been woken up from their sleep. Supplies were conveyed to a low mesa in West and within a matter of days the settlement was born. It was built out over the surface of the sea, anchored to the mesa with powerful brackets that remain today. Throughout the entirety of its existence, the Atom Settlement continued to grow outwards, so the very heart of it was the oldest, the bowers constructed to house the first crew. One of those very first bowers was the gene laboratory, which had been transported in its entirety from Ceti.

Dan Loris offloaded the embryo cargo pod thirty-nine days after landing, still in the first year. Five days later, Ishmael’s amniotic sac was drained, and his deep dream interrupted by his birth.

The last moment of his encoded dream was common to all artificial dreams, designed to ease the transition into true waking life. He was falling asleep in his bed (an archaic sort of bower), his body feeling tired but satisfied after a day of typical, perfectly generic childhood games. He had something called a mother in this dream who pulled the blankets around his shoulders and kissed him as he drifted off, though he did not remember what their face looked like, only that they instilled within him a sense of perfect safety.

His moment of calm was soon eaten by sensation. It was cold, he realised. Colder than anything he had ever felt. The fluid that had supported him at a constant temperature for seven years was draining away and he reached out, to grab at the blanket he half-remembered. His nerves were alight with new sensations and the world was so bright it felt that he was staring into Odr’s eye.

Dan Loris described him as strong and healthy, but Ishmael did not feel that way. Everything was loud and bright and his body was so heavy. He had never truly experienced gravity, but that alone did not account for the disconnect. His dream had been the dream of a Precursor Human, a bipedal creature with a fully upright stance, straighter even than a shortwing’s, with no tail, no flippers, no phocid morphology. To the newborn Ishmael’s mind, he had just undergone a horrifying transformation, and his body was wrong.

Modern selkies and phocids are likely to imagine a child similar to their own young, but this is not the case. Ishmael was unnaturally pale and almost colourless save for a growth of hair which was a light red. His skin was very thin and translucent, with no markings aside from a blue pictogram on one shoulder, a stylised Atom emblem which had been engineered to form from his own skin pigments.

He was large and heavy compared to Human children of the same age, with a long arched neck connected to his head at the back rather than the bottom as was normal for Humans and harpies, which made it difficult for him to stand upright and look forward without inviting neck pain. He had very large and powerful hands with short webbed fingers, and a combination of long torso and short legs which would help him walk on all fours and swim cleanly with his tail fluke. His arms were quite long in comparison to a modern phocid’s and, at this age, he was exclusively bipedal.

He was born with pale eyes which were white around a pink iris, though that changed over the years. The first things he saw—that he consciously remembered seeing—were his own fingers clamped over those eyes to block out the lights at the laboratory. He opened them a crack, so that the light shone through the pink webbing. It confused him—there wasn’t supposed to be webbing there. Humans (and phocids) do not have webbing between their fingers, after all.

He was curled in on himself on a cold hard surface, while somebody spoke in the background. It is a great blessing that the automatic transcriber machine is still intact today, and we can access the exact words spoken in the laboratory for the entirety of its existence. After lengthy translation work, it can be rendered intelligible to us. Later I will share the correspondences between myself and the anonymous linguist who so greatly aided me here.

“He’s a concept, Ivana, we’re not putting him in the water until we know for sure the probes were right about that sea out there. And I kind of want to leave the actual bodywork to the betas, y’know, Ishmael is just a precaution before we wake them up.”

“Could you turn down the lights a little? I’d have a headache too if I was staring up into those things for the first time,” said Ivana. She had come down to the lab out of curiosity, to see the first-born Human on Siren.

“I need to be able to observe every reaction,” Dan Loris said. “Ishmael will get used to it. Delayed births can cause absolute havoc if the modifications aren’t tuned properly.”

His hands, dry and shockingly cold, caught Ishmael’s blocky wrist. Dan Loris pried the webbed hand away from Ishmael’s eyes and shone a pen light in each. Ishmael’s eyes stung and burned and he tried to wriggle away, but Dan Loris took no notice of this.

He passed a heart scanner along Ishmael’s front and watched the live feed appear on a display window in the side of the lab. Ishmael was rapidly forgetting his dream childhood in the face of this confusing start, but he did remember, for a moment, a similar scene. The childhood deep dream that he had been given included a scene of hospitalisation, to acclimatise children to medical checks.

So the footage of his skeleton and pounding heart on the wall was oddly familiar, though the shape was wrong and freakish to him. His head felt light and dizzy and he, only seven years old, had no ability to reconcile what he saw and felt with what he thought to be true. When Dan Loris pushed the wet red hair away from Ishmael’s face, Ishmael tried unsuccessfully to bite him.

“Funny little guy, isn’t he?” Ivana said, leaning into his line of sight. “Why’d you make him so pale? Like a lab rat.”

Dan Loris snorted. His medical scissors snipped by one of Ishmael’s ear holes and sliced off a chunk of hair. “Why d’you think those are white, too? He’s not here to look pretty. The betas will have proper pigment, they won’t fry in the sun.”

It was at this point that it all became too much for Ishmael. He broke into a sobbing fit with remarkable suddenness and didn’t stop until Dan Loris clamped a mask over his nose and mouth which delivered a soothing air into his lungs. Ishmael’s eyelids drooped. He looked around for his mother and didn’t see one. Calmer, he sat on the examination table and watched over the rim of the mask as Dan Loris performed all manner of tests on him, most of which made no sense to him, and seemed pointless. Every joint was checked for smooth abduction and adduction. Skin scrapings were collected from his tail. They took his blood and his saliva, and every inch of his body was captured in image form by a roving, flashing device.

His first meal came next – a pouch of gel designed for people who had been born in similar circumstances, which might prepare a stomach that had been empty its whole life for the rigours of real digestion. He had been fed through a large blood vessel in the artificial amniotic sac, and not through an umbilical cord. As a result, he had no navel, and spent his first few days alternatively vomiting and crying as his digestive tract learned how to work.

Delayed birth, while preventing a young mind from being irrevocably damaged by sleeping through key developmental periods, was still no substitute for a true childhood when it came to mental development. Ishmael could speak and understand others, but he essentially entered life as an unusually well-educated infant in a large and overdeveloped body.

The accounts of his mental growth during his early years are somewhat sparing. There are abundant records of the tests in which he was forced to participate, the exact parameters of his growth, his weaning from gel to solid food, even records of each trip to the latrine. But nobody thought to record his mood or emotional state beyond “Ishmael was cooperative today” or “Ishmael needed sedation today”.

What I can tell you is that by age ten he stood at average adult Human height and just about average adult Human weight. He rarely spoke and gave little indication of understanding anything said around him either. By this time, the second generation of Sirenians, the beta generation, had been given their own delayed births. But Ishmael did not interact with them and it appeared that he knew very little outside the confines of the lab.

At this point in life, he met Dan Loris’s own fosterling, known as a biological child. This biological child was called Callum and he had not had a delayed birth. In fact, he had been in frozen sleep alongside Dan Loris himself. Although he was also ten years old, he had lived in total seventeen years, even if those seven extra years had passed in the blink of an eye and left no lasting impression on his body or mind. By all accounts, this was a far more ethical way to transport someone great distances on The Lonely Sailor.

Callum’s interactions with Ishmael are well recorded, and the earliest examples we have of Ishmael expressing any desires or opinions – the daily records began to include lines like “Ishmael asked about Callum” or “Ishmael was upset at Callum’s absence”. And while there are transcriptions of every word spoken within the lab, the record banks are so huge that it becomes difficult to sift through for any clues as to how Ishmael was developing internally during this time. It seemed, in any case, that he enjoyed the company of another child his age, which is only to be expected, and that he was able to ask to spend more time with his only friend.

There is another side to this. Among other records we located a diary of Callum’s. All of the Precursors were required to write reports of their weekly activities, and the children in particular were encouraged to keep journals, to discuss their emotional reaction to the great upheaval in their lives, and their imaginings of an Atom-controlled future on this new world. Callum’s diary spans his teenage period, not this earlier time, and we will delve into its contents in a later chapter. But it does mention that, at age 10, Callum was wary of Ishmael, and that after a series of incidents which are poorly described but culminated in Ishmael pulling the laboratory door off its hinges, Callum no longer felt safe in his presence.

Indeed, the incidence of “Ishmael was sedated today” in the record logs increased quite dramatically at around this time. A reason is never explicitly stated but I would make an educated guess that Callum, growing more uncomfortable, was not spending as much time with Ishmael, causing distress in the latter. Ishmael was prone to tantrums, often wordlessly lashing out and, on the aforementioned occasion, breaking a door.

Ishmael himself was never consulted to determine the cause of these incidents, with all indications being that the lab workers did not believe him articulate enough to bother reasoning with. As anyone who has spent a season in the nursery knows, underestimating a child’s ability to understand on some level precisely what distresses him is a fool's error.

At the age of eleven, the tantrums had clearly become dangerous, given the damage to the lab infrastructure and Callum’s unwillingness to spend time with Ishmael. Ishmael was growing physically powerful in a way that had not been anticipated by his creator. It may seem surprising, but the art of genetic engineering was never so simple as merely picking and choosing what traits to instil in an embryo. As Dan Loris noted, the science was still relatively new, and their techniques, while powerful, were not precise enough to predict every single possibility. Thus the need for refining a design over concurrent generations, and for producing one-off ‘alpha’ variants like Ishmael himself. Either way, Ishmael was showing a tendency towards gigantism which had not been anticipated.

Management plans had to be drafted, and Dan Loris records the first ever instance of an attempt to understand Ishmael on an emotional level. He brought in a Human called Maris to talk to Ishmael once a day, in the hopes that it would calm him and provide some insights into his psyche. The notes of Maris are an invaluable resource, providing the most detailed written accounts of Ishmael’s childhood, which even Ishmael himself did not adequately record (citing trauma and personal distaste as his reasoning).

She also captured moving ‘video’ images of Ishmael during these sessions which I have been able to access. If not for these, critical moments and historical figures in Siren’s history may have been lost to time forever, leaving nothing but a dry tally of facts recording Ishmael’s physical parameters, as though he were little more than livestock.

*Humans refer to themselves as ‘he’ or ‘she’. I will leave this untranslated as I believe those are different enough to be significant to this society. Based on my studies of Atom society I believe that their usage of 'he' is entirely unrelated to its modern-day counterpart.

**it is my understanding that a computer is a type of machine which can receive information fed to it by a person and produce a mathematical calculation based on that information which the person can interpret, or cause another machine to perform a specific operation – this was used for every facet of Precursor life to automate their machinations, from food production to predicting the outcome of specific events. We may be more familiar with computers in the form of harpy visors though these could be of almost unlimited use.

[maguro13-2]

War of Shadow Realm ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Chapter 4 Epilogue (1/5) ~

*Heartbeat echoeing*

Seto : I...I...I finally understand what truth really meant to this world. All that pain, all that struggle, all the troubles that caused by people's problems and therefore the world of Needless is gone. The one who only erased the world of Needless, it was me! I left the world when I died and...I'm not gonna let it happen again! (stands up and pulls out her sword) I will not cower in fear and face against the actions that we did! I may have a sin of greed like Krabs or the Eds, but that doesn't I do not care about money...I care about saving others! That is why I chose to fight as a hero and become Shinigami of Today!

Solva : I only regret that you'll ever be a pity that the world of Needless isn't like the real world that we live in, and that's the fact!

[Lance Lullaby - Sota Fujimori]

Inky Evans : Quite the hero, you say? (laughs evilly) I've only underestimated that you finally the left the world of Needless which you destroyed it, and it hardly pains you that you struggle your actions from the truth and let the chains break loose from your past world. So, in this terms for Inky Albarn's master plan, the predictions of her ruling the world will be an astonishing achievement and the planet shall be her's to give the human race their demise and despair! I only let you girls proceed so that the Kusakabe would never suspect the queen's true intentions of covering this world into darkness. So, now the deception from Shinra is over, I will dispose of you all and the game will finally be over, both shounens, shoujo, and seinen must die alone together. Die!

*DBZ SFX : Energy Shot*

Kimial Diehl : Hold it right there,ya creep!

Ashley : Kimial! Right on time!

Kimial Diehl : This is time! I won't let you get away with it. So you must be responsible for breaking the seal of Inky Albarn's imprisonment, you are going to regret that for the rest of your life! I assume that I won't have any take backs from you, sh*thead!

Inky Evans : Sounds like you wouldn't even grudge against the forces of nature, haven't you? I bet that the people would even think that I would grudge against all law enforcements on earth, including you two detectives that fights crime and serving justice to all those who committed a crime, and crime itself doesn't pay a small steep price. But in this case, I don't have time for slow pokes like you, it'll be a bad start to fight against me! [Recreates Motorbike with his magic]

[Crush thy Name - Yutaka Minobe]

Inky Evans : Hope that Soul Evans guy doesn't even recognize how dumb this planet is, the real world is going to be toast forever! The next time we meet, the next time it'll be you on the list! I will make sure that you'll never find a way to stop me or the queen itself! (turns on his motorbike and starts flying off]

Eve Neuschwanstein : So, it's gonna be like that, huh? Guess this means it's time for a little challenge that is good enough to stop me. I wonder how the real Maka Albarn is doing?

"Meanwhile later..."

Maka Albarn : Hmmm...It's quiet. Too quiet. I don't feel myself lucky that it's a rough landing for me to handle our peace. But it's a good thing that we manage to hunt down the poison spear monster in Egypt. Woowee! I'm feeling lucky today, sis!

Moirai Albarn : Glad that you finally knew that our relationship won't last forever, you and I...are both coming along together and that's how things work in the family. You have mom, you have father, your other father, and you have me, your sister. So I may have my attention to assure that I was not in the situation of concerning the plans of how are we going to take responsiblity for ourselves. You know, I had my reasons to be with you, In fact. Will Makoto ever...(a spot on the red is shown on Maka's head) Hey, sis. You got a red spot on your head. Is just me or does it looks like it's moving all around you?

Maka Albarn : Red spot all over on me, where did you see a red spot on my...Sister, I don't think we're not alone.

[lights were suddenly turned on]

Egg Pawn : Freeze! This is the Hang Castle Security Unit! Put your hands up in the air and stay where you are!

[Endrum Collective - Hideaki Kobayashi]

Maka Albarn : Hey! What's going on?! Why are these machines are telling us to do that?! Hold on, who's in charge. Sister, did these machines told that are you responsible for the attacks in this country?

Moirai Albarn : [to Maka] What?! Nepgear, no! I would never do such thing to this big city in the far east! That's crazy talk! I didn't think that you were responsible for the upcoming monster attacks and there was literally no proof that you didn't do it! You've been framed! Fooled by! And I suspect that you were never responsible for a crime that you did not commit!

Grim (Metal Sonic) : Maka Albarn, daughter and heir of the Phantonian race. I have you now. Are you really responsible for the death and destruction of this city in Japan?

Maka Albarn : No, never! I did no such thing here and I didn't even lay my finger on another victim! I would definitely disagree on those terms, therefore, I would never tell a lie about it! I only come face to face with Truth along side us, there's always truth for me and I'm the sworn protector of earth! I am no enemy to the planet. But I agree that this isn't funny when I tell a joke, but no jokes tho. I pinky promise that I didn't even flinch. That would be another me, that a demon is going to one real treat. In the questions for that matter, you're mistaken for a demon that looks alike me. And my name Inky Albarn ... isn't Inky Albarn! It's Maka that you wanted.

Moirai Albarn : So, I heard someone that has broken the seal of Inky Albarn, am I right, fellas? She's been framed for the crimes that she didn't commit. She was only trying to protect this planet from being destroyed.

[Flowering Destiny (Memories) - Maki Kirioka]

Grim (Metal Sonic) : Of course, you are correct. The seal that was for the imprisonment of the demon queeen was broken and it believe that it was man named Soul Evans, said that he was responsible for releasing the queen itself, but I really realized that man the detectives were chasing wasn't Soul Evans, it was a look alike named Inky Evans, a demon from the same world as Inky's former love. He is a servant to the queen and he has ability to shapeshift into one's appearance, like Inky Albarn does. He is that cold blooded killer who wanted nothing but to devour hearts and Soul in order to gain power.

Moirai Albarn : And you expected that demons have the ability to shapeshift into one's appearance, like an apparition? This Inky Evans guy that looks alike Soul Evans is a master of disguises like Inky Albarn, doesn't it? I have no idea of how'd they do that with some kind of connection. Maybe I was wrong about the Real World, turns out that Soul World wasn't about young people as weapons to become Deathscythes, it was about Ashley's kind getting involved of putting their Hatred against each other, destroying one's heritage, and the monopolization of political power!

Maka Albarn : That is the reason that why Shinra created his new world, why everything that I'd cared friends and this Crona person!? I cared about mom and my two dads, and even my sister! And I cared about others, I did not cared about the legacy nor my love for Soul or Crona. But it hardly pains me that I never really met Soul Evans nor Crona as a kid, I only met the boy that once saved my life before and it changed my life forever. So, I understand that I did no such things hate crmes against witchkind and I guaranteed that I determined my Destiny to protect both humans and witches to bring love and peace together! But I beg your pardon that we all do respect, so...can you forgive me, my lord? What do you say that we can bring the love and peace together for both Humans and Witches?

Moirai Albarn : We forgive you, my lord. I do all a favor and we all do respect to each other with the highest authority to come up with. And to accept our appreciation for our lordship's kind, there will be a future where humans and witches can live together for good.

Grim (Metal Sonic) : Excellent wise chose, my dear. (walks up to the two) That's what I wanted to hear. Even though, humans and witches offer their will to make sacrifices of a lifetime if they were right or wrong, I should get the feeling of this is nowhere near it's end. You should be more realize that what would happen if this planet will die by the hands of the enemy or will be destroyed and vanish into nothingness.

Maka Albarn : Yes, my lord. I won't let the planet be held in the enemy's hands. We all do respect.

Moirai Albarn : All the better if we do, we can fight and live up to the pain itself, I would hardly recognize If I ever feel sorry for what has my sister did. (bows down as well as her sister) I should consider the fact that humanity's arrogance should be the undoing favors of Shinra Kusakabe's influence.

Maka Albarn : Please accept our promise as a gift to you, my lord. And may the hearts and souls be with you. We promise that will keep this Planet safe from being destroyed or being taken over!

Grim (Metal Sonic) : You truly are the greatest of all warriors on this planet, after all. I guranteed that the world of the blue hedgheog has changed since I died during my battles with the sinners I faced with. And it's coming back to me that I was able to save one's life, one's heart, and one's forgiveness. I only wanted to help those who protect. But I will accept that challenge to protect the good and fight against evils that lies within. But I didn't want anyone to waste a precious life, not even a single Heart and soul to carry away.

Maka Albarn : Thank you , my lord. I cherish that I'll be good from now on. Maybe you aren't such a bad reaper after all and I hardly even noticed that you wanted to protect those that are needed in light and hope, and bringing courage to the ones that you cherished.

Moirai Albarn : Sounds like you're not half bad at all. Guess we should wrap things up and you will let us go.

Grim (Metal Sonic) : On the second hand, I should probably let you go, but before I can do that, there is one more very important thing for me to do. And you are gonna like this one.

Moirai Albarn : Really? Like what? Are you gonna give us something good? Treat us something well?

Maka Albarn : So what are you gonna give me something like what? A present, a gift, a reward. So what should you offer me to give you something?

Grim (Metal Sonic) : Like this.

Maka Albarn : Well, I don't see the point that you're--*PUNCH* GUGHHH! (gags) W...Why? I thought that we had a deal... (collapses, unconciously)

[Out of Control - TAI-HEY]

Moirai Albarn : Hey, what gives!? Grim, what in God's name do you think you're doing!?

Grim (Metal Sonic) : Just doing business.

Moirai Albarn : Hey, Reaper! What are you planning to do with my sister! What are you even trying--

Grim (Metal Sonic) : Moirai, no! This has to be done, I won't let another enemy harm this planet ever again! I gotta get this one to a safe place for imprisonment! It's the only to keep your sister safe!

Moirai Albarn : "Imprisonment"? Are you really going to lock my sister in some kind of prison? What do you want from me and her, reaper? Why do you wanted her to be locked away? What's the point of having no obligations of where to go somewhere or what did we even think about something before!?

Grim (Metal Sonic) : ....

Moirai Albarn : Grim the Hedgehog, I am favoring you to see if you're wiling to let my sister go! I'm begging you to...

*DBZ SFX : PUNCH*

Moirai Albarn : (groans in pain) Not...even...a flinch. Father...Sister...f...forgive me. (collapses, unconsciously)

"Stage 12 : MYSTIC MANSION"

[No Past to Remember - Jun Senoue]

Moirai Albarrn : [about to wake up] H...Huh? Sister, Grim? Anyone? Where am I? What is even with this place? What's going on here? I'm wonder if I'm lost or something? I wonder where did the reaper would lead me to? Guess I sure do not know if I have any memories of this place before, and I didn't even think that I'd remember of ending up here. That's no brainer of mine. Hmm? That portrait looked familiar. [Looks at a portrait of Seaside Hill] Huh, guess someone manage to keep the decoration of this place, not sure why I was brought here. I better finds some clues around this place. I hope my sister's alright and I bet she even knows where could she be right now. But how...[thinking] How did get through this place and find the Reaper's throne inside the place?

[Doorbell Ringing]

Moirai Albarn : Huh? Who goes there? Show yourself, assassin!

??? : Hello, is anyone home. I've come here to deliver the truth for the reaper.

~ Seventy Third Scene : Mystery of Hang Castle ~

[bringmebackdude]

I Can't Quit You Baby

(gif not mine)

Pairing: Slash x fem!Reader

Concept: Slash has been hooking up with a rich girl, but this time "no ties" starts to bother him.

Word count: 1,454

A/N: Actually I've been thinking about making a fic out of this one, haven't read or seen one like this with the guys and mixing a rich girl with Slash seems very interesting...(if you have, please let me know, I'm not trying to steal any content by mistake!)

(light smut, fluff)

His agitated body dropped next to hers, both chests going up and down from exhaustion and the heat that filled the considerably small room. Their bodies still felt the shivers of pleasure, there was a comfortable silence during the recovery. (Y/N) sat on the edge of the bed looking for her bra, which she spotted right next to Pandora's tank, his snake, alongside her panties. It was a usual scavenger hunt for her clothes, she and Slash wouldn't care where they left their stuff when lust came between them. He lit a cigarette while watching his companion with a frown, slightly smirking seconds later when he laid eyes on the lightning-struck tattoo she had on her left buttock. "You're leaving already?"

"Wasn't two hours enough for you, big boy?" she chuckled, sliding her legs inside the pink skirt.

"It's just that you usually stay longer...y'know" shrugging and letting the smoke escape from his lips, he sat on the bed. Carefully pushing some of his rebel curls back, so he could give a better look to the girl's half-naked body. "And it isn't two hours if you count the smoke breaks."

"I have stuff to do, and I'm already late," her tone was calm, but she buttoned down her blouse in a rush, shoving her panties in her purse after.

"Daddy invited the president over tonight?" he asked mockingly.

"Ha-ha, very funny," she finished tying her boots and walked towards him, holding his face between her hands "You would love to go to one, wouldn't ya?"

"I'd die for," using his reliable sarcasm, he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I'll see you soon," always her same goodbye, not forgetting about the quick peck on the lips before taking her belongings and walking out of his room. "Bye, Pandora! Bye, Duff!" Slash heard the main door close, letting out a sigh, all the fun was over sooner than he thought. He was quite happy with the dynamic between him and (Y/N), no need for compromises, just sex whenever they were in need. She was funny, hot, friendly, listened to the same music as he did, and not to mention she was rich. Also, her dad hated Slash, which made the friendship more exciting for both of them. Two lovers of trouble, together, were no good. That's exactly what he wanted, a good fuck and then leave. But somehow, it slightly bothered him that she didn't ask for more. All the girls were looking for something serious with him, why not her?

"She left early, huh?" Duff's head poked out of his door before he made an entrance to the curly's bedroom. He shrugged again, taking a puff on his cigarette "Yeah." "Oh dude, I'm so jealous you can bang that anytime you want. Do you mind if I shoot my shot with her?" "It's not up to me. She's probably out of your league" Slash replied. The guys enjoyed having her around, she wasn't stuck up like other ones, but still, she had a very strong character, which would sometimes cause fights between her and Axl. Of course, she had developed quite the friendship with Duff. The blond giraffe was funny as hell. "If she's a Motley Crue girl, there will be no problem to get her" rested his body against the wall and crossed his arms with a smirk. He knew it was gonna piss the guitarist. "What do you mean?" "Izzy and I ran into her a couple of nights ago after a Motley Crue concert. No big deal." "What were you doing there?" Slash interest grew, he threw the cigarette to the floor and step on it. She goes to see Motley but not us? (Y/N) knew that they were making noise around Los Angeles, he talked endlessly to her about many gigs, still, she never attended one. The unusual feeling of resentment invaded him. He shrugged, making his way out of the room "Chicks are horny as fuck at the end of a rock concert, dude." Duff laughed walking through the hall, knowing the effect that his comment had caused on his friend. As much as Slash would deny it, everyone in the band knew there was something much more than just a friendship going between the two of them. Ever since the night they met her, the proprietorial side of the curly had shown. Besides (Y/N) being rad, she would sometimes arrive at their apartment with boxes of beer when she knew it was their rest day, lent them some clothes, or even offer transportation. Although she would disappear very often and for several days, it was a friendship worth keeping. At this point, the guys were just waiting for them to become something a bit more official, but the two lovers were too proud.

﹆

Her foot stomped on the floor when she tripped on the amp next to the sofa, the dark empty apartment echoed with giggles from the two of them, their mouths refusing to separate. Slash felt the doorknob of his room, quickly opening the door and pulling the girl inside, both wasting no time in starting to take their clothes off. She let her skirt slide down her legs, showing off her pink thong. He, on the other side, was almost naked when he took his pants off, the guy had no problem being commando most of his life. He laid her body delicately on the bed, sliding his mouth towards the female's jaw, where he left traces of saliva from his wet kisses along with a few bites. The rough touch of his blistered fingers running through her body, making her skin crawl as the touch entered between her legs, a smirk appeared in the guitarist's face when he felt how wet she was already, something he never got tired of. A moan escaped from her lips when his mouth positioned on one of her nipples, sucking hard. "Baby" her hands running through his curls, slightly pulling from these, "I need you," she whispered. Needless to say, that unleashed the lust he carried inside.

...

His tanned hand grabbed the delicate one, feeling his fingers locked with hers, a simple but cute thing that Slash usually didn't do. She bit her lip, hiding the smile that the sudden action had provoked on her. "So... Duff told me he saw you at a Motley concert." "Oh yeah, I think it was last weekend or something like that," she shrugged, peering up at him. "I didn't know you liked those types of bands..." trying hard to hide his jealousy, he kept an unworried face. "One of my girlfriends took me with her, and you know I like rock," covering her breasts with the blanket, she reached for a cigarette and took the lighter from the nightstand. "Why?" "Why what?" "Why is this whole interrogation happening, dumbass?" she chuckled, letting the smoke come out right in front of his face. Slash coughed, rolling his eyes before stealing the cigarette from her hand, to which she smiled. "I don't know, it's just that you never come to watch us perform." "So?"

"So? We are friends, and you've never attended one of our gigs, you just drop us off and we're way better than them," he scoffed irritated. The female looked at him with confusion, not understanding where this was all coming from. "Honey, you never invite me to any of your events, I thought this was only hooking up and hanging every now and then," she replied with furrowed brows. He never seemed to have a problem with that. "Well maybe I want more..." with his arms crossed on his chest, he avoided her fazed stare, the last thing he needed was for her to notice his cheeks blushing. The words slipped out of his mouth. Did he regret saying that? No, he didn't, all this time he had been craving more but his pride was too big to admit it. After a few seconds of letting all this new information sink in, slowly a mocking smile was drawn on her face, sliding in bed to be closer to him,"Why didn't you say anything before?" "Cause I guess I didn't realize it completely until a few days ago...whatever, this is stupid" his slight embarrassment was adorable for her, it was a completely new side of the tough carefree guy she knew. "No, it's not," she stopped him before he could get out of the bed."I think we could work something out," a shy smile was attached to the response that was going to change their path from now and on. "I'd like that" he pulled her closed, wrapping his arms around her waist as another round was waiting for them.

[hoekageyama]

cmfrt

yaku morisuke x reader

warnings: nsfw, smut, uhhhh grey sweatpants (ik im sorry ew)

wc: ~3k

a/n: hi hi! this is my first piece, so pls go easy on me ._. this started off as something fluffy bc my desire for yaku content is thru the roof (as it should be), but ofc i got off the rails and went the soft smut route lmao oops. anyway, i hope u enjoy! 

~ also! please don’t consume this content if you are not of age, thnx <3 ~

You and Yaku had been best friends for years. Having gone to the same middle school and practically being next door neighbors. Needless to say, you spent a lot of time together; you two were pretty much attached at the hip. So when Yaku told you that he’d also be going to Nekoma for high school, you were pretty excited but not really surprised. 

Throughout high school, the two of you spent as much time together as possible, proving to be difficult at times with every ounce of Yaku’s free time being devoured by volleyball and the endless amounts of studying that was required for prepping for uni. All that aside, the two of you always found time for each other. Whether it be little lunch dates on the weekends, small study sessions in the library, or even facetime hangouts when you were both exhausted and too lazy to actually meet up face to face.

It felt like any other Friday when you and Yaku met up in the early morning to walk to school together. “Y/n, did you finish that history report yet? I’m almost done, but I need someone to review it so I don’t look like an idiot when I present on it.” Yaku ran a hand through his light brown hair and looked over to your slightly shorter form.

You turn to Yaku, noticing how his cheeks were slightly flushed due to the cold wind blowing directly in your faces. “Just about. I just need to finish my conclusion, but it shouldn’t take me too long to power through it. Also, yeah, I can take a look at it. No worries.” You turn away after answering the boy, and continue on your walk, thinking that was the end of that conversation. You can feel his gaze on you suddenly, leaving your cheeks to tint to that familiar shade of red. “Thanks. Also… are you free tonight?” he asks with slight notes of hesitation in his voice. You glance at him through the side of your eye noticing his fidgeting hands. “Yea, I’m free. What’s up?”

Without looking at you or answering, he slows his pace until he’s stopped. Standing and gazing out at the trees that lined the roads, watching as the Maple leaves are shed from their branches, showing the first true signs of winter. You stop alongside him and nudge him slightly with your elbow, “Why’d you ask so suddenly, Mori? Something up?”

He jumps slightly being pulled from his thoughts. He glances over at you, “Oh, uh, no reason really. I was just wondering if you’d wanna come over tonight to study and hangout. We can chill and watch movies like the old times. I have the house to myself and all so…” When you see his raised eyebrow and sly smirk grace his features, you feel your face heat up slightly.

You turn to him giggling, “Oooooh, Mori! I didn’t know you could be such a flirt!” He wraps an arm around your shoulders and forces you to start walking again. “If that’s what you call flirting, then the guys you talk to must be braindead.” He pulls you a little closer into his chest, laughing along with you now. You nuzzle your head into his chest, breathing in his familiar scent, “Of course I’ll come. As long as you treat me to some takeout tonight.” He nods and smiles, looking at your slightly smaller form clinging to his for warmth. “Deal. We can stop by the store on our walk home, and I’ll get you whatever ya want.” You only nod in agreement, leaving the two of you to walk the rest of the way in a comfortable silence.

As the day moved on, you found yourself getting a bit anxious for your hangout with your best friend. It’s not like you haven’t slept over at his house before. In fact, you and Yaku practically slept at each other’s houses every weekend for as long as you can remember. But what was so different now? Oh yeah, that’s right. It’s because now you were painfully aware of your burning crush on the mighty libero. 

The final bell signaling the day’s end rings as you make your way through the double doors of Nekoma. Making your way towards the gym, you see Kuroo and Kai standing by the entrance chatting. “Yo Tets! Kai! You guys seen Mori anywhere?” The two both wave in greeting as you move closer to the duo. “Yea, I think he’s getting changed right now. Should be out in a bit.” Kai states. “You two still aren’t dating yet? You guys act like you're married already.” says Kuroo, rustling your hair. “Oh shut uuuuup already.” you hear Yaku groan from inside the gym. “You’re so worried about our relationship when you can barely hold a conversation with a girl without looking like a nerd.” Yaku scoffs, punching Kuroo’s arm. 

The four of you eventually split off into your own groups, making your way home for the weekend. The walk home doesn’t take very long. It’s filled with Yaku telling you about Kuroo’s horrible chemistry pickup lines and complaining about the test you both had coming up. Midway through, you both stopped at the store, picking out ample snacks for your movie night and some dinner for later.

Upon finally trudging through the icy winds, you arrive at Yaku’s house. He unlocks the door, but steps aside to let you in first. “What a gentleman!” you say jokingly as he laughs from your reaction. You slide your shoes off at the door and make a beeline straight for Yaku’s bedroom, plastic bag filled with goodies in hand. Yaku lets out a happy sigh and soon follows suit. 

Once in Yaku’s room, you lie face down on his bed groaning. “What’s wrong now, princess?” he asks as he closes the door. Plopping down on the bed next to you with two juice pouches already in hand he nudges you gently to sit up. “I completely forgot to stop by my house to pick up clothes for tonight. All I have in my bag are gym clothes.” you sigh in exasperation as you take the pouch from his cold hands.

“Oh stop. You know you can always just use some of my clothes.” he shrugs while taking a sip of his juice. “I mean.. You’ve done it before. It’s not that big of a deal. I- if you’re ok with it, that is.” he says looking over to you, waiting for your response. You nod in response moving to lie in his lap.

If you didn’t know Yaku well enough, you wouldn’t have noticed the way he tenses slightly, ears the tiniest bit redder than they were moments ago braving the cold of the outside world. “Well then, get me something comfy because I need to get out of this skirt asap!” you say brushing down the edges of your skirt, putting them into place. “I’ll say..” he mumbles. You barely heard it, but it makes your cheeks grow a little red.

After you both finish your drink, you see him disappear into his closet only to emerge moments later with two sets of clothes in hand. He tosses a black t-shirt and a pair of red shorts to you on the bed. Both of which, landing right on top of your face. “I’ll go shower up first since I don’t take ages like some people.” he says with a smirk as he reaches the door.

You giggle hearing his mocking tone “Ok that was one time! And to be fair, it was all your fault. My hair smelled like Yakuult for days after!” He blushes slightly remembering the incident, but chooses to only shake his head laughing to himself as he continues his pursuit for the bathroom.

You lie in his bed scrolling through some app on your phone when you hear the door open. Yaku returns, toweling off his lightly dampened hair, clad in just a pair of grey sweatpants that seem to barely hand onto his waist. You feel your thighs press together tightly as he throws a hoodie on, turning to see your flustered state. “What? Am I too hot for ya?” he asks, wiggling his eyebrows. “Oh shut up!” you groan, rushing passed him and right out the door. You quickly hop into the shower once in the bathroom to cool off your burning cheeks, praying that you can keep it together for the rest of the night. 

Soon enough, you’re all dry, dressed, and heading for Yaku’s room. As you close the door, you see Yaku sitting at his desk running his fingers through his hair. Yaku had been working on his history paper while you were in the shower, and it seems he isn’t making much progress. You grab your back and move to sit by him, brushing against his leg with your own on the way down. He feels a shiver rush down his spine at the sudden delicate touch. “You ok, Mor?” you ask when you see him nodding profusely in response. “Yeah just can’t get this paper done. It’s like my mind is racing, but I can’t focus.” You rub his back and lean over to view his paper in front of him. The way you’re positioned isn’t helping Yaku’s brain one bit. 

Yaku places a hand on your lower back, ogling at the way your back arches naturally reacting to his touch. He smooths out the back of your shirt, admiring the swell of your ass. He flushes a bit, feeling a dull throb and a tightness beginning to form in his sweatpants, when he notices how short you made the shorts after rolling the waistband up a few times to ensure they’d fit. 

You subconsciously rub your thighs together a little while reading through his history report. You hoped that Yaku wouldn’t notice, but unlucky for you he did. He continued rubbing your back, slightly lowering his hand little by little until you felt his rough hand caress your ass. You turned around to look at him, but were met with eyes glazed over in lust. “Hey Mor, you ok?” you ask confused. “I’m fine, baby. Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.” he says as he drops his hand into his lap in an attempt to conceal the bulge that began growing in his sweats. You shake your head giggling, moving back to your original position next to him. “Nah it’s all good, babe. Just…” you lose all train of thought you possibly had when you glance down and notice the outline of something in his sweatpants. “Hey, y/n, listen. I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean for this to happen, I promise. I- I just think you look really good in my clothes…. Sorry.” he quickly spits out. 

He began shuffling to get up from you when you reach out and clamp a hand around his wrist. “Why are you apologizing, babe? I should probably be the one apologizing. Especially when you’ve made me like this.” you say bashfully, leading his hand to the wet spot that was now visible in the red shorts you wore. He groaned upon feeling the dampness. “What’s all this, princess? Why so wet already?” he coos into your ear, continuing to rub his rough hands against your clothed core. 

After building up the courage to get this far, you threw all caution to the wind. “You, Mori. Fuck! I want you to touch me, please.” you let out a little moan as you palmed him through his sweats. You could tell just how hard he was through his pants. “Fuck, baby, I’ll do whatever you want. Just please let me fuck you.” he groans when you press a little harder onto his hardened cock.

Everything that happened next was a blur. Lips smashed together, tongues dancing, teeth clashing every now and then. You finally part lips, gasping for air as he tugs his hoodie off over his head. You follow suit, removing your shirt and shorts, leaving you standing nearly bare in between his legs as he lounged in his desk chair. 

His eyes never leave yours as he unhooks your bra, allowing it to fall to the floor with a thud. His hands smooth over your breasts, rolling and pinching a nipple in between the rough pads of his fingers. He places open mouthed kisses from your jawline down to the swell of your breasts. Leaning back to take in the view once more he groans, saying, “You’re so beautiful, baby. I can’t believe you’ve been hiding these from me all this time.” you only moan as he moves in to nip at one of your pert nipples. Your hands immediately reach for his light brown locks and begin to tug in response to the stimulation. 

His hands move to your lower body pulling off your lace underwear until they drop to the floor. You kick them aside before he grips your hips tightly. “Mo- Mori please, let me ride your cock.” you say through moans as he lightly trails a finger through your soaked folds. He removes his mouth from your chest with a lewd popping sound. He stands up to pull his sweats lower and sits back down in his seat. You take a moment to ogle at the sight before you. His cock, painfully hard, dripping precum from the swollen head. You grab his shoulders and move in to kiss him as his grip returns to your hips. 

He hoists you up onto his lap, making you straddle the length in his lap. When your wet core makes contact with the length below you, you let out a lewd moan and grind in his lap. He hisses at the contact and tightens his grip on you to stop you from moving. “Patience, princess.” he groans out as you finally stop your ministrations. He lifts you slightly, aligning himself with your hole before looking up to you for approval. You simply nod your head and lower yourself onto his cock little by little. It isn’t too above average in length, but damn did he make up for it in girth. 

You both hiss at the feeling of him being sheathed completely inside your tight cunt, neither of you moving to allow for you both to regain some composure. “Fuck baby, you’re so tight!” he groans, “Just let me know when you want to start moving.” You only nod your head, savoring the delicious stretch in your core. 

As soon as you regain your bearings, you look up to him with glazed eyes, “Mori, mo- move please.” He attaches your mouth to his and gently lifts you, gripping your ass tightly. Before long, he let you take control. The pace you set is slow at first while you kiss him tenderly, running a hand through his hair, tugging gently every so often. His cock hits a particularly sensitive spot inside you, causing you to erupt in another lewd moan of his name. You feel him twitch inside you, he speeds up the pace a bit bringing your ass down harder each time he lifts you. 

Before long you feel that familiar heat in your core building inside you. “Ah fuck, I’m c- close” you moan out as he snaps his hips up to meet yours. The sound of his balls slapping your ass is nearly enough to set you off, but when he reaches a hand down to place sloppy circles around your clit. The coil of heat building up finally snaps, and you’re thrown head first into the bliss of ecstasy.

Yaku groans feeling you tighten around his length. He continues fucking you through your high, and his pace begins to get sloppy before he pulls out frantically. Before he can ask you, you get on your knees in front of him and take him into your mouth. He hisses at the feeling of your tongue gliding over his swollen head and throws his head back in pleasure. With one hand in your hair, he pulls you lower onto his cock as he bursts ribbons of heat down the back of your throat. 

After removing himself from your mouth and tucking himself back into his sweats, he pulls you back into his lap. He places a gentle kiss on your lips, holding you tightly in his arms. “Mori, I’m cooooooold.” you whine into his shoulder. “Let’s get you cleaned up and ready for bed, huh?”

He moves you onto his bed and quickly disappears to the bathroom. You see him return with a damp washcloth and a cup of water in hand. You let him clean you off as you look around the room for your clothes. “I’ll get you some new clothes ok? Just relax and drink your water while I put these washing.” he says, motioning to the pile of clothes on the floor. He hands you some garments and you quickly get dressed as he moves about the house.

He later returns, only to see you waiting for him with the takeout you had gotten earlier. He plops down beside on the bed for the second time tonight and pulls you into a hasty kiss. “You’re mine, right? I love you so much. I’ve dreamt of this for years. Please stay with me.” he says as he looks deep into your e/c eyes, while cupping your cheeks with his hands. “How can I say no?” you giggle, smashing your lips into his once more before chowing down on your takeout meals. The rest of the night is spent with the two of you cuddled up watching terrible rom-coms. The history report, long forgotten. That can wait for tomorrow.

- again, i’m so sorry at how trashy this is written lmaodfadfj 

- if u did read it tho, tysm! ily & maybe send me some suggestions on what to write next. i’m down for whatever rlly. i’m trying to write more often so this is kinda just a warm up for now.

[maximumsnow]

Chapters: 8/? Fandom: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware, HLVRAI - Fandom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Gordon Freeman, Tommy Coolatta, Dr. Coomer (Half-Life), Bubby (Half-Life), Benrey (Half-Life) Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-typical swearing, Basically an au exploring what if HLVRAI followed Half Life a little more closely, Au where there isn't a betrayal in that one spot, Mainly was wondering what would happen to the others if they hadn't been in on it., Some things change some don't, Oh also this is sort of intended as a not a game au

Summary: Anyone who knows original Half-Life knows that the ambush happens in that spot no matter what. What would have happened if the ambush was as rough for the others?

There was a lot to unpack involving the full realization of just how inhuman Benrey was, but all of it was shoved aside thanks to the current problem.

Which was that Benrey was horribly injured and trapped in a room that was full of a poisonous gas, and, if Coomer’s continued explanation from Wikipedia was anything to go by, it was really, really bad. Gordon did not know the limits of Benrey’s ability to heal, but if he looked this bad while getting poison shoved down his lungs, Gordon wasn’t sure about Benrey’s chances of bouncing back if he stayed for too long.

The worry cranked up to eleven when Benrey suddenly collapsed below the window.

Gordon ran over to the control console and anxiously glanced over all the buttons and levers that clearly had something to do with the environmental room. “Shit, is there like, an emergency release button?!”

Tommy wasn’t far behind. “There should- there has to be one. It’s gotta be OSHA compliant!”

“No offense, Tommy, but given everything else you’ve said followed OSHA, that doesn’t mean shit.”

“I was joking then, Mr. Freeman.”

The conversation was cut off by Bubby yelling, “Look for ‘Emergency Ventilation!’ They might be idiots, but they don’t want to waste that much space and money on a bricked room.” He had taken Tommy’s place at the tank of poison and was fiddling with something over there.

Now that he knew what to look for, Gordon renewed his search, but Tommy was already reaching over him and slammed a fist onto a button. “Woah-”

A sound not unlike an air conditioning unit but much louder kicked in, and there was an immediate change in the enclosed room as the green started to clear out. With the fog fading away and the lack of a large rainbow body covering the floor, it was much easier to see what the room used to be.

The rocky terrain was mostly barren by this point, with the remains of possibly alien plants dotted around pools of water. Corpses of headcrabs were also strewn about, but, shockingly, they were mostly still intact despite Benrey’s presence.

Most notably, though, there was the body of a soldier, and Gordon could not say the same about it. It was in more pieces than Benrey’s still alive body. There was an arm in the corner, a leg by that murky pool, and Gordon had to look away from the torso with organs leaking out of it.

That was enough nightmares for today.

He anxiously waited for the door to unlock, but despite the toxin being flushed out by fresh air and vented elsewhere, there wasn’t a click or a hiss or any other sound he would associate with an unlocking pressurized door.

“Uh, why-”

The overhead sprinklers in the sealed room turned on; the hiss of spraying water was immediately covered up by a sharp scream that could only have come from Benrey.

Gordon slammed against the window as he tried to see what was going on. “Benrey? Dude, you okay?” He knew the question was stupid, but due to where Benrey dropped, it was difficult to see the security guard from the angle the window allowed.

“What are you doing?” The tone would be called whiny if it wasn’t for the gasps of pain that punctuated each word.

The implied accusation stung. “I don’t know! We hit the button to clear out the gas and-”

Tommy interrupted, “Sorry Benrey! That stuff- That gas residue can stick. The room has special surfactant laced water in the sprinklers and… yeah. Just hold on a little longer, okay?”

The explanation was met with silence.

“Benrey?” Gordon couldn’t help but call out.

“Oh. Okay. I can chill a bit.” The voice was strained, but at least he spoke at all.

The tension left his shoulders a little. As long as Benrey was still talking, they knew he was fine. At least it sounded like his voice wasn’t as raspy this time.

Unfortunately, all they could do was wait until the room went through a complete clean cycle if the book Tommy had pulled out was right.

Feeling bad for their stuck companion, Gordon turned the intercom on and panicked when he didn’t have an immediate topic to bring up. Latching onto the first question his mind thought of, he asked, “So uh, was this why you kept disappearing on us earlier?”

More silence.

“Benrey?”

“Hey bro. Appreciate what you’re doing, but please no talking? Pretty please? I’ll be fine. Promise.” Benrey’s voice was barely audible over the fans getting louder.

The pained plea immediately made Gordon feel guilty, so he turned the intercom off and started to pace in front of the window. The sound made it difficult for any of them to hold a conversation, even if Benrey wasn’t involved, so Gordon was stuck alone in his thoughts as he waited for the door to finally open. From a different perspective, it looked like he was all but bouncing between Bubby and Tommy, but he didn’t get to appreciate that mental image due to worrying over the condition Benrey was in.

He was still reeling over the full understanding that Benrey’s one off line about not being human was not an impulsive gag, but a truthful statement. Sure, he probably should have guessed by now given Benrey’s apparent powers, but Gordon still thought that he was more in line with Bubby or Coomer. An… Enhanced human, if anything else.

But nope, Benrey was apparently a shapeshifting monster that had a human form. The scientist in Gordon was intrigued at the apparent alien life form, but the empathetic part of him knew that outright asking shit like that would be rude at best. De-human… Depersonalizing at worst.

Sure Benrey gave him hell, but it wasn’t like Benrey had been outright malicious. Hell, he had even rescued Coomer.

… Actually, he was probably also the thing that slammed into Bubby’s tube to release him.

Damn, Gordon really felt bad for being a dick to Benrey earlier, now.

His thoughts were interrupted as a loud hissing sound brought his attention back to the room, and Tommy all but yanked the door off its hinges before catching himself. “Mr. Freeman, you have to, uh. You’re wearing an HEV suit. You have to be the one to pull him out.”

Nodding, Gordon quickly passed him and entered the now supposedly cleaned environmental room. Benrey was huddled under the observation window, and when he looked up at Gordon, he actually had more than half of a face.

The sight of muscle and bone still made Gordon recoil in horror. “Holy shit, dude. Doesn’t that hurt?”

Benrey half-heartedly gave a one-armed shrug. “I’ll regen soon, don’t worry about it.”

“That doesn’t mean this doesn’t suck ass!” Hell, just looking at him was making him queasy. But the half-drowned puppy look compelled him to at least try to ease the poor guy’s pain. “Come on let’s get you out of here.” He knelt down and tried to figure out where he could potentially touch Benrey without hurting him.

“Need a hand?” Benrey rolled over, and clutched in his remaining hand was a now very muddy arm.

Needless to say, the visual equivalent of a non-sequitur gave Gordon pause as he tried to process just what he was looking at.

“Why the fuck do you have a random arm?”

“Wasn’t his.” He lazily waved the arm like it was a magic wand and pointed the hand end towards the dead soldier.

Gordon could feel his stress headache building. “What do you mean it wasn’t his?”

In lieu of saying anything, Benrey shoved the other end of the arm into Gordon’s face, and the movement startled Gordon into falling on his ass.

He was so glad that he couldn’t feel the mud through the HEV suit.

“Dude, what the fuck?”

“Look, it’s not, uh, natural.”

“I don’t want to look at the bony end-” He stopped and stared at the place he knew there should be blood and bone, but there were bits that looked shiny under the mud. “Metal?”

“Yeah. Not his. He’s kinda made of meat.”

“Is this… Dr. Coomer’s arm?”

“Think so. Tried to get it back for ‘em”

… That’s right, Benrey was the monster that chased the soldiers that had taken Dr. Coomer apart.

Gordon shook his head as he got back on his feet. “You can show him when we get out. Come on...”

Given Benrey’s current state, Gordon finally decided to just try picking him up bridal style. Other than a few grunts of pain as he was shifted around, Benrey kept mostly quiet.

Exiting became a problem since the others had all elected to stand directly in the doorway to peer in like children trying to snoop on their parents. He rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything, Benrey shouted, “LET ME OUT OF THIS BOX!”

The sudden volume actually made Bubby and Tommy scramble out of the way, but it took a not so subtle yank from Bubby to make Coomer move.

With the path clear, Gordon walked in and found a relatively clean spot next to a wall to put Benrey. “Here we go. Sorry, can’t do anything more comfy for ya.”

“It’s fine,” He said before shoving the arm into Gordon’s hands. “I gotta. Gotta nap.”

While the thought of staying too long made him nervous, Gordon couldn’t help but agree with him there. They could afford to take a break for a while. “Alright, I’ll get you up before we leave.”

“Sounds good.” The one eye was already drifting shut, but the steady breathing soothed Gordon’s fear.

Despite still being worried, he could see some of the skin regrowing on Benrey’s face, and, frankly, Gordon didn’t want to get sick. Instead, he turned to the others, nearly bumped into Tommy with how close he had been standing, and asked Coomer, “Hey, your arm-”

“Look, Gordon, you found my left Extendo-arm!”

“-Your arm is dirty. Do we have to do anything special to clean it?”

“Nope! It’s perfectly waterproof even when unattached. You’ve even seen me swim with it.”

“The chemicals in the water should have- should have made it safe to use. Even after exposure to- Even after being exposed to the poison.”

“Okay so just some good old soap and water to get off the dirt should be fine.” With that, he walked over the bloodstains to one of the sinks built into the counters. He tested one of the faucet handles, and sighed in relief when water flowed out of the tap. Grateful that the water was still working, he started trying to wipe off all the mud.

Progress was… Slow, however.

“How the HELL did this get so fucking dirty?”

The clunky gloves of the HEV suit didn’t make it any easier, either. As he scrubbed at a particularly stubborn clump of dirt, he glanced over towards Tommy and Benrey.

Tommy was practically standing over Benrey. Like he was guarding him.

But before he could say something to him, Bubby and Coomer’s movements caught his eye as they wandered towards Gordon’s other side.

Coomer had moved first. Something had caught his attention, and he was walking towards the other sink. Then Bubby’s examination of the poison tank ended, and he joined Coomer in looking over what was left on the counters.

They both stood in front of a strange egg-like thing, and when Gordon looked over his shoulder to do a quick headcount, he had to ask, “Uh, what the fuck is that? Please don’t poke it.”

“Hello, Gordon! I have no idea what this is!” Given his current lack of upper limbs, Coomer had settled on nearly shoving his face into it as he tried to examine it.

Bubby, of course, decided to pick it up, and before Gordon could stop him, the egg appeared to hatch on contact. “Oh. I uh. Didn’t expect that. Does this mean I’m a parent now?”

“What a beautiful child!”

The creature in question was an insectoid creature not much bigger than Bubby’s hand with a large faceted eye. When Bubby brought up his other hand to presumably touch it, a beak snapped shut very close to his finger and nearly caused him to drop it.

“Careful, before it bites your hand off!”

“I’m not that stupid.”

Gordon chose to not rise to the bait and start a fight there. “We can’t take it with us, so figure out what to do with it.”

Turning back to his task at hand, he continued scrubbing mud away, and he couldn’t help but notice that the artificial skin on the arm sometimes made it look far too real.

Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think- Wait where the fuck did that thing go?

When he looked back over the counter, the creature Bubby had picked up was nowhere to be seen.

He had to ask, "What did you do?"

"Tranq'ed it."

Gordon blinked a few times before yelling, "HOW?"

"With tranqulizers Gordon use your goddamn brain." With that, Bubby turned away and walked over towards the desk.

"Where did you- you know what? I don't need to know." He knew a lost cause of a conversation when he saw one, and he did not want to deal with it anymore.

Once the arm was sufficiently cleaned, he placed it on the counter and nearly ran into Coomer.

“Hello, Gordon!”

“Hey, Coomer. Does this need to dry before we reattach it, or can it just go right on?” He waved towards the drying arm.

Coomer mused for a second before saying, “It is waterproof, but I’ve never tried attaching the arms while they’re still wet. Maybe we should sit it in rice for a few minutes?”

“Uhhhh, we don’t have rice, dude. But we can let it air dry for a while. Don’t think we’re going anywhere soon.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder towards the resting Benrey. In a quieter voice, he asked, “How’re you holding up?”

Matching his volume, Coomer responded, “I’ll be much better when I have my arms again. At least we’re almost halfway there.”

Gordon reached over and patted Coomer’s shoulder before going back to the others. “How about we just. Take a breather for now?”

“Best idea I’ve heard all day,” Bubby said before promptly dropping to the floor. At least that spot was clean...

“… You okay?” “I’m fine!” Despite the claim, Bubby was removing the shoe on his bad foot and was checking on the injury.

Before Gordon could go over and repeat the question, Coomer lightly shoulder checked him as he passed by and gave Gordon a look.

As Gordon understood it, that was an unspoken, “Let me handle it,” gesture, and he backed away from the older scientists as they settled.

Coomer lightly leaned against Bubby on his way down to a sitting position; the ease with which he went through the motions spoke of years of practice.

How often had Coomer been armless before?

Gordon knew the question would be unappreciated at the moment, but it hovered in his mind like an annoying fly. He tried to distract himself by taking a seat not far from Benrey and Tommy, but Benrey was still obviously regrowing shit, which Gordon still didn’t want to focus on.

So that left trying to get Tommy to relax.

“Yo, Tommy, uhh. How long before I can sleep?” He nearly slapped himself on the forehead with how dumb that was. Wow, great conversation starter, Gordon. Bringing more attention to their group's various injuries was a great way to ease Tommy’s worries.

The expected reaction of Tommy managing to tense up even more made Gordon vaguely wonder when the theoretical string would snap. “I don’t- It’s not an exact science. Just. If you-” Tommy cut himself off. “-I know we can’t keep you up forever.” The admission was followed by a drop in Tommy’s shoulders. “Can you stay up until night- until the we have to stop and sleep later?”

The correction was appreciated. Sometimes they didn’t see the sun for a while, and at this point, Gordon didn’t even know what time of day it was. The lobby had ambient sunlight shining through the skylight, but with everything happening, he couldn’t even begin to guess how long ago that was.

Right, he needed to answer that question before Tommy wrung himself into a spiral of anxiety. “Yeah, man, I can do that.”

Tommy’s face lightened up into a faint smile, and while that gave Gordon some relief, he couldn’t help but feel sad that the normally vivid expression had faded so much.

Deciding to take the conversation back to what he actually wanted to talk about, he asked, “Wanna take a breather? The rest of us are. Can you mess up the door like the last one?”

Tommy bit his lip as he appeared to weigh the options. “This door doesn’t- This room doesn’t have a Tesla charge. So it doesn’t have the same-” Tommy waved his hand in frustration, “-Things. That the last door we blocked did.”

Gordon groaned, “OSHA Compliance?”

“OSHA Compliance.”

Sure, he knew why most automatic doors didn’t have an auto-lock on them, but it made things really inconvenient right now.

“How about we just block the door with something? We’re all hanging out on the ground.” Despite that last statement, Gordon adjusted himself so that he could stand up and help.

“Take it easy, Mr. Freeman, I can get it,” Tommy said before putting a hand on Gordon’s shoulder to keep him seated.

“But-”

“It won’t take me long, just keep- Watch out for the others.”

He wasn’t entirely sure just what he meant since Bubby was already faintly snoring, and Coomer was loudly snoring, but didn’t argue as Tommy breezed past him.

Gordon would swear he only blinked before Tommy had come back and settled near him and Benrey.

“You already done?”

“Yeah, just took some- Took a few chairs and made a barrier. The counter already blocks us from view. And the- the uh, blood trail should be a warning sign...”

Tommy sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Gordon, and it didn’t look like it was working.

“I believe you.”

The look Tommy gave him conveyed incredulousness and gratitude.

“We’ll get through this, okay? But don’t burn yourself out. I can keep an eye on things for an hour or two, if that would help?”

Sure, Gordon knew he would be an alarm system at best, but Tommy looked so tired. Even if Tommy would only take a short nap, it would be better for him in the long run.

Honestly, it would be better for all of them since he was the only one not physically fucked up in some way, but Gordon’s primary concern in the moment was Tommy’s mental wellbeing.

The quiet after the question stretched for an uncomfortable minute, but Gordon knew Tommy needed to think this through on his own terms. “Sure, I can- I can take a nap. Will you wake me up in-” Tommy then seemed to notice the lack of functioning clocks in this room, “-In a little while.”

“Poggers,” Gordon nearly died as the streamer lingo slipped out. Sure his interest in video games had slipped out earlier, but the residual fear of exposing his private interests to professional colleagues never went away completely. “Sounds good, I mean.”

Tommy shrugged before handing over the assault rifle and sliding down from his seated position to a laying position.

“G’night, Mr. Freeman.” “Goodnight, Tommy.”

[atinybitofau]

[PART 3] S A N ⇲ royal series AU

RECAP: san is king of eden, you’re queen of elos under one nation with 7 other lone kings. still on a forced bonding retreat with king san, you arrive to the kingdom of aurora under mingi and seonghwa’s advisement. Though that advisement becomes a little moreso...

• series masterlist •

⇩ PART THREE ⇩ click me to read part two.

“Welcome to Aurora!”

You’ve been here countless times and sometimes you forget how far away each Kingdom is from one another. Though Mingi and you are close, you only ever see each other on days that allow.

You’re escorted out of the carriage and greet Aurora’s people kindly. King San was known for his nobility and close riches to Mingi’s kingdom so people do diligence to pay their respects. It wasn’t show stopping either that they seemed happy to both your visits.

The three of you enter the castle grounds of which Mingi stayed, his hand maid handing him a scroll of tasks.

“First things first.” The taller man clapped his hands. “Let’s get changed for cropping. Rice— a team building exercise Seonghwa has recommended for the both of you.”

“I own no land in my kingdom to mill rice, Mingi.” You rubbed at your temples. “This is unnecessary.”

“Au contraire mademoiselle,” he speaks to you in French for no apparent reason. “It’s important to keep humble and learn trades of other kingdoms. And see? King San has no objections and you should follow in his footsteps.”

“He’s walking to the bathroom.”

“Not literally!”

You chuckle. “Fine. But if I break a nail milling rice today in your territory, Song Mingi, so help me god I will rip you up.”

“You have my word, your highness.”

Upon changing for the task at hand, you tie up your perm in a messy bun and hold a basket to your hip with the milling tools required. Milling rice couldn’t be that hard. And corsets and silk may be a little constricting working with dirt and plants. You liked to keep modesty in your standards though you hold high social class. And your soldiers saw nothing of it, used to you in particular choice of silk. The other kingdoms men seemed wary by your choice of scrap clothes and whisper empty gossips to each other while Mingi gawks.

“People may get the wrong idea, Queen y/n.” He hurries to your side as you prance around his garden unscathed. “Your highness, maybe you should—“

“Let them whisper about, Mingi.” You wave him off picking tomatoes and eggplants off their stems for supper later. “It’s meaningless words anyway. They mean no harm. It’s important to keep.. humble.”

The red blushes at your mimicry. “Y-yes but don’t you think—“

“I think nothing of it.” You shrug him off looking to a young woman behind him. “Take these to the kitchen and cook up a marvelous soup for us tonight. Make enough for plenty, please.”

The maiden that follows Mingi smiles in a curt bow before taking what you requested not even waiting for the dismissal of her King. Mingi groans in response attempting at it again.

“People may assume you are too humble, your highness.”

“Well husking rice would ruin satin.” You breeze him off as a just-as-humble looking San joined you in a matching brown weaved outfit. “And it seems that I’m not the only one to think so.”

San, in the middle of tying his pants, bows hastily at the both of us. “I hope I didn’t keep you both waiting too long.”

Mingi face palms at that. “Let’s just begin. Before anyone else starts thinking I’m the one not humble enough.”

The lot of you started husking, it coming fairly easily to you though San seemed to be having trouble keeping the rice separate from the husks, lots of bits and pieces falling out. Mingi left to do his bidding being at his own Kingdom, leaving two foreign nobles in the watchful eye of his subordinate. San picked up good things and had enough individuality to adapt well. Although keeping gentle hands was not something he was good at being a King who also lead his soldiers in battle.

You sigh dusting off your dress, rushing over behind San. “With those hands, you’ll lose all your kernels of rice.”

You lace your fingers in his, his body tensing underneath you. “Never been embraced by a woman before?”

“Not from behind.”

Cheeks flaming at his sexual taunt, you help him ease his fingers nonetheless, tossing the basket lightly in your intertwined hands.

“It takes a delicate touch to separate the bad and the good.” You mumble behind him.

While slowly loosening your fingers around his, you find that he was doing it on his own. More attent on your help than anything else.

“Do you always help men like this or is this just going to be an us thing?”

Finally standing from your spot to cock a hand to your hip. A position you found natural around his attitude. “No, I don’t do this with other men. And no, this is not going to be an us thing.”

“Am I interrupting?”

A throat cleared from behind you and a guilty feeling boils as if you were just caught doing something bad. While Mingi’s glaring holes at San, you definitely can’t help the guilty feeling at all.

“I was only helping him.” You defend walking towards Mingi’s strong stance.

“Yeah by caressing my—“

“Is there something you should be telling me, Queen y/n?” Mingi whispers leaning down to you with fury blatant in his eyes. “First you wander off to search for San in an empty field. You two clearly past wanting to be well acquainted, now I’m finding you arms around him like a Shakespearean play with no script.”

You sigh. “Nothing is going on between San and I.”

“Well it sure looks like it!”

Mingi looks back at the King behind you who still seemed out of touch, talking mindlessly with the mentor before you’re being dragged out by none other than Song Mingi himself. You find yourself trudging in hesitation shocked by his sudden abrasiveness.

You look at him in horror before he holds you steady behind a tall pillar. “I don’t like seeing you holding him in such high regard, y/n, I’m worried.”

Y/n?

“Mingi, what is going on with you? Are you mad? How can I possibly hold him in a strong regard after what happened to my father?”

He seemed to have thought through his sudden apprehending anger and simmered down. Still unsatisfied, he trembles with a clenched jaw avoiding your eyes.

“Oh god, don’t tell me you’re jealous Mingi.”

He snaps his eyes at you porcelain skin going pink. You can’t help the endless butterflies from his surprising reaction to your joke, your hands going up to cup his face. You run your thumbs against his bloated pout and mimicked it in empathy.

“You have no reason to envy San’s relationship with me. It’s pure discouragement. Believe me.” You insist, the King of Aurora going weak under your touch.

“I don’t like watching you embrace another man.” He shudders holding at your hands. “Needless to say, and maybe the other kings have the same thought as I, it bothers me to see our princess in someone’s arms other than ours.”

“Well when I’m wed, you may not have the choice.”

“Though I hope it’s soon,” He sighs reluctantly sending you a kind smile. “I’d want it to be with someone I’d prefer.”

“Please don’t observe us like something we’re not.” You mutter about San as you two walk in return to your post. “He’s a King I’m reading for our benefit. You said so yourself to befriend the enemy. I’m just doing what’s considered right.”

“Following your heart was never hard for you, Queen y/n.”

You stop at that smiling broadly at his change of honorific. “Speaking of Queen, you called me y/n for the first time without honorifics.”

He stutters his next words. “I-I was startled by my own emotions. I—“

“Don’t brush it off.” You link your arms with his, feeling somewhat fit by his side. “You know I’ve always hated being addressed formally. Especially with you.”

“It’s my honor and duty to due respect.”

“Though I hold you in the highest regard I don’t find that necessary.”

“Regardless.”

You hum leaning against his arm only to be met with his Baron and San present with no emotion.

“Well don’t you two look quaint.” A look of loathe appeared and smeared the smile of King San when he glanced at the space between you and Mingi. “I’m sure you both caught up with your disagreements and settled them so.”

@atinybitofau

p.s rough edit lol.

a/n: I’m gonna take a quick hiatus from my oneshots cause I gotta recuperate ideas lmao. but I’ll make this pretty priority so ya’ll will see this series pop out a lot. just a quick fyi. love ya guys!

[the-toppat-king]

Chapter Five: Escape

Charles kept his eyes on the ground as he and the Toppats were escorted to their holding cell.

Henry and the other fellow, Thomas, hadn't said anything more after their capture. Charles had tried to apologize to Henry for getting him into this, but he said nothing. There had been silence a few moments before Thomas had said: "Selective mute. He usually signs, not that I understand it. Been meanin' to learn, though."

A quick threat against Henry's life had silenced him, however, and they had finished the trip in silence. Charles could tell how much Dmitri wanted to kill Henry, to be the one to say "I defeated the Toppat king!", but he couldn't just kill him. He was already on thin ice from the way he ran his prison.

"In ya go. We'll be separating you into different cells soon." Grigori grunted, shoving Charles in. He yelped a bit at the roughness, almost falling before be managed to catch himself. The pilot glared after the guard as he locked the cell and walked away, shouting something in Russian. He glanced at the other person in the room, a red-haired woman with emerald green eyes. She glanced up at them almost curiously, but didn't say anything.

"So, the Toppat Clan. Why?" Charles looked at Thomas, who blinked in surprise.

"Got framed for something I didn't do." He sighed. "I was cellmates with a Toppat, he helped me get out and offered to put in a good word for me. Who was I to turn down a roof over my head and dinner every night?"

"Do you regret it?" Charles frowned.

"Not for a second. We're family there, and my life wouldn't be the same without them." Thomas smiled. "It may not seem it, but we all love each other."

That was surprisingly simple, and Charles could understand that. He couldn't imagine how his life would have ended up if he didn't join the military. "What about Henry? I mean, it hasn't been that long but you guys seemed pretty familiar with him."

"Henry was born into the Clan." Thomas explained. "His father was the leader before Reginald, Terrence Suave. Terrence was a horrible leader, launched raids and heists for the thrill, got people captured, injured and killed and just didn't care about the Clan. Right and Reginald actually took to raising Henry, even more so after his Mother disappeared after a raid. We ended up overthrowing him after soldiers got onto the airship, usually we'd throw leaders like that overboard but..." He sighed. "Well, he was threatening to shoot Reginald in the throat, so that wasn't an option. Well, Henry was just six at the time, and he ended up seeing. Ran away not long after that."

Charles looked over at Henry, who was preoccupied investigating every centimeter of the cell. If he was listening to them talk, he wasn't showing it. "Why do you think he rejoined?"

"Self-preservation, most likely." The Toppat replied. "Why else? It certainly doesn't seem like he had much else if he actually went through with capturing Reginald. I heard you said you were going to pardon him, but if he was famous enough for you to hunt down, who's to say anyone would actually hire him after that?" He paused. "Also, Right is the scariest man alive and Reginald is his husband. That's a death wish right there, no matter who you are."

"I hate that you're right." Charles muttered. "Henry didn't seem have anything else. He was barely getting by by the looks of it. I felt bad for him, even if he is a criminal. No one should have to worry about if they'll be able to have another meal or if they'll have a roof over their head by the time the week ends."

"So we can agree on some things." Thomas laughed a bit. Henry cleared his throat, gesturing up to the vent. "Oh, got an idea, Henry?"

He nodded, glancing at their other cellmate. "Hm?"

She looked at him, brows furrowing. "What?"

"Are you coming?" Thomas asked, walking over to prop Henry up and watching as he wiggled up into the vent. "You might not get another chance."

"I don't have anything else to lose." She shrugged. "The name's Ellie."

"Thomas. That's Henry and, uh..." Thomas looked at Charles.

"Charles Calvin." He gave her a nod. "I was supposed to break in and get evidence so the government can shut this place down for good, but I was caught."

"Government working with Toppats!" Thomas laughed as a ladder descended, Henry peering over the hole at them before disappearing again. "Never thought I'd see the day. I'm not complaining, though. I'll take friends where I can find them."

Charles was the last to climb up, seeing the others freeing themselves by banging the cuffs off a convenient rock.

"Where to next?" Ellie asked as Charles got his cuffs off.

"If we could find a communications room I could call the general." Charles offered.

Thomas and Henry gave him unamused looks.

"Ah, right. Toppats. You could call them...?"

"It'd be too dangerous." Thomas shook his head. Henry tugged on his sleeve, whispering something in his ear. "Oh, that might work."

"What'd he say?"

"He said if we can steal a phone we can try to sneak out and call them once we're a safe distance away." Thomas replied. "They may not be happy to have Charles back on the ship, but maybe we can work something out with the General."

"Like what?" Charles tilted his head.

"Helping you take down the Wall if you leave us alone?" Thomas suggested. "You can't currently pin us to any crimes, anyway. Why not work with us for once?"

"Not sure General Galeforce will agree, but it's worth a shot." Charles smiled as Henry lead the way through the vent. "You know, maybe this won't be so bad!"

__________________________________

Ellie wasn't sure what to think.

She'd heard of the Toppat Clan once or twice, she knew they were some kind of criminal organization. But she didn't know much.

Oh well, she wasn't going to skip out on a chance to escape, and potential protection. She was curious on why they were helping her, though. Maybe they expected her to join them? She guessed it didn't really matter.

What mattered now was getting out.

"What now?" Ellie asked, frowning.

"I saw a truck on our way in. If we can sneak out three of us can hide in the back while the other drives away." Charles pipped up.

"How do we get out there?" Thomas asked.

"What if we started a riot? The guards would be distracted." Ellie offered.

Henry nodded, giving her a thumbs up, before sliding open a vent above them and poking his head out. He gestured Ellie forward, slipping out and creeping near one of the guards. Ellie met his eyes with a nod, and nearly simultaneously the two lunged forward, wrapping an arm around each guard's throat and covering their mouth. "We only have a few minutes to get through before they wake up."

Henry nodded as Charles and Thomas climbed out of the vent. Ellie counted her lucky stars as they headed down the hall, somehow completely unnoticed. Walking up to the glass of the small room in front of them, she peered inside. "If you can get up there, you could drop in and open the door."

"I can do it." Charles offered. "I want to help."

Henry shook his head, pointing to the leg the pilot was limping on. He didn't say or sign anything but the answer was clear: No, not with his leg injured.

"We'll get our chances, Charles." Thomas promised. "But Ellie and Henry aren't wounded. It's best if they do most of the heavy work for now."

He deflated a little bit, and Henry laughed, patting his head before looking at Ellie.

"I don't do this a lot but," she raised her hand. "This is a special circumstance."

The redhead ignored the bewildered stares from Charles and Thomas as she lifted Henry by his throat, without even touching him. Within a few moments he had disappeared over the edge of the wall and was dropping down into the room.

Ellie had no idea what the fuck he ended up doing in there, but the second that door opened, sirens sounded and the doors of the nearby cells opened, too.

The group looked at each other before ducking into a side hallway.

Riot successfully started, time to go!

__________________________________

Thomas leaned against a tree, looking out over the water as the group of four waited for the Toppats to arrive.

They had managed to steal a truck before nearly being run off the road and being forced to flee into the cliffs. Thankfully Thomas had grabbed the phone of one of the guards Ellie and Henry knocked out and called Reginald and Right to come find them.

Needless to say they were more than a little surprised that they'd managed to not only get out, but also start a riot and pick up a new friend, all within two hours.

(Well, Reginald was more than just surprised. Thomas swore that he heard their second in command crying in relief, but it certainly wasn't his place to comment on that.)

He lifted his head as he heard the familiar noise of the airship nearby, watching as a rope ladder was tossed down. He smiled, getting to his feet and extending his hand to Charles. "After you."

The pilot hesitated, looking nervous.

"Don't worry, swear on my honor we won't harm you." He put an arm around his shoulder. "You need your leg and shoulder checked out, I'll be right behind you."

"Promise?" Charles asked, stepping up with a wince.

"Promise." Thomas nodded. "Up you go!"

First Charles started climbing up, Thomas following closely after. Glancing down he saw Henry nudge Ellie up, starting to climb up last.

"There they are!" A shout broke the victorious air around the escapees, a guard pointing to them. "Don't let them get away!"

"Start pulling them up!" Thomas heard Reginald order. "If a single one is dropped, I swear, I will-"

He didn't hear the rest of the threat, yelping and grabbing onto his top hat as a bullet sailed past his head, hitting the rim of his hat. He saw someone pull Charles up to safety before reaching back down for him.

Thomas blessed the stars for the fact that it was harder to hit a target who was suspended in midair and moving. He grunted as he was pulled up next, reaching down to help Ellie up before reaching for Henry.

There was another gunshot, and time seemed to stop.

Henry's eyes widened as the bullet tore through his back, hitting the airship after ripping free of his chest. For a heartbeat there seemed to be no movement before Thomas realized Henry was falling back.

"NO!" Desperately the Toppat lunged forward, only stopped from falling by Ellie grabbing him. Helplessly he watched as Henry fell to the jagged rocks and freezing water at the bottom of the cliff, frozen as the airship pulled away before the guards could hit anyone else.

He glanced back up at the cliff, seeing Dmitri with his arm extended, barrel of his gun still smoking and a semi-satisfied look on his face.

It took a few minutes for the absolute irony of the situation to hit him.

Henry Stickmin, leader of the Toppat Clan, had just survived escaping an absolute death trap of a prison, where no one left unless they were dead.

And now he was gone once again.

Numbly, Thomas got to his feet, realizing Reginald was on his knees next to him, staring blankly at where Henry had fallen. Taking a deep breath, he helped his leader up, wrapping an arm around his shoulders comfortingly.

Neither Toppat said anything, but they didn't really need to.

All they needed was a few minutes.

[bojackhoremanisacomfortshow]

Saying Goodbye  thank you for being a chapter in my life

but I miss you or the memory of you I think ? 

and I miss the future you made me believe existed 

I cant fucking believe I trusted you when you said you loved me 

God was I blind 

I considered you a brother 

I should’ve suspected you when you first asked if we could be fuck buddies at 20, even though you had a girlfriend at the time 

But I ignored it because you actually gave two shits, called me on your way home from work and talked me out of self harming, and you didn't treat me as lesser then because of what was going on with me, instead you brought me homemade fucking cream and applied it to my raw bleeding arm while proceeding to wrap it with gauze and tape, while saying that he wants to help me make sure that this dosnet happen again. 

But as most things are, they are not what they seem 

I should've noticed when you started to tell me your relationship problems and the more you opened up about your relationship the more you started to make comments towards me. But we were friends and friends are supposed to help and talk to each other about again for christ sake I called him my brother, which he then told me not to call him, I would find out why later, but you started talking more and more about how you thought your relationship wasn't healthy and that she wasn't ‘doing it for you anymore’ but I just told you that you should talk to her because you both deserved to be happy and in a healthy relationship, his girlfriend seems like a great person, my sister knew her, and I honestly feel bad for any part I had in this but I was a naive sophomore and he was a senior going through it I think, he did have his own shit. 

And I began trusting him more, I mean he came and got me when my loved one was going through a family crisis. He actually found out before me and came right to me and told me, and he was there, every step, and sat with me and comforted my loved one with me, they were ‘friends’ too. The little things like that made me trust him and my trust develops into love, he saw me sitting there freaking out, with my shaking hands barley grasping at colored pencils while I tried to take my anxieties out on a sun shaped coloring sheet. And when you saw me give up with the pencils and began to dig and scratch my nails into my skin, you quietly, but forcefully stopped my hands from destroying myself and told me it was okay and that if I needed to squeeze something, to grip yours. The security you brought me was undeniable, finally I had stability and protection in my life, a safe person. And when we were walking back, even though you were late you insisted on walking me back. On the walk back you knew that I was upset, because you could read me, I shared more of my soul with you than anyone I ever had before. Like adult shit type feelings here, but another red flag! You came right back into my life the minute I broke up with my ex of almost a year... and I hadn't heard from you in almost a year. And while you knew I was upset you stopped me and said, ‘hey it’s gonna be okay, whatever happens WE’LL take care of her,’ and I started to cry and you hugged me, and I felt safe. And you listened and gave a shit as I told you that I was afraid my loved one would make my same mistakes and end up in my shoes. And you just hugged me and said we’ll figure it out and god did I believe you. 

And everything was good and I ignored the comments you made about something more, as we hung out and got food, because you wanted to make sure I ate and didn't have to go home right away to my dad. Until that breezy drizzly night in March. 

You had convinced me to go rock climbing, something I would never do as I am really afraid of heights, like close my eyes on glass elevators type of scared. But I trusted you and you promised to catch me if I fall. Which you quite literally did when I was practicing on the monkey bars. I was nervous, admirably, but I was stepping out of my comfort zone and trying, and like you promised when I slipped you caught me and actually left a chalk handprint on my ass which we casually laughed off. We had fun and eventually just ended up talking, like we always did, we could literally talk for hours on end, I miss those conversations, and he decided that he was going to take me for sushi for my first time, which was also something I was timid of trying. 

So we went and I actually loved it, so thank you for that. And afterwards we decided to go to the park and walk around, which we did and as it was drizzling our clothes become drenched with the secrets we shared as well as the precipitation from the sky. Eventually we decided to go into the back of the library and we warmed up next to a heater and sat next to one another, neither of us said anything as I realized he began to sit closer. 

On the walk back to his car he saw I was shivering and insisted on giving me his sweatshirt because I was cold, even though I protested as I didn't want to take his things and said that he should instead wear it, but I lost that argument and on went his faded green hoodie. 

Under the stars we talked in his car, and as we began to share things that we realized we had never shared before, and he suggested we move to the back seat. We continued talking and eventually I teared up and tried to hide it as we touched on a sensitive subject, but he of course knew and told me to ‘come here’ as he proceded to embrace me.

We didn't say much but eventually I realized I should get home, but not before you took a cursory look at my lips. But we both looked away and you drove me home and he said he would text me when he got home. 

That night when you got home you told me how you wish you had fucked me in you backseat and that you had more then enough room, which was true, but I admired I thought the same thing but I told him it was good we didn't and that he needed to figure things out in his relationship. 

And you told me you would, and I assumed you did, and we still talked and hung out, and I began to feel bad about being a ‘homewrekcer’ 

But you told me we weren't doing anything wrong and I believed you. Or at least I used to. Quite frankly it took a considerable amount of time for me to remove my rose colored glasses

As we always did you called me that night and we snapped and talked about our days. I had said I had a rough one which was evident as I was drunk on the phone and he knew I had been drinking. After we talked and he asked why I was drinking I realized the conversation started to take a turn. 

You began to bring up more explicit content and began to say how you know that I never send nudes but was wondering if I would try for him. I mean after all it was just him right, and I trusted him, and it was no big deal, and he wouldn't tell anyone. And I told him no, and no again until he understood, and I laughed it off as I decided this warranted some more liquor as I got off the phone with him. I was also on prozac at the time, and let me say I don't recommend drinking with your meds. 

Thinking I could just enjoy my music and the drunk snacks I had I get a snap from you, asking again, and this time you begin to tell me how it isn't a big deal and you’ve seen loads of your friends boobs before. I hate myself for giving in but I decided to send him a few pictures from my eyes only, no nudes but pictures I didn't show anyone, except my friends for when we occasionally give each other tips on taking seductive photos. Just a typical Friday night am I right?

So I sent them, and you were happy and we hung out the next day. You didn't know it but I felt extremely guilty and thought I had ruined our friendship and that we shouldn't see each other again especially because of his girlfriend. 

But we hung out and I profusely apologized and ya know what he said, he touched my arm and went its okay its not your fault, it was a one time thing and I asked and kept asking. If if was anyones fault it was mine. He reassured me it was not a big deal and my naive daddy issues ass went along with it. 

I told him he should tell his girlfriend and he just reassured me that it would only make things worse and that he was still finding the time to talk to her. 

On the car ride home you began talking about what would happen in a ‘different life’ or maybe even in a year or two. He was sticking around and going to a local college and he began telling me of all the fun things he had planned for us to do over the summer. I planned to show him all my special spots in the woods and my first time taking shrooms was gonna be with him, and it would’ve been his first time too. 

It was a common occurrence for him to say he loved me and for me to love him back, he considered me one of his closest friends and we continued talking daily, we were each others number one on snap for months, not that it really means anything but he did say he began checking his phone more because he hoped that I would have messaged him. I should’ve realized that our situation ship was bad when before he even starting making advances he randomly got considerably angry at a guy who had made a comment about me.

This may be ‘good friend’ behavior but he knew I was single and flirting with people, as I had just recently broken up with my ex, not saying the guys comment was justified because it wasn't I was not trying to hook up just talk to more people, but what can you do that's high school boys. 

The story I got was that this guy said to him that he was ‘getting bored of his girl’ and ‘was thinking of smashing me’. My ‘first love’ got as I heard ‘really really angry’ and began venting to his friends about how ‘it was ridiculous he would even say that, as if he had a chance, he was talking about you like a piece of meat’ needless to say he was less then happy about that, which okay not a huge thing just kinda protective which can be nice sometimes.

But in hindsight, he would make an attempt to prelude me from other guys and used to give me offhand comments if I ever mentioned I was talking to someone. 

Eventually he did break up with his girlfriend for a day, and in a melancholy way I was happy because I thought it meant you had finally told your girlfriend and I could stop carrying the guilt of what happen around. 

But of course you didn't. 

You, didn't say anything to me for a day, and then told me that you went back to her and made a promise to be better because this is the last time she is going to go through ‘this’ with him.

I asked him if he had told her the truth, and distinctly told him that, ‘she deserves to know the truth, she is a good person, and if getting together makes you guys happy good, but she deserves a relationship not built on lies’ 

He responded that his girlfriend had ‘trust issues’ and telling her would just make things worse. 

Yeah no shit she has trust issues you jerk

I said that I can't force him to do anything and took some space, as I felt weird about the whole thing. Later that night my friend who I had not spoken to in a while checked up on me and asked me what was wrong. 

I informed her of my situation and to my surprise she shared her own altercation  with him. It wasn't to the extent of what happened between us but he had began talking to her when he had found out her boyfriend and her were on a break. She confessed that on a call when they were going to be talking about what was going on with her, he began pressuring her into sending nudes, and I’m sure using the same manipulative tendencies he used on me. 

Looking back I know he did this to at least me and two other girls, and really I feel bad for his I believe still current girlfriend 

So its been about a year since all this happened and I am finally in a place where I can begin to process some of the shit that has occurred in my life even if it’s a year late! 

And I wish no mal intent on you, I’m sure you’ll never read this and god I hope you don't. But I always want to thank you for being my first love, even if I didn't know it at the time. 

You were the first person to call be beautiful without being prompted and genuinely mean it. I felt beautiful that day. And for when you told me you began to drive safer when I was in the car with you, and how you used to call me on your way home from work each night. 

Thank you for making me feel those things and showing me a safe place in a person can exist. I’ll never forget when you skipped your lunch period to come to mine and wrap my scabby ass arm for at least a week or two. (Again prozac and alcohol not a good combination) You also made sure I ate and encouraged me to take care of myself. 

You showed me genuine care and made me believe that I am deserving of those things. Fuck yeah it was hard when we both ‘left’ after things got too weird. And yeah maybe I struggle sometimes but I’m learning. 

I know I will always remember you in some way, just because I don’t think I’ll ever forget that genuine of a connection, but I am also only remembering the feelings of the rose but in nature roses have thorns, I can't pretend they don't. 

I think the hardest part is not knowing which parts were real and which parts were fake. The second-guessing, the trust issues thing, but that's not all on you, I have work I need to do. 

I’m kinda happy in a way to be able to get this all off my chest it’s been heavy and maybe this won't fix everything in my life rn but it’s giving me a place to feel. 

If you could see me now you would probably laugh because you were right in some regards. I did become a complete stoner, so point you! It honest to god does help and I’m at a place where I am able to use it medicinally when needed. I also did end up piercing my nose! The gold hoop was a good suggestion but it honestly is the only one I could get in my nose, and I have acrylic nails now so I’m not fucking with it! I’m actually living back at my moms too, a lot of shit has changed and happened and I know I am a completely different person today then I was a year ago

Which is why I can say with no ill intent I thank the universe for bringing you into my life and letting you become a chapter with fun excerpts in my story. I have been moving forward in my story though and I know you have been too

[perish-the-creator]

Making The Move

Rodorah Stockholm Fic:

Part1, Part2, Part3 

Ghidorah’s three sets of eyes watched with satisfaction as Rodan sat on the floor. He was folding up the laundry like his list of chores had commanded, but he sat in a fashion that made their mouths water. His position showed off the yummy thickness of his thighs and the perfect curves of his ass. Not to mention, he wore some pretty small yet tight booty shorts the captor had gotten for him. 

It was no telling if the Hispanic individual knew the effects he was having on the three-headed being, and the thought of him being blissfully unaware made it all the more arousing. It had been two weeks since Ghidorah had torn and discarded those clothes. He even went as far as making fake blood with a small pinch of Rodan’s own. (The fella had accidentally cut himself while cooking.) Thus far, they were in the total clear. The news, for the most part, said that the case was to be closed, but there were still some annoying few who demanded a body to go along with those clothes. For closure as they’d put it. But Ghidorah knew they’d have to just wait a little longer before Rodan’s absence became nothing more than a failed mission that’ll be overshadowed by some scandal. 

“Can we have pizza tonight?” His sweet voice snapped the three from their trance. 

“Huh?” Kevin asked. 

“Pizza,” Rodan repeats with a shy smile. “There was a commercial and it just made me want some. I mean if not that’s fine, I can still cook up the spaghetti I said-” 

“We can do pizza.” Ichi instantly booms, too caught up by the adorable voice of Rodan. Funny how art first the three almost hated it. It was a bit rough to hear. The voice of a guy who’s been through shit. But the longer he stayed the softer it got. It honestly sounded more natural than that thick tough-guy tone he first pulled. “What do you like on it?”

“Plain pepperoni or cheese is fine.” He replies before getting back to folding the clothes. Ichi nods and motions for Ni to order the food. Ni was a lot better at talking to people over the phone. He had to patience and voice for it. Alas, they could never make a phone call sitting down. They needed to move. 

So they walked towards the kitchen, pacing in circles as Ni calmed told the people how he wanted the pizza and how he expected it to be on time or else he won’t pay. He also adds a little prize too to make sure that their pizza is the very best.

Rodan deserves the very best after all.

When the order is completed and the phone call ends, they sit down and sigh. Stress has been a recent guest in their household. They were still making good funds while gaining a few lackeys, but the overall hype is slowly dying. They had Rodan. They had something to lose and couldn’t be as careless anymore. They needed a new way to make money soon or things were going to get real dicey. 

From the living room hear that godamn annoying commercial. It was the one about insurance or something. Regardless of its purpose, they hated the jingle. It absolutely catchy and took forever to get out of your head. So as they stormed back in there, ready to angrily change the channel, Ghidorah stops.

Rodan dances around, moving his hips and laughing. 

“Yeah yeah get your protection!! Death is free!! But pay our prices, don’t roll those dices, saving your whole family!!” He seemingly knew the jingle by heart and looked as if he enjoyed it. Ghidorah just watches, awestruck and impressed. Their eyes wander down his body and a part of them hardens. Oh wait, THAT part of them hardens. It’s been six months, going on seven now, maybe it was finally the right time to make a move. 

“Nice dance moves.” Kevin interrupts with a snarky tone. Ichi bites his horns in retaliation for ruining the moment. Rodan pauses before laughing nervously. 

“Oof, you three saw that? Heh, well now you know I have no rhythm.” He returns to his previous position on the floor and starts folding again. The two bothers scold Kevin for ruining their fun, but he just kept a stupid grin on his face. 

For another 20 minutes, they sit down in relative silence with the only sounds coming from the tv. That is until the doorbell rings. Ni snorts at the determination of the pizza guy.

When they answer the door, they are greeted by a baby faced little dragon. He couldn’t be any older than 17 at the most. He nervously handed over the pizza before standing there like a dork. 

“I paid over the phone. You can go.” Ni told him but the guy just shook his head and held his hand out. “Oh fuck, yeah the prize. Bold little dude.” Ghidorah walks away from the door, forgetting to close it while they went to go get the jewel the promised. That’s when the nosy bastard leaned in and saw Rodan sitting on the floor. 

The kid’s eyes shot out his head as he began to drool a little. Geez, whoever that was had a nice ass!! Just then, a shadow is over him, and he looks up with a gulp. 

“Fuck the prize. Were you just gawking at my husband?” Ni said, just low enough to where the guy could hear but Rodan was left in the dark. The guy quickly shook his head. 

“N..no sir...sirs!! I would never-”

“Get the fuck out of our faces,” Kevin growled before slamming the door in the kid’s face. Rodan is startled a little and looks toward the large being. 

“Everything okay? Did the pizza come?” He asked curiously as the three heads threw on fake smiles. 

“It was just a huge bug was on the door and we didn’t want it coming in.” Kevin lied. “But yeah, the pizza’s here.” Rodan smiled and skipped towards the kitchen, happy to enjoy a meal he hadn’t tasted in so long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What’s with the face bro?” A voice asked the dragon as he walked back into the pizza shop. The dragon chuckles and walks back behind the counter, washing off his hands and preparing to make some fresh dough.

“Went to that Ghids order or whatever’s place to deliver his shit. Well, turns out the bastard has three heads.” His friend’s eyes widened. “Yeah, bro. THREE!”

“A hydra?! Dude I thought those folks went extinct years ago.” The mammal based friend responds. The dragon nods his head. 

“But that’s not all. Bastard got a nice ass husband. And I mean nice ass~.” His friend laughs a little. “I’m serious. It wasn’t super phat but fuck man those curves were no joke. Damn tease was wearing some sweet booty shorts.”

“Hold up, before you go any further into detail, what species we talking bout? Cause my little guy only launches for certain folks.” 

“ Pteranodon I think. Mostly due to the horns and the tail. Had his wings retracted though so that’s a bummer.” His friend once again gives him a surprised look. 

“Bro! Those fuckers are the best fucks. They a kinky species. Blade said he fucked one once a few years back, though I think he’s lying. Ain’t a lot of them left though so that Ghid bastard lucked up.” The mammal sighs and puts the pizza in the oven.

“Man imagine having a husband that fine. I tell ya he wouldn’t step foot out my house. I’d have him walk around with no clothes or sexy lingerie for sure. Mmm, might even snatch up a cutie like that if I saw him on the streets.” The dragon licks his lips as he daydreams. 

“You’re a crazy dude. Well, good thing he’s with someone who loves him and clearly gained consent and not a crazy kidnapper like you.”  The two laugh and continue on with the last few orders of the night. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ghidorah leans against the front of the shower, each head panting softly. A sense of dread and anxiety washed over them. Rodan had been spotted; had been stared at! And they did little more than giving that bastard a door to the face. There weren’t many pteranodons left, especially in this city, and despite the discarded clothes, there were still people looking for Rodan. If the damn idiot ran his mouth then rumors would start and people would talk and then form conspiracies and before they knew it cops would be busting down their door and dragging their sweet Rodan away from them. 

“Should...should we try now?” Kevin asked with an unsteady voice. “Before it’s too late. Go ahead and mark him. That way if the cops come they-”

“Marking won’t stop them separating a captive from their captor. No matter how we or he phrases it, we’ll be separated.” Ni replies with a saddened tone. There was a feeling in their chest that they hated more than anything. 

Fear.

For the first time, it appeared the world was crashing around them. For the first time, they actually worried about a future beyond their own. 

They hear the bathroom door open, followed by the sound of clothes falling on the ground. They don’t look up to see what it is until the shower door opens and Rodan steps inside; completely nude. 

“R..rodan!” Kevin blushed as did the others. But Rodan held a determined look as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. His eyes were trained on the large soul in front of him.

“Touch me.”

The three heads though they legit died for a moment. Did he really just? No! Wait is he? Was this?

“I want you Ghidorah.” The words were like bullets to each head and as Rodan pressed his body against theirs it was being more and more clear that this was in fact real life.

“We...we want you too,” Kevin responds on behalf of his brothers who are too awestruck to speak. Rodan smiles before guiding their hands on his body. 

“I’m yours.”

Needless to say, the water wasn’t the only thing steaming that night.  

[perish-after-dark]

Friendly Gesture

Pairing: Bottom!Rodan x (Mothra, Godzilla, Ghidorah)

Form: Gjinka. Therefore Ghidorah is split into three beings. 

Content: Rodan is tied up and kidnapped. His friends come to his aid and while at first, it appears they’ll help him out, it’s soon learned that there’s no harm in enjoying a wrapped gift. 

Warning: Tied up folks.

Rodan kicked at the greedy hands of the masked men. They had somehow managed to knock the Latino out and have him bound to this chair in the middle of a smelly warehouse. The bastards dared to strip him of his clothing with nothing but his underwear, his white tube socks, and a fucking gag in his mouth. His hands were tied behind his back against the chair and they ached like hell.

“You’re rather pretty for a freak.” The human man purred as he rubbed his thumb against Rodan’s cheek. Rodan shot his head away to the best of his ability while the man just chuckled. What a coward! If he were really going to harm Rodan at least take off the damn mask. 

The guy walks away to his other members as they talk among themselves. Rodan watches them with hate. If these had been simple rope, Rodan could’ve easily burned straight through them, but the fucking idiots were smart enough to use chains instead. Slightly rusted ones too that felt uncomfortable on his rough red skin.

A loud bang could be heard from the industrial-sized door as everyone in the building paused. The leader nods for one of his men to go peek through the small glass window near the opening. He does so and peeks ever so slightly before the glass breaks and he snatched into the darkness outside. He loud screams turning to inaudible gurgles before there was silence. 

The leader and the rest of his boys pointed their puny pistols at the entrance, foolishly believing such weak things would protect them from whatever was on the other side and had murdered their friend. Then, a powerful beam of electricity blast through the door, striking one of the men down dead. The leader orders his boys to just start shooting as the figure emerged from the darkness. There’s five of them, all relatively larger than the average man aside from the female, which still impressed, to say the least. Rodan would’ve hollered out with joy if he could.

The men keep shooting though but seemingly not hitting anything. Before long a huge blur of the blue blast through that mixed with the yellow electricity. The men caught in the path were instantly turned to dust. The leader and his right-hand man look at each other before deciding it was time to make a run for it.

But they were unfortunately pounced on by one of the yellow-haired beings, whose fangs flashed brightly before they sunk their teeth into the right-hand man’s neck. The leader watched in horror before making eye contact with the personification of death itself. He was a large man with the stubble of a beard. Very cleary a foreigner. As his friend’s blood started to soak into his mask it was taken off, his face shown with all its glory just before the rumble that came from the creature’s throat grew and a blue light came from its mouth. The human man screams before being blasted into nothingness. 

Meanwhile, Mothra looks over the table of documents and graphs. The damn bitches were going to use Rodan for illegal sex trafficking! Bastards! 

“Look what we have here.” Ichi snickered as he stepped closer to Rodan, lifting his chin up so their eyes met. “How’s the going solo thing working out for you.” Ichi chuckles at Rodan’s attempt to respond.

“Fucking tired.” Gojira yawned an stretched before scratching at his chest. “What a shitty place. Smells like a school bathroom.” He comments. Mothra neatly piles all the papers together and hands them to her husband. 

“Appears our fire boy was going to be a star of a very dirty movie.” She glanced at him, blushing a little at how venerable he looked. It was funny too, especially with the Ghidorah brothers poking fun at him. 

“Having fun there?” Kevin teased as he bounced and danced around the chair. “Seems like you need to loosen up a bit.” Kevin keeps laughing until Gojira’s hand is on his shoulder. He moves back, not wanting to create conflict.

“Thank fuck you final-” Rodan was cut off when Gojira shoved his dick down his throat. The others were caught off guard as much as Rodan himself was. But Gojira huffed, humping his hips forward with a slow rhythm as Rodan suckled on his cock. Luckily this wasn’t too hard. The chair was rather low and Gojira himself was a very tall man. So the position was more than convenient. 

“C’mon, you’ve deepthroated before. Stop squirming.” Gojira huffs out. 

“Knew G man over here would take advantage of the scenario,” Ni comments as he crossed his arms. Of course, he was going to take advantage as well once the leader was done.

“Hope none of the hairs get in ya nose, eh?” Gojira jokes when he holds Rodan’s head all the way to him, forcing the Latino I’ll let the others get some in before I bust it.” He replies before stepping away. Rodan soon finds himself with three dicks in his face, each pulsing for him to take action.

“You son of a bit-” Kevin snatches his head to the right and instantly assaults the back of his throat via mean and furious thrust. 

“Calm down man-” 

“LET ME ENJOY THIS DAMNIT!!” Kevin instantly yells at his brother for attempting to ruin the moment. He held Rodan’s head down. His eyes rolled back, his tongue fell from his mouth as he drooled and moaned before flooding Rodan’s windpipe with white fluids. 

When he pulled out, Rodan coughed up some of the stuff before grinding his teeth at Kevin. But alas, once again he is silenced when two dicks sword fight on his tongue. Ichi and Ni both place a hand on his head, rubbing the large masses they have been granted against the warmth of Rodan’s mouth organ. 

“Heh, don’t be too upset love,” Ichi comments. “Those men were going to do the same. And on video no less. At least it is with people you love.” Rodan rolls his eyes before starting to choke a bit when both men pushed their lengths in his mouth. Granted, they didn’t get much further than the head of their dicks, but it was still enough to make Rodan’s cheeks puff a bit. The brothers put their hands on each other’s waist and thrust in sync, moaning sweetly while Rodan groaned with a bit of embarrassment. Between his legs, his smaller wang began to harden up. 

He swallowed down the genetic gift of the two men as quickly as possible. The fast it was down his throat the faster the taste was out of his mouth. The two pulled back, satisfied in their used time. 

“Okay, are y’all done? Can I get released now?” He says as he huffs for air. That’s when Mothra cheerfully prances towards him with an innocent grin on her face. 

“Hello sweetie. Those brutes don’t know how to treat such a precious thing.” She flirts as she caresses his face with two of her four arms. He blushes and can’t seem to pull his eyes away. But then he feels one of Mothra’s hands go into his underwear. 

“Huh what are you- OOOhhh” His legs shook when she started to poke at his pucker with no warning, followed by pushing a finger inside. “Oh, I-”

“Sshh, or I’ll put that gag back in your mouth.” Mothra purrs before she starts biting and kissing on his neck. Rodan moans and lets her go on (as if he could do anything to stop her.). She then adds her other hand, moving it up and down his small shaft with a slow rhythm. He gasped and quivered. 

“He’s like a blushing virgin.” Gojira booms with laughter. He found it amusing to see the two go at it. He glances at the Ghidorah brothers and starts laughing again. For some reason, Kevin was dancing around hyping up the couple like this were a concert or rap battle.

“M...mothra,” Rodan moaned just as she added another finger in. “Aaah I can’t. I don’t think-”

“It’s all good~ You can cum.” She bites on his neck and he loses it. He spills it all on her hand and pants while she giggled. Removing her hands, she licks and sucks on them before placing a deep kiss on Rodan’s lips, letting him taste himself. 

Needless the say, after that evening Rodan became extra vigilant with his surroundings.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

@twilightna and @thegreatbaryonyxreef  y’all two are something else XD I respect that. 

[kotlc-oneshots]

Blind!keefe au

Hey all!!! Sorry I’ve been dead, but writings block kills lol. Anyways I got this idea off of some lame discord convos and uhhh I hope it’s good. Also it’s late and lmao I have no motivation to edit my own writing uhhh here u go. Some mild swearing. Will be Kam if I keep going w it. Lov yall.

*~*~*

Pt.

one

Keefe

I’m lying in bed, of course, when the shrieking of my alarm goes off about four feet away from me. I blink my eyes open until they don’t feel sticky and gross, then grab my alarm clock. It’s a simple thing, a brick with about 5 buttons total on it, probably.

I pushed the button on the bottom left corner, and the loud wail finally ends. I groan and rub my head, wishing the colors and blobs that cloud the center of my milky vision would just come into focus.

However after years of hoping for that, every morning, I know nothing is going to happen. With a small sigh, I go into my ultra-specifically organized dresser.

Today is the first day of my senior year. Even if I wont be able to see myself, I want to know that others will appreciate the way that I look- or, at least, am dressed. There’s not a lot I can do if there’s anything wrong with my face or hair. I wish I could, though- even though I’ve been blind since birth, I still always want to look presentable. In order to do that, my friends help me once every other week to organize my outfits for the upcoming 14 days. It started in sophmore year, when Sophie got the wonderful idea, and it's been a tradition since. And thanks to my ‘photographic (ha) memory’, I always know what clothes I’m wearing. Always.

I’m about halfway dressed when hear a beep from the direction of my bed.

“New message from Fitz.” The automated, robotic voice of Siri tells me.

“Hey siri- read message from Fitz.” I respond, then finish putting on the rest of my clothes.

“Ready for your first day as a senior?” she reads back to me. I automatically change the sound to Fitz’s deeper, more human voice in my head. It’s pointless, but necessary.

“Hey siri- text Fitz ‘hell yeah brother.’” After a quick confirmation of what I’m sending, I go into the bathroom next to my bedroom. I carefully feel my way around for my toothbrush and brush my teeth, then proceed to run my hand through my hair. For a short moment, I wish I could see myself as more than a blob of milky, too bright color, but it fades quickly. I’d rather not think about it. So I finish up in the bathroom, then return to my room for my bag. With a quick ‘hey siri’, I manage to find my phone as well.

After a few more voice commands, I receive the news that Fitz will be here to pick me up at 7:30, which gives me about 20 minutes. I hop over to the kitchen and make myself a quick, hearty bowl of cereal. Being me, I choose the healthiest kind- Lucky Charms. When finished, I smile to myself and set the bowl near the sink- I know my dads at work by now, so I don’t have to worry about him. Sometimes there’s good things about waking up early. As I slip my bag on and go to the door to wait, I remember how lucky I am to have such a good memory, and such a constantly cleanly household. Otherwise, I’d be as clumsy in my house as Sophie is. I grab my cane and walk outside, chiding myself for thinking so much about the little things.

Fitz is there, honking his horn, about 5 ish minutes after I get outside. Sophie yells at him for being annoying, and I chuckle a bit. A window rolls down, and Biana’s voice comes through hollering to go to the back passengers side. I use my cane to help me a little bit, then grab onto the ledge made by the open window. I proceed to find the door handle, then carefully step into the car.

“If any freshman gives you crap today, you have full right to hit them with your cane.” Dex, who must be on on the other side of Biana, says.

“Thank you. I’ll definitely do that,” I respond with a laugh, and I can practically feel the worry in the air as Sophie warns me not to.

“We really don’t want you to get suspended on the first day. So just wait until tomorrow, and give them an extra hard whap on kneecap.” Biana adds cheerily.

“This is why you’re my favorite.” I awkwardly try to wrap my arm

around her head, but fail miserably. My peripherals are even worse than the center of my vision- there’s almost no light visible towards the edges. So I end up hitting her on the head, and play it off by messing her hair up. This, of course, causes her to whack my arm and call me a jerk.

“Alright, dumbasses, knock it off,” Fitz, my best friend of the

past 6 years, yells. “By the way, Keefe, we’re pulling in now.” A knot forms in my stomach. Man. First day of senior year at Foxfire. I can’t believe its so close to being over. The beginning of the end.

We pull into the parking lot and step out of Fitz’s Volvo. I turn towards the building, and take a deep inhale of the crisp morning air. My friends and family always like to comment on how pretty the building looks. Foxfire is a really prestigious private high school, and I know that they put a lot of money into the architecture

and the grounds. It's a pity that all I see is a building shaped blob of its beige color, and the faint blobs of green and other colors that I know are trees.

I try not to let myself think about it.

We walk into the building, and Fitz automatically splits off. He's supposed to help some teacher set up the presentation that the Freshman go to. I love him, but it's the first day of school and that man is already busy. This year is gonna be rough if we wanna keep up our hangout sessions- although, we both did take the same 6 AP classes. We’ll probably study together, when he’s not with his million other commitments.

After a few hugs and highfives, and a few debate friends greeting me, I go to my first class. I’m /not/ getting caught in that crowd, especially with the idiotic freshman pretending that they own the place. Off to AP music theory it is. C118 is easy enough- no stairs, and it's a pretty straight shot to the classroom. Again,

I thank my perfect memory to get me around. I may not know what the building looks like, but I basically have the blueprint downloaded in my head. Good times, man.

First period doesn’t result in much. We all get a copy of the syllabus, and a short introductory reading. I can feel a tinge of annoyance when the teacher acknowledges my inability to.. Uh, read it, but a girl named Linh volunteers to help me out with it. She seemed nice enough. She had a bit of a Canadian accent, and when I asked about it she confirmed that she was from… Minnesota. She was really sweet, and I’m genuinely hoping that’ll become a friendship.

The next couple periods go uneventfully. Fitz is in one of them, and Dex the other so I don’t have to worry about another situation like in first period. And the teachers always let me go about 2-3 minutes early, so I can avoid the crowds- that is, until lunch. I’m on my way down to the cafeteria when I run into… someone. They must have been very quiet- I didn’t realize they were that close to me and coming around the bend. So when they did, we kinda collided. I hear a soft curse when they thud to the ground, and from the shape and sound I know its a guy. I put the cane in my left hand and offer to help him up. I’m not sure what it is, but he doesn’t accept it.

“You good man? I didn’t see ya there.” I laugh a little, because

duh. He doesn’t. I can’t really make out any of him- his hair is /probably/ black- and this agitates me, because he doesn’t respond. And then he practically runs away.

I have no way to identify him- probably a dumb freshman that didn’t want his ass kicked by the blind senior. Trying to shake off the interaction, I roll my eyes and start on my way to lunch again.

//

“Honestly, today was AWFUL. The second half, at least.” I’m now at Fitz’s house, along with Dex. “I already told Dex about that one guy that ran into me, but Stats teacher was awful. She probably heard something from Michaels about last year- just because I rarely showed up doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing! I got along in that class fine.”

“Keefe, I taught you like half of that course.” Fitz replies, laughing.

“Because you actually know how to do math! Michaels is an awful excuse for a pre calc teacher. Dex, be glad that you got Hex.” I retort. It’s not wrong- Mr. Michaels had been very incompetent. If not for Fitz, I would have gotten the worst grade I ever had in my high school career.

“You know I am.” Dex agrees. “Even Hex hates Michaels, but she won’t admit it. Outright, at least.”

“Ok, enough about horrible teachers. Tell me about the guy who ran into you.” Fitz pipes up, not wanting to be apart of a conversation dissing his soccer coach. I let him divert the conversation, even though I really wanna rag Michaels to the ground most of the time.

“Well, that's the thing. There’s nothing to tell- I ran into him and he fell. Then he ran away, without saying a word,” I say. “I wanna know just as much as you do.”

“That’s cute.” Dex comments, and I shake my head.

“You know what I mean.”

“Suuuuureee.” The tone of his voice makes me hit him, which starts a wrestle between the three of us that lasts for about half an hour. By the end of it, I’m sure I have multiple bruises from falling, kicking something wrong, and getting hit, but I don’t care much. We fall into a panting heap on Fitz bed, and we through half hearted punches at each other that hold no intention. Needless to say, I’m sweaty and gross, and when Fitz informs me that it's almost 8, I ask to go home. A man's gotta shower- and get his beauty sleep.

So Fitz drives me and Dex home, the three of us having pointless conversation about classes and plans we should make. I get dropped off first, and they wait as I carefully make my way to door of my house, not leaving until I get inside. I hear the thrum of his engine as Fitz drives off, then make my way to the bathroom.

After a quick shower, I brush my teeth and head off to bed.

I drift off, and my thoughts are filled with a mysterious blob with probably black hair and evil math equations.

[askthedespairkids]

Chapter 2: Lost in Sacrificial Fate ~Daily Life Part 1~

//Hoorah! Chapter 2 of DKronpa (as I will now call it) will finally begin, the daily life gonna be split up this time around because there was a lot more to write about and it would just be easier to have it as two separate chapters. 

//So each daily life chapter is gonna have a bonus event, and this one will be your required fanservice bonus event (probably gonna have another one to stretch across guys and girls)

//Hope you enjoy and hopefully you’ll look forward to the next chapter

-Chapter 2 Daily Life, New world-

 The next morning, we all gathered in the cafeteria. Needless to say, the mood was tense. We were all still feeling the pressure of reality from what we saw yesterday. Well…almost everybody. Kurosaki-san was sitting by himself, humming away without a care in the world. I still can’t get that image out of my head; his grin at Kibe-san’s…

 “Nagata-kun, you look really tired. Did you have trouble sleeping too?” Ram-san brought me back into the real world. She looked tired as well, Okanaya-san not so much, but he certainly wasn’t smiling. It had drawn a few surprised looks when he turned up, but everyone simply went back to their breakfast.

 “Sorry, I’m fine. Just…thinking, I guess.” I murmured my response. Ram-san nodded, probably not wanting to press me any further on the matter. I was glad she was aware when to give me some space. Okanaya-san was sitting with us, eating obnoxiously loud. I know I invited him, but I might end up regretting that decision.

 “Fuck, I didn’t even realise how hungry I was!”

 “Don’t talk with your mouth full…” I said, slightly annoyed. Okanaya-san stared at me for a second and in that moment, I realised who I had just said that to.

 He swallowed his food. “Right. Sorry ‘bout that.” He apologised.

 “Oh~? Nagata-kyun did you manage to tame the beast? How amazing!” Kurosaki-san smiled.

 “Eh? You wanna say that to my face, bastard?!” Okanaya-san stood up suddenly, cracking his knuckles.

 “O-Okanaya-san, c-calm down!” I said. Okanaya-san looked at me and sat down with a huff. He’s actually kind of childish, isn’t he?

 “W-well, it’s certainly lively.” Ram-san commented with an awkward smile, “It’s nice though. It feels less tense all of a sudden.”

“You’re right, Fraulein! After all, it’s been so weird that everybody’s been hung up on Kibe’s execution!” Kurosaki-san laughed. Everyone froze and looked over at Kurosaki-san. Nobody wanted to bring it up, yet he was able to speak about it to casually as if what we all say yesterday didn’t have any effect on him.

 “Nagata…” Okanaya-san fists tightened.

 “He’s not worth it…” I murmured, not completely sure if I believed that myself. I almost went back to my food but heard the sound of something getting hit hard and the sound of a crash. I turned to see Kurosaki-san had been knocked off of his chair and Amaterasu-san was standing over him.

 “Scum.” Was all she said, an animalistic glare in her eyes. “I don’t care about how you feel towards Saori-chan. You’re scum for laughing at her death.”

 “H-Hokama-san…” Kurohiko-san frowned. Amaterasu-san turned and looked at him with her usual blank expression.

 “Call me Amaterasu.” She said before sitting down again. Kurosaki-san stood up, rubbing where he was punched. He didn’t seem to mind, there was still a hint of a smirk visible. I don’t get this guy at all.

 “Geez, you guys can’t go two minutes without wanting to fight, huh?” Monokuma said.

 “Uwah?!” I nearly fell out of my chair when I came face-to-face with the bear.

 “Kya!” Ram-san squeaked, standing up suddenly.

 “Oi, what the fuck’re you doin’ here?!” Okanaya-san cracked his knuckles.

 “See what I mean? Always with the violence. Teenagers, I swear. Is it those hormones? Are all those pent-up hormones making you lash out? Or maybe you had a rough childhood. You wouldn’t be the first.”

 “Th-the fuck?!”

 “Can hormones pent up?” Irunami-san asked.

 “Shut up.” Sly-san said. “Monokuma, what do you want? You never appear unless there’s something you need to tell us.”

 “See, this is how you treat your headmaster with respect! Well…not really, but he’s doing better than the rest of you. But you’re right! I have a very important announcement! A new world has opened up for you now that you’ve cleared the class trial!”

 “Huh? A new world?” I repeated.

 “Yep yep! You know those stairs by the storage room that were blocked off by that grate? Well, I opened them up! You can go up to the new world awaiting you! Hope you enjoy exploring this new land, so…I’ll see ya later!” And with that, Monokuma disappeared just as fast as he appeared.

 “A new world, huh…?” Graves-san pondered the idea for a moment. “Alrighty, let’s go and check it out! Sly can lead the way!”

 “Hmm? Why me?”

 “Duh! If something dangerous appears you can deal with it!” Graves-san smiled and help up a peace sign. “I believe in you, home-slice! I’ll be right behind you, from a safe distance!”

 “I doubt there’ll be anything dangerous…let’s just hurry up and see what this is all about.” Sly-san began walking.

 -Chapter 2 Daily Life, Surface-

 “Wh…what is all of this…?” It was an unexpected sight. When we went up the flight of stairs, we found a set of doors. I expected another floor, not…this. We were greeted by a massive courtyard and four buildings in different directions from a fountain in the centre. And to create the perimeter is a massive wall at least 20 feet high. We could see the sky above us…where the hell are we?!

 “We’re outside?” Sly-san takes in the view. “This is odd. Something like this should be impossible to hide from the world…what’s the meaning of this, I wonder?”

 “Y-yeah, we’re all being forced into a game like this. The world should definitely be trying to do something about it, and yet…how can a place like this exist are we’re still trapped here?!” Kurohiko-san shuddered, scared of the possible explanations.

 “There’s no point thinking about it. Let’s split up and investigate.” Shinko-san suggested.

 “Let us go in pairs then. We can learn more of our new surroundings whilst enjoying the company of each other.” Ishikawa-san smiled.

 “Oh! I can help with that!” Hachi-san clapped their hands together and produced 14 sticks. “There are two of each colour, so everyone picks a stick and see who they end up investigating with!” Everyone went one at a time and drew a stick until Hachi-san was left with one for themselves.

 We all paired off quickly. Asano-san ended up with Ishikawa-san.

 “Asano-sama, let us do our best in our investigation together.” Ishikawa-san bowed.

 “Of course, if that’s what you wish of me.” Asano-san nodded.

 Amaterasu-san and a flustered Kurohiko-san walked away together. Hachi-san and Irunami-san walked away as well, though part of me thinks the sticks were rigged when the snickered to each other. Sly-san walked away, not waiting for a very excited Kurosaki-san.

 “Ah, looks like we’re workin’ together!” Graves-san threw an arm around Yokozawa-san. Yokozawa-san seemed surprised at the sudden physical contact.

 “U-um…yeah. I guess so.” Yokozawa-san nodded awkwardly. “I’ll try to not slow you down…” His voice trailed off. I guess he really isn’t that good with social interaction. He left with Graves-san who leading the conversation between them as he just silently nodded along.

 Shinko-san and Ram-san was definitely the weirdest pairing out of the group. Weirder than Ishikawa-san and Asano-san…maybe. But with all of them gone, that left…

 “Just you an me then.” Okanaya-san smirked. “Though there’s so much shit to look at. Where the fuck do we start?” Good question…

 -Chapter 2 Daily Life, Fountain-

 Okanaya-san and I arrived at a large foundation that marked the middle of the courtyard. It was a statue of a Monokuma dressed like a cherub, holding a jug that sprayed out water into the pool.  It felt almost peaceful here with the sound of the running water filling the air. If it weren’t for the massive wall encasing us, then I might actually be able to enjoy this.

 “Hmm…” Okanaya-san studied the fountain.

 “What’s wrong?” I asked. Okanaya-san seemed to mull over something for a few seconds before shaking his head.

 “Just stuff I’m thinking about. I’ll tell you about it when we meet up with everybody else. It’s just one of those things I feel like everyone should hear together, y’know…?” I wasn’t sure what could be going through Okanaya-san’s head, but I wasn’t going to question it.

 “This fountain is nice, don’t you think?” I asked. I dipped my hand into the water. It was cold. Not sure what else I expected.

 “Gross, do you normally stick your hand in fountain water?” Okanaya-san frowned. I could feel myself blush, I’m not even sure why I did that either. I guess in situation, my instinct just told me to inspect everything. “But yeah, it’s nice. Décor isn’t necessarily something I have strong opinions on, but it would be nice as a landmark. Though I wish it wasn’t Monokuma’s stupid fucking face up there.”

 -Chapter 2 Daily Life, the 2nd Building-

 Okanaya-san and I stepped into the building that was to the right of the dorms. A large extravagant looking building both in and out. The first room was like a foyer, a large staircase went up two floors from where we were. A building with three floors, but probably still isn’t taller than the wall outside.

 “This place is pretty dazzling. It’s almost too bright.” I commented as we walked further into the foyer. “Seriously, what kind of building is this anyway?”

 “Welcome, welcome! This building is the leisure building!”

 “Gwah!” I jumped back into Okanaya-san when Monokuma appeared.

 “Geez, kid…are you gonna do that every time I appear?” Monokuma looked down, almost seeming depressed. “Anyway, as I was saying. This building is a leisure building. A place you can relax! Here on the first floor you can find a swimming pool! On the second floor, you’ll find an amazingly chilly ice rink! And on the third floor is an auditorium! A place for shows and such. Y’know all that drama crap?”

 “When did you build all this?” Okanaya-san questioned.

 “Hmm? I wonder…when did I do all this again?”

 “Bastard, just answer my question or I’ll beat the shit outta you!”

 “O-Okanaya-san, calm down. You know the rules, you can’t hurt Monokuma…!” I tried to reason.

 “It’s bullshit, Nagata! Nothing is right here!” Nothing is right…? What the hell does that mean…? Okanaya-san mentioned he wanted to tell everybody something, is it related to that?

 “Bullshit or not, I don’t actually have to answer any of your questions. Not right now anyway. Maybe I can in the future when I think it’ll make things more interesting…” Monokuma chuckled before disappearing again.

 “Fuck this…seriously, fuck this! Fuck that Monokuma bastard and fuck this stupid killing game and fuck wherever the hell we are right now!” Okanaya-san slammed his fist against the wall. “Nagata! We gotta find a way to get outta here! Let’s fuckin’ do this!”

 “R-right…” Okanaya-san still gets fired up really easily. Though I suppose it’s not always a bad thing.

 -Chapter 2 Daily Life, Cafeteria Meet-up-

 “Okay, so now that we’re all back, should we start thinking about this whole new world shit? It’s weird, right…? This dorm area is basically a basement area. Our perception of our location is completely different now…” Shinko-san said.

 “Hachi, if you would?” Sly-san asked.

 “Of course! No problem!” Hachi-san clapped their hands together and produced two maps: one of the courtyard area and one of the leisure building. Seriously, where did they get those? “So, let’s start off with the courtyard!”

 “As we already know, the building to the right of the dorm entrance is the leisure building. Kurosaki and I tried to enter the other buildings, but they were all locked.” Sly-san said.

 “Not just that but each building’s exterior designs are all vastly different. And that one building that’s to the left of the dorm entrance…it’s like a serious accident occurred there. The first floor was in tact from the outside, but everywhere above was completely destroyed almost as if it was burned.” Kurosaki-san put his hand to his chin in thought.

 “But that’s weird, right? We haven’t been here long so I doubt an accident like that could occur. There’s no fire safety measures here that could deal with a fire of that size.” Amaterasu-san said.

 “You mean it was built to look like that? Wouldn’t it be tricky to fake fire damage?” Ram-san asked.

 “We have already seen a few unbelievable things, is it really so impossible?” Ishikawa-san said. “It’s possible that the building is a key the puzzle that is yet to be answered: for what reason have we been forced to participate in this game?”

 “You really think that building has something to do with it?” Hachi-san asked.

 “It’s not impossible. Though with the building still inaccessible, we can’t answer that question for sure.” Kurosaki-san shrugged. “Another interesting point about the courtyard is that massive wall. How could anyone manage to build something like that?”

 “No exit either.” Amaterasu-san said. Huh? No exit? “Doi-chan and I went around the whole perimeter of the wall and we couldn’t find any kind of door. We’re completely caged in.”

 “There might not be a door in the walls but there was that massive door with all the locks we all saw when we first got here. It’s possible that door leads to a tunnel that goes under the wall, right?” Yokozawa-san suggested. I remember the door, yeah. It’s definitely the exit if there’s nothing along the wall.

 “So, we need to find a way to open that door. Easier said than done.” Shinko-san said.

 “We can cross that bridge later. We’re always learning more about our surroundings so maybe we’ll find something that’ll point us in the direction of how to open that door.” Kurosaki-san smiled.

 “Then let’s talk about the leisure building! Ha-chan and I went exploring in there and it was suuuuper cool! I’ve never seen anything like it!” Irunami-san beamed.

 “Right, we looked around the top floor and found all kinds of cool stuff!” Hachi-san followed. “Let’s see…there was a room filled with different props and costumes, an awesome auditorium! There was a door in the auditorium that went backstage to some dressing rooms and a storage room for things like lighting and stuff! It was so amazing!”

 “On the first and second floor was a swimming pool past some changing rooms, and an ice rink, respectively. I searched around but there was nothing of note. Nothing that could be used to get outta here.” Shinko-san sighed.

 “So, there wasn’t actually anything in the building that was a clue to unlocking the door…ah man! I thought Junpei and I really did well in our investigation!” Graves-san complained.

 “It wasn’t much of an investigation it was just you dragging me around everywhere and pointing at stuff…and call me Yokozawa, calling me by my first name is way too casual.” Yokozawa-san complained.

 “That’s so many syllables though! Junpei is a lot easier to remember!” Graves-san argued with a smile.

 “Sorry to interrupt, but can I say something?” Okanaya-san stood up, grabbing everyone’s attention. I’ve never seen this expression on his face before, it was unreadable, “…so, uh…I was suspicious about it, and I feel like I need to share with the group. After seeing the above ground areas…I have to conclude we aren’t in Hope’s Peak.”

 “Huh? Well…that much was obvious, right?” Yokozawa-san shrugged.

 “But…gah, how I explain it? There’s problems with it not being Hope’s Peak, but there are problems with it being Hope’s Peak too…” Okanaya-san struggled. I do remember when I talked to him on the first day…

 “Okanaya-san said that the structure on the building we’re in now was definitely part of Hope’s Peak. Uncopiable designs and little details. Yet this clearly isn’t the main school building, as the above ground area showed us.” I clarified. This detail seemed to get everybody’s attention.

 “If that is the case…then what of our location? It must be Hope’s Peak, yet it cannot be.” Ishikawa-san frowned.

 “Maybe Hope’s Peak’s team had a part to play in the creation of this site?” Sly-san suggested.

 “Hope’s Peak was built over a century ago. It would impossible for any modern-day builder to reconstruct it perfectly.” Okanaya-san discredited. “It’s like…there’s only a piece of Hope’s Peak here. It was stolen and placed here.”

 “It may be a clue to whoever is behind our situation.” Asano-san finally spoke up. A clue to whoever brought us here. The mastermind, in a sense.

 “Someone really knowledgeable about Hope’s Peak, clearly.” Amaterasu-san said. “Though without any evidence around, we can even begin to think of who it might be.”

 “It might not be just one person. It’s more likely to be some big organisation with how much production went into all those buildings and that wall…yes an organisation of some kind is a much more likely culprit.” Kurosaki-san nodded at his own theory.

 “What kind or organisations would have the kind of funding it would take to pull something like this off?” Graves-san asked.

 “My agency. Possibly Graves’ agency as well.” Sly-san said. I suppose assassins would get paid a lot, and if Graves-san is an agent for the government it makes sense that they would have lots of money.

 “Though outside of just ourselves, there’s also the Togami corporation. Or the Kuzuryuu clan.” Kurosaki-san added.

 “Y-you think the yakuza did this?!” Kurohiko-san went pale.

 “It’s a very low chance.” Amaterasu-san reassured him. “Plus, they’d need a motive for doing it all, and I doubt any of us are linked to either of those organisations Yuuki-chan mentioned.”

 “Hokama is right-“

 “Call me Amaterasu.”

 “-It’s more likely to be some kind of organisation that’s actually linked to one of us. Though we obviously know little about each other…there must be some connection between us all.” Sly-san murmured.

 “Well, we’re all Ultimates. Th-that’s something.” Ram-san scratched the back of her neck as she thought. It’s true. The only thing that really linked us all together was our talents. Other than that, we don’t have anything in common as far as any of us know.

 “Unless we all have a mutual acquaintance?” Kurosaki-san smirked. Huh? “Simply throwing the idea, you see. It’s possible we all know the culprit of this incident but don’t realise we all know that person.”

 “Th-that’s…kind of hard to wrap my head around.” Kurohiko-san said.

 “Kurosaki, stop trying to raise the tension of our situation.” Sly-san warned, “…this is enough. We should get some rest. This day has been a lot for many of us. Let us work hard tomorrow, agreed?”

 -Chapter 2 Daily Life, Motive-

 That night, we were all gathered in the gymnasium after hearing Monokuma’s announcement. It was a much tenser feeling than the last time this happened since the last time we were summoned to the gym all together…no, it’s not worth thinking about. There’s no way we’d let another…it won’t happen!

 “God fucking dammit…” Okanaya-san cursed, “I don’t need this shit right now…that Monokuma bastard is just gathering us here so he can-“

 “No no no, don’t even say it! I don’t wanna hear it!” Kurohiko-san covered his ears.

 “Kurohiko-sama, please do not act like a victim. It will not help your chances.” Ishikawa-san sighed.

 “S-so harsh! That was totally uncalled for!” Kurohiko-san looked ready to cry.

 “Yeah, you’re totally savage!” Monokuma’s voice echoed throughout the room. We all looked over to the podium where the bear was kicking his legs in the air without a care in the world. I hated how his relaxed nature made him that much more menacing.

 “Gwah!!” Kurohiko-san yelped, latching onto Amaterasu-san’s arm. She simply patted his head as he whimpered behind her.

 “Jesus kid, grow some balls.” Monokuma growled. “Anyway, I bet you’re all wondering why I decided to summon you here?”

 “Yeah, but if you don’t want to tell us that’s totally fine with us…” Yokozawa-san tried to smirk, but it was clearly faltering.

 “As if, nerd!”

 “N-nerd?”

 “Well, he’s not wrong.” Graves-san said.

 “N-nobody asked!” Yokozawa-san flushed.

 “As I was saying though. Iiiiiit’s motive time! And I think it’s a pretty good one this time!” Motives…last time it was our unfinished business. Is this going to be something similar, “For this new motive, it doesn’t have a time limit like the last one, so it’ll just apply to the next murder! For the person who kills and wins the class trial…they’ll get one free wish from yours truly!”

 “A…wish? What does that entail?” Ishikawa-san asked.

 “Ya curious? I don’t blame you! Humans always have some kind of wish. Something that if they had the chance to make it happen, they would take it without hesitation! So, if you guys kill and clear the class trial, you can ask for any wish from me! Even…to spare everybody else from execution.” Monokuma’s eye flashed.

 “S…spare us all from execution…?” Irunami-san repeated.

 “Of course! One life traded so that everybody can live? It’s a win in the end, don’t you think? So, go ahead and give it a good think through! I know it’s hard to come up with a wish, so…I’ll see ya later!” And with that, Monokuma disappeared.

 “If we kill…we could save everyone else from execution…” Irunami-san said it again, slowly a smile formed. “Monokuma-chan’s really trying this time, huh…? There’s no way that what he said is true. Letting us all live would go against the whole point of putting us in a killing game. Don’t’cha think, Ha-chan?”

 “U-uh…yeah.” Hachi-san stepped back, a little surprised by Irunami-san’s odd expression.

 “It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not. Nobody is becoming a sacrifice.” Amaterasu-san said.

 “What if someone volunteered though?” Kurosaki-san said.

 “Should I take the initiative then?” Sly-san’s flashed a dagger from seemingly nowhere. H-has he had that on him the whole time?!

 “It was simply a suggestion. If someone volunteered to be the sacrifice, then it makes it a little better, morally. Am I wrong?” Kurosaki-san grinned, “we’re in a game of life and death so I believe we should all work together and end it as soon as possible. If anyone wants me to kill them, I’ll gladly use my wish to save everyone else.”

 “Oi…!” Okanaya-san stepped forward.

 “Ah, another fight? Are you going to do this after every motive reveal? Though I don’t have any keys on me this time around, so it’s okay~!” Kurosaki-san half-sang the final sentence. “Though it’s not really a great alternative either. Monokuma’s probably like a genie. A wish like that probably wouldn’t end the killing game.”

 “Wh-what…?” Kurohiko-san frowned.

 “Confused? Think about it. Simply wishing for nobody to be executed is easy enough…but that doesn’t mean they get to leave with the culprit. And saying they wish to end the killing game…well, that was already going to happen, so that doesn’t save everyone from execution.” Kurosaki-san explained. So, what he was saying is that this motive can’t actually get us out of here with just one death.

 “That doesn’t matter…” Ram-san said.

 “Huh? Did you say something?” Kurosaki-san smirked.

 “W-well…what I mean is…I don’t think anyone will kill…after what we s-saw with Watanabe-san and Kibe-san…I j-just can’t believe anyone w-would kill again…” She fiddled with the strand of hair going down the centre of her face. Kurosaki-san stared at her in surprise for a moment before chuckling.

 “How surprising. A girl who can’t even tell us her real name is giving us all a motivational speech. Well, you may be right. It would be nice to think that nobody else will try to kill…though I doubt Monokuma would ever allow something like that…”

 Ram-san seemed really bothered when the subject of her name came up. I’ve not actually asked her about that yet, but…I don’t really think it’s the type of thing she’d want to talk about. I want to believe her though, that nobody else is going to kill…that nobody else will have to die.

 -Chapter 2 Daily Life, A great idea!-

 We all ate in peace the next morning. Well, almost peace. Hachi-san, Shinko-san, and Irunami-san were all mumbling to each other at one of the tables in the corner. It wouldn’t be odd if Shinko-san wasn’t with them. Plus, Ram-san was more poking at her food as if deep in thought about something important. However, I couldn’t complain since Kurosaki-san wasn’t saying anything annoying this time around.

 “Alright, commoners, listen here! We have an important announcement to make!” Shinko-san stood up on the table and clapped his hands together.

 “Who is he calling common?” Okanaya-san glared.

 “I know you’re all feeling extremely lost because of yesterday, but don’t worry because I’m going to solve all your worries with one simple plan! Using the auditorium from the leisure building, we’re going to hold a talent show!”

 “A…talent show…?” I repeated.

 “Right! Ha-chan, Shin-chan and I all came up with the idea! We figured it would be a good way for us all to get closer to each other, so let’s work together to make this happen!” Irunami-san beamed.

 “We all plan on doing a little 20-30 minutes set each, but if anyone else wants to participate then feel free to let us know! It’ll be a lot more exciting if we have more acts in it.” Hachi-san added on.

 “Come to think of it, even though we’re Ultimates, a lot of our talents are really…talent show talents…” Ram-san noted.

 “I can probably do something.” Amaterasu-san stuck her hand in the air.

 “You’re gonna steal from people as an act?” Shinko-san looked unsure of the idea.

 “I can sing.”

 “…eh?” He tilted his head. I think there was surprise from everyone in the room. Amaterasu-san looked around the room and cleared her throat. The sound of her singing voice filled the room. It was some kind of sad song but as Amaterasu-san sang I couldn’t help but feel myself relax in my chair. Her surprisingly soothing voice was like a mother singing a lullaby to her child.

 “Wh…” Kurohiko-san stared in awe when she finished. “A-Amaterasu-san, that was amazing! H-how are you able to do that?! I can’t sing at all!”

 “That’s just because you’re untalented.”

 “Y-your just said it straight…” Kurohiko-san sighed.

 “Please sing at the talent show.” Asano-san suddenly spoke, her eyes showing a never before seen glimmer. “You have a special second talent, I wish to hear more of it. I hope you do not mind that I made a request without being asked.”

 “You don’t have to say it like that. I don’t mind if you ask, and I was planning to anyway, if it’s alright with those three.” Amaterasu-san pointed at Shinko-san, Hachi-san, and Irunami-san.

 “O-of course! I’m not unreasonable for fuck sake!” Shinko-san covered his face, clearly trying to hide his flushed cheeks.

 “Ammy-chan, we’ll give you a slot so don’t worry about it!” Irunami-san nodded confidently.

 “Then we’re gonna need everybody’s help to pull it all together! I can draw up some plans and we can meet in the auditorium around lunchtime, all good?” Hachi-san asked. Everybody agreed quickly. “Great then, that’s all!”

 -Chapter 2 Daily Life, Bonus: Man’s Confidence-

 “Nagata-kun I have a serious problem…!” Hachi-san whined.

 “Huh? Wh-what’s wrong?”

 “Well…Kurosaki-kun wants to join in on the talent show and we’ve been brainstorming ideas for his act. We got an idea he was happy with, but the problem is that it requires a costume…but we couldn’t find anything for it!”

 “What kind of costume are you looking for?”

 “A cowboy one. We found a good hat for it, and Kurosaki-kun already has boots for it but we don’t have chaps.” Hachi-san sighed.

 “Actually, I got some from the school store when I was messing around with the Gacha machine. I could give you those if you want.”

“Huh?! Really!? Nagata-kun, you’re the best! Bring them to the auditorium during rehearsals and I’ll take it from there!” I nodded but couldn’t help noticing a mischievous glint from Hachi-san’s eyes under the mask. I had a bad feeling about this, but I don’t want to potentially throw a wrench in the works…I guess I have no choice.

 ----

 I walked into the almost empty auditorium. Hachi-san, Kurosaki-san, Irunami-san, Hokama-san, Shinko-san, and Kurohiko-san were all standing on the stage. “Ah, Nagata-kun you made it! Sorry, the time I told you for rehearsals was actually a little earlier. I wanted to make we had stuff prepared for the acts before everyone else got here!” Hachi-san explained.

 “Speaking of which, you did actually bring the costumes, right?” Shinko-san glared at me, as if expecting a negative response to his question.

 “Yeah…but why is Kurohiko-san here?”

 “W-well…I got too excited about all this and ended up arriving a lot earlier than necessary. That’s really my own fault, I should have known that I would have had more time.” Kurohiko-san mumbled so quietly that I almost didn’t hear him.

 “It works out though because I actually might need an assistant for my performance! So, Monsieur Kurohiko would fit the bill perfectly!” Kurosaki-san smirked. “Now, obviously you’ll have to wear the same costume as me. Let’s go get changed!” Kurosaki-san scooped the costume from my hands and dragged Kurohiko-san backstage.

 “Keheheheheh…” Hachi-san grinned. Uh-oh.

 “Ah, did you really do it?! Ha-chan, you’re really devious!” Irunami-san suppressed a laugh.

 “Is devious the right word? I figured we could all use a little bit of laughter these days. Plus, this just falls under one of my many tricks~!” Hachi-san said. I feel like I’ve been played here…

 After a few minutes of waiting around, we heard the approaching footsteps of Kurohiko-san and Kurosaki-san. “Hey, Nagata-san, are you sure you brought the whole thing? I don’t think this is all of it…” Kurohiko-san called from the wings.

 “It’s fine, just come on out!” Hachi-san yelled back.

 “H-hell no! I can’t walk out in this!”

 “Come on, Monsieur~ You look perfectly fine! Give them something to gawk at~!” Kurosaki-san sounded like he was smiling.

 “W-wait, Kurosaki-san-!” No matter what kind of person you are, nothing can prepare you for the outfits those two were wearing. Kurosaki-san and Kurohiko-san came out in an almost full get up, with the vest, boots, hat, and chaps…but were completely missing their trousers from the outfit.

 “O-oi! What kind ‘a get-up is that?! You tryin’ to be funny or something?!” Shinko-san nearly exploded.

 “Th-this isn’t my idea! K-Kurosaki-san said this was the whole outfit…!” Kurohiko-san whined trying to cover his underwear.

 “Pahahahahahaha!!” Irunami-san collapsed onto the ground in a fit, “I can’t believe Hiko-chan and Saki-chan really wore them!”

 “Oh? Was I supposed to be embarrassed wearing this? Apologies, but I’ve wore outfits that revealed way more than this. I just thought this is what you wanted me to wear.” Kurosaki-san shrugged.

 “Somehow that’s worse.” Amaterasu-san crossed her arms, staring at Kurohiko-san. She gave him a thumbs up. “You look good.”

 “Wh-what does that mean?!” Kurohiko-san flushed further.

 “Pff…o-okay, I think that’s good enough for today then. I’ll show you where your actual costumes are.” Hachi-san said. Before the group could leave the stage, the doors to the auditorium swung open and one-by-one the rest of the group filed into the auditorium, each stopping once they saw Kurosaki-san and Kurohiko-san on stage.

 “Wh…what the hell? Gross.” Yokozawa-san grimaced.

 “I-is this some kind of roleplay thing we walked in on…?” Graves-san half-laughed.

 “Is that so? Apologies, if we knew this then we would have avoided walking in. Pleasure is an important thing in life, you should be able to experience it without us here.” Ishikawa-san smiled, it was kind of scary how unfazed she was.

 “Nagata, you were doin’ some kinky roleplay shit with Kurosaki and Kurohiko…?” Okanaya-san looked at me confused. Ram-san was behind him, her gaze glued to the floor. I really don’t blame her.

 “Th-that’s not what this is at all! R-right, Kurosaki-san?!” Kurohiko-san turned to look at the explorer, but he wasn’t there.

 “Ah~ Sly-chan, do you like my outfit~?” Without anyone even realising, Kurosaki-san was draping himself over a clearly pissed off Sly-san. “I put it on just to give you the show of a lifetime, tell me that you’ll join me in my dressing room…?”

 “In your dreams.” Sly-san growled.

 “Oh? You know its possible for dreams to become reality, if you’re willing…” Kurosaki-san grinned.

 “I don’t have a problem killing you in front of everyone.”

 I watched as the spat between them continued and Hachi-san led Kurohiko-san away. Okanaya-san and Ram-san walked over to me. “So, uh…you wanna explain what the hell just happened…?” Okanaya-san scratched the back of his head.

 “I-it’s a long story…” I sighed, blocking out Kurosaki-san’s taunts as Sly-san tried to punch him.

[captainfantasticspastic]

“So the doc said I have ____ Seizures. What does that actually mean?” An Updated Cheat Sheet

So you’ve been diagnosed with epilepsy. Great… what does that even mean?

“Epilepsy is a seizure disorder,” meaning you’re brain is more likely to send off mixed signals, than the next guy. But that’s alright, ‘cause I’m going to lay down the basics of what you need to know. Lol.

First, let’s get this straight: everyone is capable of having a seizure. You stick lil’ Timmy infront of a high speed strobe for long enough, sooner or later his brain will say “What the hell am I looking at? I can’t keep up!” And he’ll wind up on the floor.

Folks who have Epilepsy, like you and I, are no different. We see things, hear things, feel, and taste, just like any other human being. Okay? What I’m trying to get at here is you are not a freak of nature. You are not a mutant. Sadly, no, you do not have special powers to set objects aflame. (I know. That bummed me out too.) No! Instead, you’re just a normal dudelet - just chillin with the rest of the human race.

But what does makes us different, is that we have a lower seizure tolerance than most. That’s it. I know right? When you say it like that, it doesn’t sound like a big deal. That’s cause it isn’t. What is a big deal, are the seizures themselves, which I’ll get to in a hot minute.

So what IS a seizure? Great question. “… a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain,” says The Epilepsy Foundation (epilepsy.com). Another, but equally scientific, definition describes it as, “the workers in your brain going, ‘What the actual fuck are we dealing with here?’ And proceeding to lose their shit,”

Pretty much, something - be it lights, lack of sleep, stress, booze, high pitched beeping, the sight of toast, whatever - will set off this seizure. This is called a Trigger. Triggers are things that our brains don’t generally enjoy. They tend to me things that could give a person headaches, or migraines; or make you feel out of sorts if you have to deal with them for too long. It is possible for some to “delay” a seizure, or even stave it off completely. Not everyone can do this though. I know someone who’s been able to prevent her seizures by sleeping with a foot on the floor. I (sometimes) can push one off if I feel one coming on, by either her being physically active or focusing on something solid, to remind myself im not floating away. But as I said, not everyone can do it. It depends on what type of seizures you have, and how in tune you are with your body. I only figured out my method after years of experimenting.

Anyway, so we got the basics. Back to….

Seizures! There are two major categories from which we have a variety of flavors.

There’s Focal and Generalized. The main difference between the two is how they start. Easy enough, right? (I’ve heard tell of a third classification “Unknown Onset”, but we’ll get into that later)

First we have Focal Onset: Focal seizures happen in specific parts of the brain - Sort of like a controlled mob.

Focal Onset Aware (aka Simple Partial): Im gonna be frank with you here. There are like a million types of Simple Partial Seizures. I probably won’t hit every kind, and I apologize if I’ve skipped someone out there. Ya know. My bad. Nonetheless I’ll do my best.

Simple Partials are pretty cool is that you are awake for them. Oh yeah. That’s right. You can have a seizure and be totally cognizant. These are the ones many refer to as “Auras”. Yeah, you know that “warning” you get before blacking out? That my friend is most likely a simple partial seizure. They’re like little seizures. Aw cute, right. No! They’re a pain in the ass! (Ehem. Apologies) anyway, as I said before, they can come in a whole bunch of types. To save time, I’m just going to give you a list of the effects:

Some people experience Deja Vu, out of body experiences, weird tastes in your mouth, (there’s emotional/psychological kinds) that’s make you have intense sorrow, or a sense of impending doom, others make you randomly filled with a god-like rage.

Others make your hands, fingers, toes, legs, etc twitch.

Some make it IMPOSSIBLE to find the right words/understand words/even read, and you suddenly feel illiterate and as if English is your second language despite being brought up in the US. (I’m not emotionally invested or anything).

Honestly, for these, you really should look it up yourself. I’ll be doing a separate post just for them, but nonetheless. It’s too important, and it’s one that truly is unique to the person.

Focal Onset Unaware (aka Complex Partial):

These are like simple partial seizures, but you’re NOT awake. Apparently many experience lip smacking during it. I wouldn’t know, because I’m out for the count. The one thing I do know is they can go into Generalized Seizures. This is not common however, that’s just the case for me.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG

Next we have Generalized: “Generalized” Seizure are seizures that effect both sides of your brain. *Imagine a stray cluster of teenage neurons are having a house party, and EVERYONE shows up.*. [Neurons are the little electric dudes that’s race around your head and make everything work/tell different parts of your brain what’s going on]

Tonic-Clonic (Motor): This is the big nasty one that people believe all seizures look like. The person loses consciousness, and convulses (shakes).

What It’s Like: They don’t hurt while it happens; but I’ll be honest with you, it can feel like you’ve been hit by a bus coming out of it. Basically, you’ve been clenching up and releasing muscles you didn’t even know you had over and over really really quickly. It’s like being super out of shape, and then made to do a triathlon athlete’s complete workout circuit in 2-5 minutes. At a weird angle, so you probably get dinged up along the way. So yeah. I’d describe it as waking up to limp noodles for tendons and joints, and fiery rocks for muscles. It’s sorta like how you’d imagine the hero of an action film would ACTUALLY feel like if the scenario were real.

Absence: these are super quick, but can happen MANY many times a day. They’re so quick that they’re almost impossible to notice. You stare for a few seconds, and snap out of it. I know, not very scary. What sucks is that you can lose time with them. So one second you’ll be lovin life, and suddenly, black, you forgot what you were saying, and a whole bunch of things that happened recently. This all comes back though, eventually.

Clonic Seizures: Unlike Tonic Clonic, these big and nasties happen while you’re awake. (Fun fact: Tonic is the part of the seizure where you stiffen and fall unconscious. Clonic is where you convulse). So needless to say, these can hurt. Actually, they do hurt. A lot. I’ve only had a couple in my time, thankfully, but it feels like everything’s described earlier for Tonic-Clonics, except you are wide awake the entire time to enjoy every bump, scratch, and uncontrolled spasm. Oh, and it feels like there are electric shocks going through you. At least it did for me. These tend to last a few minutes.

Tonic Seizures: these tend to happen in your sleep, but they don’t have to necessarily. The muscles in your legs, arms, or abdomen tense up for about 20 seconds. It’s relatively harmless, but can mean for some serious loss of balance if it happens while standing up. (Also they’re just a pain, and can wear you out, honestly)

Atonic: These I’ll admit, can be spooky. Basically your muscles go limp for about 15 seconds at a time. So you might now be able to hold your head up; or suddenly you drop everything cause your arms go out. It’s not fun. It’s actually less than 15 seconds, but some people can have a bunch of these in a row. If its bad enough, some may consider wearing a helmet, if a fall hazard arises.

Myoclonic: Muscles will jerk as it electricuted. Apparently these seizures can start in the same part of the brain as Atonic, and many who have one have been known to experience the other.

So that’s what you missed on Glee! Any questions, comments, moans or groans, shoot em up my way! If anyone has any knowledge of Tonic Clonic Seizures, id love to hear it! And if I missed anything, please let me know!!

Hope this can be of some help for you newbies out there, (or for you other folks like I who never got the full story on their diagnoses til much later lol)

And don’t worry friend. I know Epilepsy is rough. I know it sounds scary, but you’re going to be fine. You’ve got an entire community who has your back :) So hang in there Kiddo!

Sincerely,

Captain Fantastic Spastic

[renegadesrpg]

Paladin: Part 7. Ra

Tater Tot:

One night, not too long after I'd opened my place, a homeless man stood begging in my alley. What struck me the most was he was a member of my race. He was a vampire. I had no clue until that moment that there was such a thing. It broke my heart and reminded me of what Lily used to say about opening our eyes to reality. My mahmen and sire scoffed at her but I kept her words close. I just didn't think my eyes were truly shut, until that moment. 

It was at that moment I swore to never close my eyes again. My employee was trying to get the beggar to leave but I interrupted, handing the male a few dollars, because my food handler permits weren't ready yet so no food was being cooked, and I told him to go get a hot meal on me. His gratitude was palpable. He scurried away and I left orders to never turn a beggar away. If there were concerns, come to me.

A week later there were several beggars at my alley door. I knew this could get out of hand and needed to figure out a way to keep my paying clientele plus help these poor. I tried a couple different things but it just seemed to get worse. My frustrations were overflowing and, unfortunately, it boiled over onto the beggars. The next night is when I met her. Twila, the so-called "Street heart" of Charleston.

I had just given $5 to a male beggar when a young, feminine voice blasted through my eardrum. "Are you insane or just a dipshit?" I looked around but saw no-one, until I looked down and there she was. If she was over 5' I'd have been shocked and she couldn't have been more than a year past transition. She was redheaded and, from the look on her face, had a temper to match. 

"Please tell me you are NOT contemplating giving out more money to these fools?"

+Excuse me? This is my place and if I feel like giving money to beggars, I most certainly will!+

"Ohhhhh you can take the boy outta the Glymera but you can't take the Glymera outta the boy. Look, Robin Hood it's great you wanna help, make amends or whatever...but do it right and know who you are actually giving money and food to."

She spoke so quick and stern my head spun for more than a moment. She had a quick tongue and wisdom in her eyes that belied her very young appearance. +Who are you and what do you mean? And shouldn't you be at home with your parents?+ 

"Ok, I don't have time to give you a reality check so here's the scoop. I'm Twila and I'm older than you, by like a lot. I have been on these streets for awhile now. So, listen when I tell you...those are not real beggars. Those, dear Robin Hood, are scoundrels who play at begging for the joy of screwing do gooders like you over. Real beggars, wait for it...don't beg in back alleys."

+What, why, how do you know this?+

"Ummm I live on and in the streets, I literally know all. Do what you want but I don't think Lily would want her big brother giving money to bored rich folk."

My head exploded with the information this waif of a girl tossed at me, then I got pissed. +How do you know my sister? How dare you speak her name!! You know nothing you filthy TatorTot. You get the fuck out of here and do not return or I'll leave you for the sun!+

She laughed! Her response to my threat was to laugh at me. "Oh ok tough guy. You could do a lot of good, your heart is wanting to be in the right place. Just trying to help but whatevs. Toodles!" Then she was gone. 

The next few days had my brain scrambled but I found myself being more hesitant to give out anything and when I did, I observed things more instead of just giving blindly on my assumptions. And I'll be damned but I think that little female, no bigger than a TatorTot for hell's sake, was right. One of the males that had become a regular, when I looked closer, was clean and shaved except for two dirt smudges on his cheek and forehead. In fact, the three nights I helped him, they were in the same spots...odd. And another male had leather shoes, in really good shape, not what you'd expect for a male living on the street. The female that came had a handbag that looked a little rough but not that bad. Upon further inspection, it was Prada! +Fucking hell, she was right! Goddamn fool.+

I stopped helping the beggars then and I can honestly say I inwardly hated myself for my stupidity. I think I berated myself for a good two or three weeks. Then, the TatorTot returned. Great, like I wanted to deal with her saying she was right and I was an idiot. Needless to say, I wasn't very nice.

+You get the hell out of here, NOW! I told you to stay away from here didn't I. I don't want your ass here.+

"If I stayed away from every place that told me to go away I'd be living on a cloud cuz I wouldn't be allowed on the ground. Now, grab your jacket, your big boy panties, and follow me."

Why I followed, I'll never know. But there is something about this female that makes me do it. Maybe it's her take no shit attitude, her persistence, or maybe I'm just desiring a better way to help this city and thereby making Lily proud of me. 

"Listen up Robin Hood. This is an area we like to call Tick Central. That over there is #Sasha and #Bogi. They run this area and know everything happening within it. They also do their begging in the streets. Generally between 34th street and 70th. They don't like going too far from T Central. They could use regular meals as could a few of their buddies. If, IF you want to help...start here. These are good peeps and they are vamps so you are helping the race."

+But, how do they survive during the day?+

"Underground Tunnels of course." 

+Shit. How do I do both?+ I looked at Twila, my desire to help still battling with doing good at my place. 

"I tell you what. You have 20 food boxes ready by 7pm 4 nights a week, let's say Tuesday thru Friday,  and I'll pick them up. Eventually you could bring them or #Sasha will grab them. You both just gotta earn each other's trust first is all. "

Relief flooded me as I saw a way to do what I wanted. +Thank you+

"Hey, you're the one with a willing heart. Do good, or I'll gut ya Robin Hood. Now, I got a person to see about a thing so you see your way back, Ok? Toodles!" Aaand she was gone again. Odd little TatorTot but she was growing on me.

This began a routine where she showed up at the prescribed time and days, took the food boxes, winked, then was gone again. It went like that for a couple of months then one Tuesday she didn't come. In her place was #Sasha, and she didn't say anything except a quiet 'Thank you' as she took the box and left. Another month went by and then TatorTot came back. She said #Sasha was ill so she'd take the boxes. Unfortunately, before she could leave one of my customers came looking for me.

"Ra, I've been asking for you for 10 minutes, it's rude to keep your customers waiting."

+I apologize #Gwyn, just another moment and I'll be with you.+ I don't think he caught that bit as he was too busy staring at Twila. She didn't look pleased to see him either. She collected the boxes to her chest and said, "Keep better company Robin" then was gone. 

I found it strange but not enough to do anything so I went back into my place with #Gwyn on my heels.

A week later #Sasha showed up on a Monday. She didn't say much, just banged on the back door, grunted til the staff got me then grabbed my hand, pulling me to follow her. +#Sasha, wait a minute. What are you doing here? Is something wrong?+ All she would do is stomp and grumble.

+#Sasha I will go no further without an explanation. What's going on?+

Finally her words formed, "Twila hurt, bad man, come help."

TatorTot hurt? Was that even possible? +Ok #Sasha, take me there.+

We ran through back streets and under a bridge until we got to T Central. There behind a box was TatorTot, bleeding and bruised. 

+Who did this? Let me get the doctor, he will help.+

"Doctor doesn't help streethearts Robin. Just need a first aid kit and I'll be good as new. #Sasha shouldn't have bothered you." She needed blood, to feed, she should be healing by now but wasn't.   

+You need to feed. Do you have a regular feeder? Can I get them for you?+

"First aid kit Robin. Feeding is overrated."

+Here, first aid kit.+ I got close to her which made her shrink further against the wall but she needed this. So, I shoved my wrist in her face, +feed.+ "fuck you, get that away from me!" +feed please?+ "go away please?" Now I'm grumbling under my breath, what an infuriating little creature she is. But two can play at stubborn games.

+feed TatorTot.+ " Don't call me that! Asshat." +feed or I'll keep calling you that.+ "fFuck. You. Nno." Needless to say this went on a while.

She grew too weak though and eventually, I won. It was obvious she didn't feed from someone too often but she got enough in her to heal well. When she finished I licked the wound closed and asked what happened.

"Nothing Robin. Thanks for your help but I should go. Toodles."

I grabbed her arm before she could disappear on me again. +Who did this to you TatorTot? I'm not asking again.+ I growled, didn't mean to but damn she needed to know I was serious and, if I'm being honest with myself, she reminds me of Lily. Her spunk and annoying stubbornness that is. 

+Answer me, NOW!+ My patience was gone.

She even managed to make her sigh sound indignant. Damn this female.

"Your buddy #Gwyn. I was involved in a situation where he lost a wee bit of money and he recognized me the other day, realized I had something to do with his loss and took his revenge. Not the first, won't be the last. I can usually hold my own just fucked up this time and lost. The End. May I go now?" She might as well have knocked me down with a baseball bat. Shocked didn't even cover how I felt in that instant.

+What did you do that cost him some money?+ "Oh sure, blame the streetheart ! Just like all you asshats do. Never take into account that 87% of vampire crimes are committed by aristoscats. Fuck off, not even sure why I bothered trying with you Robin Hood. "

+Explain it to me then, help me understand if it's that big a deal. If he is in the wrong then I don't want him or anyone like him in my place.+

"Your pal was into illegal firearm distribution. I found out, told those in power, and his business was closed. Cost him around $30 million. Your place is a prime spot for assholes like #Gwyn to visit to conduct business. Its dark, busy but not too busy, and appeals to the aristoscats because it makes them feel trendy while they do illegal and hurtful shit to their own kind. If you want to stop it, don't run them out...keep them close, listen, get info, pass it to me, and I'll get it where it needs to go."

+Damn, you weren't kidding were you? You really think I could do that? It's not what I want to do. It's not anywhere in my comfort zone.+

"I get it, it was just an idea as I could always use more information gurus. Now I really need to go, you wanna help then let #Sasha know and she'll get a hold of me. Toodles!" Aaaaaaannnnnddddd she was gone...again.

Two weeks later things had gone back to a good rhythm and I was happy. I was still giving out food and my piano place was doing well. The words TatorTot had uttered at our last meeting still rang in my head and, despite my best efforts, had me looking at my clientele more closely. 

One night the words seemed to be particularly loud and annoying and that's when I saw #Ector and #Samuel. They used to come in with #Gwyn but when he disappeared so had they, until now. 

+Hello gentlemales, welcome back. It's been a while. Your usual table?+

"Yo Ra, you a waiter now?"

+No, just playing host for a little bit.+ I chuckle as I lead them to a table that I had set up with a hidden microphone one day, on a whim...a 'TatorTot is in my head and won't shut up' whim that is. 

+Here are the menus for tonight and the waitress will be by in short order.+ "Thanks Ra, glad you kept our table for us." +Of course, be well.+

A few hours later the males leave and I retrieve the microphone. I won't listen to it until later but I want it in my possession. I finish my work, close the bar, and go back to my home. My doggen, #Oliver, brings me food and a much needed whiskey sour. I rewind then hit play on  the tape that the males conversation was on. 

"Did you hear that #Gwyn found a new buyer for his product? Already made back what that bitch cost him. He said he'd be damned if he let the 'wannabe king' or city rulers tell him what he can or cannot do." "#Samuel, did you get the number to his new buyer? He told us to get it and memorize it but I forgot my copy at home. Plus, he thinks he'll have a second buyer in a few days. He's really pushing shit but the money is wicked. I won't be complaining that's for sure."  *laughter than the sound of silverware moving around follows*

Damn, they are really doing it again, even after getting in trouble before? Dumbasses. Great, Tater Tot was right...I can't let this sit. Too much danger to our people and I don't want anyone hurt because some asses want more money. So, the next evening I sent a message with #Sasha for Twila. An hour later, "Hey Robin what's shaking, you wanted to see me?" 

+Damn female, would it kill you to knock?+

"Yes, it would. Now whatcha need?"

I chuckle because, well you just can't help it around TatorTot if I'm being honest. +You were right. Shady shit is going down in my place and I won't have that. Two associates of #Gwyn came in last night and he's apparently back in business. + I hand her the tape and she pockets it.

"You recorded them huh. Mighty sneaky Robin Hood. Proud of you. Now, do you wanna keep helping me or is this a one time thing?"

+I wanna help, just not sure how this could work.+

"Easy peasy. Select 2-3 tables that you can wire up. If people come in you sense are questionable, sit them at those tables. Occasionally I'll send people your way but I'll always give you a heads up. Give me the recordings and I'll handle it from there. Eventually, you'll instinctively recognize assholes from decent folk. You won't have to do more than hand me information. Sound good Robin?"

+Yes. I can do that. When should I start?+ 

"Tomorrow. I have someone I could use information on. His name is #Gerald and he always has a blonde bimbo on his arm."

+Alright TatorTot.+ I went to pat her shoulder and she growled and jumped back. "No touching unless I say so. And. I. Didn't. Now I gotta fly. Toodles!"

And off she went.

I come out of my reverie, sucking in a long, deep breath.

It's been a few years since this all happened and Twila is all she said she was and helping her has been a pleasure. I love helping and this has helped me deal with my sister's loss in a way nothing else had.

I look at the clock and realize I need to get some sleep or I'll be a nasty bastard tonight.

[x--baby-girl--x-blog]

A bet is bet.

Warnings: Klaus and cussing Requested: no Sorry if it’s trash, this is a first! °°°°°° Summary: things get interesting when the mikaelsons realizes the shy witch has a thing for Rebekah °°°°°° It all started on a normal afternoon. I was sitting on the couch my house when the infamous Klaus mikaelson called, asking for help. I groaned, “if this is another one of your suicide missions, count me out!” He only laughed and demanded I come as soon as possible. I lazily get out of my soft baby blue bed and quickly get changed into my grey joggers and white sweater shirt. I hop into my matte black jeep and begin to drive over to the Mikaelson Manor. It’s funny because at first, I never saw myself running towards the Mikaelsons. Our first meeting wasn’t the best. We all met when I was passing through New Orleans. Klaus was pissed at witches and I helped my kin. Klaus threated my life and I laughed in his face. I told him to go ahead and he growled at me with his ugly head ass hybrid face. Elijah stopped him from making the mistake of trying. I was almost as powerful as Esther Mikaelson and Elijah knew it. I thanked Elijah for stopping the fight. I didn’t want the attention. After that, The mikaelson asked for my help once again when Baby Hope went missing. I again helped them and that’s how I met Rebekah. My job was to keep Haley out of trouble and safe. Rebekah had walked through the door and attacked me, thinking I had broken in or some shit. I introduced myself and she let me go. After talking to her a bit, I realized she wasn’t as bad as Klaus. As the night went on, the more butterflies danced in my stomach when I was around Rebekah. It was then I knew I had fucked up. Since then, Rebekah had me wrapped around her finger. If she asked, she got it. Klaus would often use her as an excuse for me to help them. Ugh, Klaus and his family will be the death of me. I had pulled into their driveway and hopped out of the car. I immediately walked in. “Yo, guys anyone home?” As if on cue, The beautiful blonde vampire walked in the room. Rebekah smirked, “you walk right in here, like you own the place.” “Klaus’s fault for inviting me over.” “And you could have turned down my offer, little witch.” Klaus popped in. I glare playfully, “Kill me of a heart attack why don’t ya?” my southern accent thicken as I jumped. Klaus winked at me and motioned me to sit down. I strutted my way to the chair and sat down. “I assume I’m not here for a tea party like I was hoping.” my tone turns sarcastic and playful. Klaus smiles slightly, “Well, love you see some of your kin has taken a liking to the idea of my family dead.” I roll my eyes, “don’t they all? What’s new?” Rebekah held back a laugh as I glared at Klaus. I could have been napping instead of this again. Klaus glares back at me, “more specifically, Rebekah.” I perk up, “what did you do this time, Bekah?” She shakes her head, “You don’t want to know. Needless to say, but your kin are revenge crazy like you.” I nod, “I’ll give you that one.” As the night when on, I realized something strange was happening. The brothers stayed away from Rebekah and I. Rebekah also was a lot more affectionate than normal. Sure, we would act like best friends and go shopping; maybe hug once or twice. This was different she would flirt and get closer to me. “Bexs, I love the loving side, but what’s up?” “what do you mean, Y/n?” I sigh in annoyance, “I mean the affection. You never do this.” Klaus and Kol walked in the room before she could answer. Klaus sat down first then Kol. Klaus spoke first with a slight playfull tone that made me worry. “So, (Y/n/n) why haven’t you done anything yet?” “what you do mean?” I look down at my nails and then back up at them. Klaus smirks, “playing dumb I see?” I glare and before I can speak, Kol speaks up. “We mean with our sister! We aren’t obvious to it!” I blush and stammered over my words, “I-i have no clue what you mean.” Rebekah smirks slightly and Kol just laughs. “I told you she would deny it, Klaus You own me!” Kol smirks like a child. These son of a bitches took a bet. Fuckers. I stand up and glare, “Ya know what! I’m through with being tease by immature little twats like the two of you!” I smirk as Rebekah stands up. I march over to her and pulls her into a rough but passionate kiss. I pull away and smile as my phone rings. “Its my mother, she needs someone to start Sunday dinner. Catch up with you later about your witch problem.” I wink and walk out of the house with all three mikaelsons shocked and Elijah smirking. Looks like Elijah won the bet.

[patricksilvrrozartistry]

Current Music Obsessions: November 16 - 30, 2017

Soooo there's A LOT of stuff this time. I PURGED my watch later playlist and there's still over a hundred songs on there. ANYWAYS, here are the honorable mentions.

Then Comes Silence - Warm like Blood Lyria - What Do You Want From Me? Witchcraft - Холодный свет A Skylit Drive - Wires and the Conscept of Breathing Fenrir's Scar - From Porcelain to Ivory Royal Blood - How Did We Get so Dark? Cadence Calling - The Accounts of Evil The Oblivion - Helios In this Moment - Roots Demether - Two Roses Tears of Martyr - Evil Domini Words as Knives - Over the Abyss Kobra and the Lotus - Prevail Aftereffect - Fade Away HDK - Pedestal Diamond Black - Sorrow A Crowd of Rebellion - M1917 Alaska Thunderfuck - Come to Brazil Syndemic - Exileseeker Crimfall - The Last of Stands Elephants in Paradise - Feeding a Lie Kalela - LMK Sinistro - Lotus Mercury Killed Newton - Arusha Mourning Sun - Latitud:56'S Aly & AJ - I Know Satanicpornocultshop - Left Handed Darling Imperious - Scorn Cellar Darling - Six Days Lake of Silent Terror - Eyes of God Pale Waves - New Year's Eve A Sound of Thunder - Lifebringer

And the many obsessions.

1) Wheelfall - Impenitent

If you're looking for a death metal track with a dope ass intro, this is the song for you. The intro is so cool and different. It's your typical death metal track, but there's something about this song that's just so epic. Definitely a great listen.

2) Dim7 - Apophis Enigmata

This is blackened doom metal at its finest. It oddly has a groovy vibe to it in the early parts, but then it gets very doomy towards the end. I'm really digging the new direction that these guys are going it. I really enjoyed their gothic doom metal stuff from their early days, but this new stuff is pretty damn awesome.

3) Skarlett Riot - Warrior

This band fuses really catchy vocal lines with some badass riffs and I love the contrast between them. This band is really starting to grow on me the more and more I listen to them. This is a great jam and the breakdown near the end is a great way to tone things down a bit while still maintaining a lot of energy.

4) Moon Tooth - Little Witch

This song and video are so campy that it's making me love them. I'm still very new to these guys, so I don't know if a lot of their stuff is this cheesy, but even if isn't, I'm loving it. Definitely has a psychedelic rock, classic doom metal vibe to it. Go give these guys a listen.

5) Diablo Swing Orchestra - Knucklehugs (Arm Yourself with Love)

This is the first single off their upcoming album and I am so hyped for it. This song is pure camp fused with being an anthem track. Although I'll definitely miss them having  a soprano, their new frontwoman is bringing some new dimensions to them that's going to make them campier and I'm beyond excited for that.

6) Ruins of Elysium - The Birth of a Goddess

This is their latest single off their latest album and is definitely one of the highlights off it. We really need more bands like Ruins of Elysium that show their love and support for the LGBT community in their music, especially in the symphonic metal scene. Not only that, but be open enough to show to the world that they're fronted by someone in the community. This song speaks to me on so many levels being the bi dude that I am, and I can't help but feel so loved by such an amazing band. I can't wait to be able to meet Drake, because ya bitch needs to do that.

7) Cradle of Filth - Vengeful Spirit feat. Liv Kristine

Cryptoriana is handsdown their best album in the past decade, and this song is proof of that. I never expected Liv to collaborate with them again, especially on a more aggressive track like this. It's an epic adventure from start to finish and I can't get enough of it. If you're going to listen to anything off this gorgeous album, listen to this.

8) Rivers of Nihil - Perpetual Growth Machine

I rekindled my love for this ballbuster recently. I really need to listen to everything else this band has released, because this is the only song I've listened to from them. The riffs are so great and are always in your face. Don't even get me started on how intense the bridge is. Needless to say, it mutilated my balls.

9) Aeonian Sorrow - Forever Misery

I'm so happy to hear that Gogo of Luna Obscura is in an active project again. This song is completely different from the stuff from them. She sings in a much lower register. Oh, and this is depressive doom metal and not gothic metal. Such a hauntingly beautiful track.

10) HDK - Mortal Zombie

Discovered this song after I watched an interview for Sander's project Phantom Elite and they mentioned he was part of After Forever and I couldn't remember who he was so I went onto the metal archives and found this project under him and checked it out. This song is so epic. It's a bit cheesy, but the fact that it's such an intense and in your face track makes up for it.

11) Amberian Dawn - Dragonflies

I am blown away by how insanely epic this new album is proving itself to be already and I haven't even heard it yet. They're definitely going in a more faster direction and playing with some prog vibes. This is such an epic track and Capri looks insane in the video.

12) Evenoire - Forever Gone

This band never seems to fail me. Each song is such an epic piece of work. This song is so beautiful and has such a cool vibe to it and flows so nicely. I really love how proggy it is and how it switches tone a decent amount. Also it's the first song I've heard from them that features growls.

13) Apparition - The Dames of Darkness

This was a random find that I am so glad I came across. Such a beautiful and power gothic metal track. The end of the final chorus is everything. I love finding these hidden gems that snatch your edges out of nowhere.

14) Metalite - Purpose of Life

This band definitely has my attention. I'm very much looking forward to listening to their debut album, because everything I'm hearing so far is amazing. The strong electronic element goes so well with their power metal sound. Not to mention this song is definitely the fastest that I've heard from them so far.

15) Kartikeya - Durga Puja

I discovered this song through the band's record label and I'm so intrigued. It starts out sounding like progressive death metal, then it gets really weird during the bridge. Like, really weird. It sounds like the frontman is just speaking gibberish, but not a beat-boxing gibberish that Korn uses in their songs, this sounds like legit gibberish. I'm definitely am gonna listen to more from these guys and see what other interesting things they got going on.

16) Gravity - Noctifer ~ Le Porteur de Nuit

I discovered these guys not too long ago and this is the second song I've heard so far. They're a progressive death metal band with some strong djent vibes. I really want to hear more from them, because they have such an interesting sound. It sounds atmospheric, but is way to aggressive to be atmospheric.

17) Forbidden Lore - Endless Run

Another random discovery that snatched my edges. This is such a powerful symphonic power metal track and I need more of it. It's rare to find songs like this on the Metal Monks page, so when I saw it, I had to give it a listen, and I'm so glad I did. Their frontwoman has such a strong voice and I need more of it.

18) Eluveitie - Rebirth

This is their first metal single with the new lineup and I'm not mad at it. I was worried I wasn't going to like their new female singer as much as Anna, but she definitely fits very well. And it's also really great to hear a ballbuster that's reminiscent to some of their earlier stuff.

19) The Hardkiss - Part of Me

I was on a huge The Hardkiss kick for a minute and this was the main song I was jamming to. It's so catchy and fun and the bridge gets me every time. I wonder if they'll go back to having the obnoxiously artsy videos like they did back during the Stones and Honey days, because those were always fun to look at.

20) Aura's Seers - In Our Minds

This is their latest song and it's gorgeous. I LOVE the blend of trip hop with atmospheric metal. It has such a weird and beautiful contrast. And the video is breathtakingly beautiful. I can't wait to hear a full length album from them.

21) Lil Peep - The Brightside

It's so sad that he's past away. Especially since I discovered him maybe a month beforehand. This was the second song I heard from him and it really hits hard with what's going on right now. This song embodies the struggles he was going through. But even though things were really rough for him, he always wanted to look on the brightside. Even if he couldn't, he wanted his fans to at least do so with whatever situation they were/are going through.

22) Navarone - Step by Step

I discovered these guys a while back through either Marcela Bovio or Dianne Van Giersbergen and I really dig their sound. They're very different compared to majority of the Dutch bands I listen to. I guess you could say it's prog, but it's definitely not metal by any means. Such a fun song and a great jam. Really am looking forward to hearing more from these guys.

23) Johari - Bloom

Found a new gem on Spaceuntravel. These guys are ambient progressive metal that remind me a lot of Ashe O'hara's era with Tesseract. It has this soft, but in your face vibe to it that I really like. I'm definitely am gonna be listening to their new album sometime soon, because this song is just so great that I need to hear more from them.

24) Maidens of the North - Carry Your Darkness

Randomly came across this song one day and decided to check it out. I’m so glad I did. This song is so great. An all girl symphonic metal band. Do you know how hard it is to find an all girl metal band? Very! I’m definitely looking forward to what they release in the future, because this song alone is amazing.

25) Snovonne - Filth

For some reason this song reminds me of a Manson song, but it's nothing like a Manson. I came across them through a Facebook page and instantly fell in love with the bizarre and creepy atmosphere. It's so different from what I'm used to hearing from gothic metal bands that have a symphonic element to it. Definitely am gonna check out more from them.

That's it! There's probably gonna be a lot next time, so here's your warning!