#yeah you can technically charge that much because it's a limited supply but what's the BENEFIT?

[n7punk]

i hate scalpers so much fr

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

Motion Sickness Chapter 85

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"What can you give me about Hill and her huntresses?" Ironwood asked me as we walked briskly up to his office.

"Fiona has some sort of matter absorption semblance. Evidently she can put a plane in her pocket and walk away. It's Striker ranged and probably limited to non-living things, I'm speculating on that bit. Still, it's supposed to be fairly wicked. May has the invisibility field. It's got a decent radius and it's mobile. It fucked with one of my own operations once. Sabotaged me. Then there's Joanna. She's got super strength, classic Brute," I informed him. "You want me here for this? I've had a run one with them before."

"You'll be with me," he affirmed. He swung the doors open to his office and he sat down at his desk.

I took to a corner by the window. I folded my arms. My sword hilt extended over my head.

"Their weapons?" Ironwood asked me.

"These crossbow staves. Probably modifiable with dust rounds. Except Hill. She's got a crossbow with blades on either side. My man described it as like a fan or an accordian."

"Your man?"

"A union leader down in Mantle. That's how he worked with Hill. You want the details?"

He shook his head. He steepled his hands before him and we waited. Penny came skipping into the room. She saw me, smiled, and waved at me. I grinned back at her and nodded.

"Oh are we acting brooding? I'll do my best." She imitated me by the far side of the long window.

"I don't need to act. I am brooding," I laughed back. "But yeah. A little."

"Hill should be up any minute."

"Good. I was getting tired of looking relaxed."

"I'm glad you two get along," Ironwood mumbled. "It bodes well. For you in particular, Strife."

"Eh, it's mostly Ruby." I kicked my foot around, rolling out my left ankle.

"Don't say that. I thought we were friends."

"We are, Penny. I'm trying to brood, though."

"I see…"

Hill pushed her way into the room with a small smile. She took me and Penny in. She had Fiona with her and another woman I recognized as Joanna Greenleaf from a photo.

Fiona nudged Hill. "That's him. Cloud Strife. The killer mercenary."

Hill glanced at me. "I've heard a bit about you, done some nasty business in my town. What? You working for Ironwood now?"

"For the foreseeable future. Judge ordered. You could probably find out about it. Given your seat," Ironwood returned from behind his steepled fingers.

"You give up the merc life?" She asked. Her question directed at me.

"For now," I answered.

"You're a dangerous man, Strife, I'd be glad to hear you're playing for the good guys. If that's what's going on here."

"It sort of is. You fucked with my operation. Don't think I don't know."

"I did nothing illegal. Nothing anybody could prove at any rate." She showed her teeth. I liked her. "Not like you and Taurus."

"You heard anything about him?" I wondered. "I have a blood score to settle with the bastard."

"Not a peep. He's been laying low. Like I thought you and your illusionist were. Color me surprised to find you standing beside the General. Right beside the protector of Mantle after the shit you pulled."

Maybe this was why Ironwood wanted me here. To divert her focus. I doubted he wanted me for moral support. He wanted me on as a distraction. So I'd be as distracting as possible.

"Those charges were dropped," Penny said.

"You hear that?" I asked. "It's like I never did it."

"But you did do it," Fiona spat. "You killed people."

"Interesting way you phrased that," Hill said with a hand raised at Fiona beside her.

"I only killed other criminals." I shrugged. "And I got time served with a hefty fine."

"Meaningless to someone like you," Hill countered.

"Not meaningless. Just the best I could have hoped for."

"But are you reformed? Do you serve Atlas and Mantle well?" Robyn wondered.

"To the very best of my ability, I protect the people now."

"Will you swear by it?" Hill held out her hand.

"Sure. I'll promise." I took her hand. Purple flowed over my hand as I took hers and it wreathed both of us.  "What do you want me to say?" I asked. Words could be very particular.

"That you serve as a guardian to the people, now."

"I serve as a guardian to the people now." I echoed. I technically did before too. Her aura flashed green. It must have registered as true because she reclined looking satisfied.

"Now that that's settled we can get down to business. When will the new tower be ready for launch?"

"Classified. You shouldn't even know about the tower," Ironwood returned.

"But I do. And this will go smoother if we work together, General. I can vote in your favor or I can vote against you at every turn. I can even raise a vote of no confidence."

The General grimaced. I think that he hoped I'd buy him more time before the nitty-gritty.

Robyn leaned over his desk and spread her palms on it. Hunching over on him.

"What's it gonna be, General? I can do worse besides. I can petition to have your council seat taken away. How long will your precious tower take to get completed then. Work with me. I just want to talk."

"You want to talk for now."

"That's right," Hill returned. "I might change my mind based on what I hear, too." At least she was open and clear about it. The value of her prizing honesty.

"The launch is two months out." Ironwood stated.

He stood up and towered over Hill with her slumping over the desk. She recoiled back and stretched to her full height. It was still nowhere near the General and closer to me though she was tall for a woman.

"All of our attention has been on raising the tower and restoring communications between the kingdoms."

"Even though Mantle suffers," she murmured.

I thought about saying something like 'Mantle always suffers' but I kept my mouth shut. It wasn't the time. Never let be said I couldn't be diplomatic.

"Some sacrifices have had to be made to get things done but we're in the final stretch now. No going back."

"I want things to get better for Mantle, General. And fast."

"I'm working as fast as I can," Ironwood vowed.

"I want you to slow down the launch of it means things can get better for Mantle. Diverting both supplies and huntsmen."

"That isn't practical."

"Practical be damned. Mantle always bears the lion's share of the suffering for Atlas. All for it's floating neighbor. You want me to not vote against you at every turn so this project gets completed? You're going to have to make concessions. That means voting my way on minimum wage increases and miner safety standards. Even if those safety standards set back your little project."

Ironwood sighed. It sounded like she had him in a corner.

"We are so close." He grunted. He sounded frustrated and exasperated. "So close to getting this project done. For everybody's benefit."

"Well it just got further away. One way or another. Not one more miner will die for this or anything else. They matter to me. What's it gonna be, James?"

"Friends call me James. You can call me Ironwood or General."

"Petty," she clicked her tongue. She had him in a vice though. She'd be petty and slow down the project too. She was a woman of her word. No one with a semblance like that wouldn't be.

"It sounds like I've got little choice. Just know that once my project is complete I won't back down so easily anymore."

"I'm counting on it, General," she turned on a clicking heel and left. Her tour de force departed with her.

"Sorry. I tried but she wasn't going to be distracted. Not by me and not by Penny."

Ironwood groaned. "The launch just got set back a month. Minimum. And if I start capitulating now who knows when it will end."

"She's a woman of her word. So you've got that going for you."

"At least it wasn't Jacque Schnee," Penny chipped in brightly. "This election could have gone much worse. She's willing to work with you if you work with her."

My scroll chirped. I pulled it out of my pocket.

"Strife. Who’s this?"

"Aurum. I've got a hit on your lady friend. She's here. She's threatening me. She demanded my information. She was asking the same sort of questions you were. I need to know what that's about now."

"You don't. I'll be there."

"My life is on the line! She immolated my men!"

"Try and hold her there. I'm coming. Let's get lucky and kill her."

"Sorry Cloud but I have got to do what I got to do to protect my business."

"Just hold her. I'm on my way."

I cut the connection.

"Something important?" Ironwood asked.

"I got a hit on Cinder. She's about to burn one of my contacts to death. I need to get there."

Ironwood nodded. "Do you need reinforcements? I'll call Ace Ops."

"Better call Team RWBY too and put them on standby with Qrow. She's at The Den."

"I'm sending Penny with you."

"Let's go Penny." I said with a nod by the door. "You and I will fly there."

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Penny and I swooped down on The Den. "You take her accomplices. Let me worry about Cinder."

"Do you believe that you can defeat her?"

"We're about to find out." Let’s hope that sounded confident.

I bust in the door to find the club empty and quiet. The lack of music and the distant smell of inhalants gave the place a void like feeling. It was strangely empty and lacking.

"Sorry Cloud. It's nothing personal. Just business, you understand." It was Aurum's voice coming from the top floor above me. "She forced me. You get it."

There was the clink of glass heels on the floor above us and Cinder Fall came into view.

"You," she purred. "Jaune Arc was it? I owe you for when last we met." Her one eye glowed like embers.

"It was. Not anymore. It's Cloud now."

"A change in name will mean little to my mistress. You're her son."

"Hardly. She didn't raise me," I shot back. I drew the broadsword from over my shoulder. I gripped the enormous handle beneath the titanic cross guard the shield helped form.

"She has bade me not kill you and your sisters have a certain fury I would dread but whatever happens happens," she sung. She spread her fingers and a flame grew across them. "You would have had me last time if not for my maiden powers. Powers which have doubled. I'm sure you are aware. And you've been spying for me. Through this rabble but you've been on the look out nonetheless."

She made Aurum call me, then. Aurum dashed out the exit, trying to keep his life intact and escaping while we were both distracted. Cinder set a trap for me. Sustrai stepped out from behind Cinder with Black in tow. I watched and my vision faded as Sustrai narrowed her eyes at me. She was trying to use her semblance on me.

I shouted at Penny and I watched a blurring kaleidoscope fly up to them and slash out at Emerald with ten floating blades appendages. My vision snapped back into focus and in perfect time for me to see Cinder descending on me with flames pouring from her feet to aid her assault. As she flew she left fire behind on the glass dance floor. I met a strike from her similarly glass weapons and stuttered back a step on the dance floor.

I activated my semblance and brought my weapon around to match her. I drew an electric crystal from my pocket. I crushed it in my palm and sent a thunderbolt at her. She blocked it by crossing her weapons and her one eye flared at me with the power of the maidens. She gestured and a half dozen fireballs floated into place before her. She blew gently. Like she was blowing a kiss at me, I didn’t catch it, and I was forced to dance out of the way of the fireballs.

I went through them. I rolled and floated towards her through the conflagration. I stabbed my sword downward and tore up glass as I pushed it screeching across the dance floor towards her. She met my strike with both her weapons crossed.

Then she struck out at me in high, low, high fashion, alternating each blade. She twirled with the motion and I was forced on the defensive, blocking each one of her attacks. I never let her truly get close to me with the enormous blade between us.

She waved her palm and a flare shot up inside the tight room towards me. I couldn't be sure how Penny was doing against her two opponents because I was too focused on Cinder.

I blocked her and seesawed my weapon down on her. Sparks flew from her glass weapons from where my Titania edge but down into them.

"I'm going to kill you this time. We'll see how my Mother takes that," I whispered. I spoke softly as I threatened her. As I made my vow.

Lightning ran up her weapons and into my arms. It made me tremble in pain for a moment before she pushed me off of her and kicked me in my exposed chest. Then she flew at me.

"Aren't you quite the little rebel. Doing what makes mommy mad?" She laughed at that.

"Oh I'll piss her right the fuck off. Can't imagine she was happy I didn't bring the relic to her."

She pointed her sword at me and there was a kazzap of lightning. I blocked it on the edge of my weapon but she just swung her weapon around her body again. A trail of fire emanating from it and growing larger until she whipped a lash of red hot blaze right at my head.

I rolled again and came up thrusting at her, forcing her to block. She swung at me with one of her glass weapons but at the far range of my weapon I was too distant and she miscalculated.

She dropped into a crouch and pointed both her weapons at me and there was another mighty kazizzle of electricity.  I jumped over it and brought my weapon down on her head in a move that forced her to block with both of her own. It shattered the dance floor around us for yards and yards. All the way to the edge near the bar.

"You're right of course. She was most displeased. She will punish you for it given the opportunity. I think not, however. You will die here."

She waved her hand and a gale picked up. All the glass from the once smooth and now shattered dance floor flew up from it. She gestured at me and I hunkered behind the wide edge of my weapon and weathered the storm of glass pellets. Some struck into my aura and chipped it away. I held firm against the wind.

Blue light still licked at my body but it seemed like my semblance would not be enough. I couldn't imagine spending it and then being forced to fight her without it. If I spent it, when I spent it, it would have to be for the kill. I could use it for no other purpose. And it would probably have to be the Octa slash. No other attack would do enough damage in a single go to take her down except maybe a Finishing Touch.

I'd hardly touched her. Hadn't touched her, I realized.

When the gale broke down she hit me hard with both flaming feet. Not as hard as Penny had with a similar move but hard enough to send me stumbling back. Next she delivered three lighting fast diagonal slashes to my torso. She ripped away massive chunks of my aura.

Then she thrust forward and I blocked to the side. Her weapon buried in my personal soul based force field to the hilt right next to my head. She still managed to rip away a chunk of blue light from my body.

Things were seriously not good. Her magic was too much for me and her competence with a blade in each hand was nothing to scoff at.

I kicked her back. A move that caught her in the gut. Then I swung my blade towards her head in a massive strike that she caught with both her weapons. Making yet another 'x' shape. It seemed to be her go to in order to block against my titanic sword.

I screamed and flew at her. Closing the little distance between us with a shoulder check that knocked her to the ground.

I danced at her, flowing like water as she caught herself on one hand and tried to cartwheel back but I chased her roll now that she was out of position. Now that she was in serious disadvantage and close to me I made to capitalize on it.

I caught up to her and hit her once vertically diagonally downward and to the right. Then I reversed and came diagonally up and to the left. Then I can back down on her diagonally and from the right once more in a staggering triple hit. The kind I'd seen do twenty-five percent or more of Ruby's aura when I wasn't Limit Broken. When I wasn't Limitless.

I didn't spend the charge on it but I did shout, a scream left my lips as I performed the move with exertion. It flung her back and into one of the bars and into the wall in a shattering of glass and bottles.

She flew out of the hole in the wall and through the crevice her body had left in the bar. A trail of flame coming behind her and at her feet. I flew to meet her and where we struck the ground rippled like it was made of liquid for a moment before elasticity caught up with it and it shattered.

I was taller than her. I was conventionally stronger, too. Especially while Limit Break was active and I slowly lowered my weapon down onto her while her back twisted from trying to match me in the crater on the floor.

She kicked my leg at the hip but I only grunted and took it. I took one hand off my blade and backhanded her hard with my knuckles. Then I slid forward a step and reversed my hand and grabbed her by the throat and picked her up into the air. I pulled her in and kneed her in the stomach hard enough to make spittle fly from her lips.

Then Mercury came flying and kicked me in the back. Then he shot me in the back with both of his boot guns.

I twisted to my feet again on a pocket of air. He was breathing hard. So was Cinder where I'd knocked the wind out of her.

I wasn't much better and now that they were alone Emerald let out a scream where Penny slammed her hard into a wall.

"Ma'am…" Mercury trailed.

"Save Emerald," Cinder hissed.

Then I gambled. I dashed forward like I was going to hit Cinder. Then I spent Limit on a thrust but not at her. I thrust up and into Mercury's aura and then into his chest in a crackle of violet energy.

Blood flew from his lips as I speared him. Penny had done enough work for this to pay off and from the sounds of things she'd defeat Emerald too.

"No," Cinder whispered. The battle was out of her favor.

"Yes!" I roared. The edge was ours now.

I watched as Emerald plucked herself from the wall and fell to her knees. A tear on her face as we all saw Mercury slide onto my six foot blade.

"Emerald! Get us out of here!" Cinder called.

I swung my sword and Mercury flopped off the blade. He was already dead. I flexed and started charging my next semblance. With slow promise I stood and began the charge. Soon.

"Emerald!" Cinder barked. I was assaulted with a massive illusion. Penny was too from the way she stepped back in shock on the second floor. A gigantic image of my Mother rose from the twisted glass and roared.

Cinder burned a hole in the wall and grabbed Emerald's sobbing form and fled. I was too shocked by the cyclopean vision of my Mother to move.

"Cloud!" Penny called to me distantly. I fell to my knees before the image of my Mother and held my hands up like I was expecting an attack, I fumbled my sword with dumb hands. My brain burned and my mind was ajar.

Mother…

I thought. And despite that I knew it was an illusion. Despite the distance between us I heard her answer.

“My son…”

"No…" I whimpered.

“Yes…”  

The voice seethed.

“Yes… you belong to me… I am your mistress…”

I could feel her shadow on the corner of my mind. She twisted into me and trapped me between agonies I knew weren't true.

"Cloud are you alright?"

The massive image of my Mother faded. But she lingered on my brain. A growing pressure. I howled in pain. She raked at my body and I convulsed.

"Cloud, it wasn't real."

"She's in my… my… my…" I stuttered like a broken record player. Then I started to froth at the mouth. I seized on the broken dance floor.

“My son… my precious son…”

"Oh my gods!" I heard Penny cry. "Don't worry, Cloud, help is on the way!"

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-WG

[elichorph]

OH SHIT???? did you see avery jeong buying princess bandaids at the local cvs after punching out somebody’s car window??? anyways, he’s a legacy and a member of the yale's elite, they're twenty-three and a 1st year grad student majoring in mechanical engineering. they are as strong willed as they are naive.

hello, i am back with my third character. yes this is my second character that has a 5 letter name that starts with an a. yes this intro is extremely long. if you read it i will send you a gif of your fav celeb to thank you.

stats:

full name: avery tobias jeong nicknames: ave age: twenty three birthday: march 8, 1998 ( yeah he’s technically 22 right now but he’ll be 23 soon enough ) chart: pisces sun, aries moon, cancer rising siblings: one ( lilia, younger sister ) gender: cis male pronouns: he / him sexuality: bisexual & biromantic height: 6′0 hair color: black tattoos: random tattoos on his arms, faded hand tattoos (specifically an angel on his left hand) piercings: right earlobe ring

blackmail:

( violence & drugs tw )

he had an unplanned child at nineteen with his ex-girlfriend who he now has little to no contact with. his ex dug up a public intoxication charge that avery’s family had paid to cover up in order to place a restraining order on him and deny him custody of the child.

he was involved in an underground fighting ring for multiple years as a means to make money after being cut off by his family. however, he always took fights too far and was banned from the ring in new haven after he nearly killed one of his opponents.

family:

if you’ve already read lilia’s intro then you can skip this because it’s the same thing!

ya’ll ever read one of those drug ring ao3 fanfics where y/n is dating the sexy drug cartel leader? well that’s their family!

generational family blood money because that’s how cartels work i think. started running + dealing three generations back with their great-grandparents in order for them to make a living. it wasn’t until the so-called business was handed down to their grandparents that they wanted to expand and generate more money. the big pharma cover was created in order for them to manufacture, distribute, and supply at a larger scale. present day, their family name has notoriety with other cartel and mafia families. 

basically avery was supposed to take over because he was the oldest right, but lilia did not want that at all. their parents started favoring avery and schmoozing up to him a little bit to get him to say yes (even though avery was fully prepared to give lilia the position) and lilia was like! what the fuck! so she told their parents about this one time that avery accidentally blabbed the family secret to a stranger at a party which broke their one rule of keeping it a secret. their parents wanted nothing to do with him anymore and completely cut avery off and kicked him out of the family. 

everyone knows that avery and lilia are siblings, even though they don’t really know the actual details about their past together because avery doesn’t say anything about his family and the cartel is a secret. now that they are both at yale and in the elites together they are just kinda like haha awkward <3 they basically would just tell everyone that they grew apart if other characters tried to pry but also lilia is now telling people that avery fucked up a business decision which is why he left the family and avery is like alright but good luck trying to get other info out of them! xo, the jeongs

present:

after being kicked out of his family, avery booked it to new haven to attend yale. he was able to score a full ride after graduating as the valedictorian of a specialized school for science in nyc and for continuously staying near if not at the top of his class. literally this man is a casual genius. he will get drunk as hell and talk about math for the entire night even if you don’t care. avery joined the elites in his junior year and even though he technically is a legacy from his family, he told them that if he was going to join, he wanted to be recruited for his academics because fuck if he was going to use his family name!

to expand a little more on blackmails, avery was broke as shit after coming to new haven. he still is, but he literally had so little money to his name and eventually found an underground fighting ring and made money by winning matches through that because he is Beefy and a Unit and his anger issues could be released <3 but he would always go a little too hard and would near murk his opponents, especially this one time that caused him to be banned from the ring. now for money he just fixes up people’s air conditioners and fridges and shit and also works maintenance at a hotel chain around connecticut to get money when he really needs it <3 literally if you need something fixed hit him up and he’ll be happy to do it but he would also love if you made him dinner to thank him because he has eaten too much kraft mac n cheese.

when avery was a sophomore, his girlfriend of a few months accidentally got pregnant whoops <3 and he was ready to literally drop everything for his girlfriend and daughter, but his girlfriend didn’t want that because she was lowkey a bitch! she ended up using a secret that avery had told her (that he had a public intoxication charge that his family had covered up) and took him to court and got his custody rights taken away and a restraining order placed on him and then dropped out of yale before anybody could know about the baby and zoomed to another state and now avery is like ok <3 his daughter’s name is skye though and she is four now and sometimes he still gets updates but literally it eats him alive hahaha

personality:

basically paddington going through an emo phase. he has extreme rbf and might be a solid unit who looks intimidating, but he genuinely is so sweet. by his looks you’d expect him to push you down the stairs but in reality he’s the kid who is 20 minutes late to class to hold the door open for people and he’ll feel good about it even if nobody says thank you to him. 

certified sad boy! the extremely nice guy you meet at a house party who remembers what drink you like from some time you apparently met three months ago? avery loves house parties for real and will be the angel who cleans up at 5am even if he’s got an exam at 8. he loves to take care of people to fill his fatherly void even though he’s the one that needs help the most. 

accepts the fact that he’s now #poor now, but he also gets kind of insecure and jealous seeing everybody pop off with a britney work bitch vc bugatti. tries to keep up with people looks wise at least, he has one old balenciaga cross body bag that has holes in it, way too many ripped pairs of designer jeans, and a scratched gucci belt that you will see him sporting often. might want to bash your face in if you flaunt your wealth and gets kind of whiny about it sometimes.

avery is the type of person that loves the outdoors and going on picnics. his romantic dream is to lay under a tree with the soft summer breeze and play some guitar for the love of his life <3 yes he has a guitar and yes he is actually good at singing even though he gets embarrassed about it. he fucking loves music.

still has that aries moon though, is extremely defensive and my one character who will actually fight in the group chat because what the fuck does he have to lose at this point! avery has extreme anger issues that hurt him more than anything. even though he’s banned from the underground fighting ring, he still needs an outlet and will have his hands shoved in his pockets because they’re either bruised to shit or discolored from how many times they have been bruised. can be found walking home after taking the late bus so he could go scream in a field somewhere.

this man? also naive as fuck. has been hurt by too many people and really just sets him up at this point. an open book most of the time, so much that it hurts him. will tell you everything about himself like the way he can’t sleep in silence and has to have ocean noises playing, but he can’t listen to whale noises because sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night and thinks it’s a ghost. however, his family stuff is off limits and he will spit in your face if you even think about asking him about it. 

won’t hold grudges. the type to see a person for who they are as a whole and if they mess up, he’s just like “you’re better than that /: but it’s fine.” probably why he gets hurt so much

wanted connections

a roommate maybe? i pictured him living in an apartment because he probably wouldn’t be able afford live anywhere else. could be besties, could be someone he barely knows but he just needed someone to move in to split the rent.

the one person who he’ll let take care of him. it probably would take a lot to break through his walls, but this person can calm him down after he gets riled up.

since his ex went to yale, maybe one person who knew her and had somewhat of an idea of what happened. they don’t know everything but maybe from what they heard from his ex, they believe everything was avery’s fault and that he fucked her over entirely.

gut wrenching hate plots of where they really love each other but things just can’t work out for one way or another.

gentle romance <3 slow burn. someone who won’t hurt him PLEASE.

aaaaand someone who takes advantage of how naive he is

and friends. so many friends. he is just so friendly and he isn’t the type to hold shit over people’s heads. 

other links 

pinterest

[hoodie-lover]

My Multiverse Ask Event! #6

KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - First, Second, Third, Fourth

Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Fifth, Sixth

KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Seventh

Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Eighth, Ninth

KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth 

Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Thirteenth

KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Fourteenth, Fifteenth

Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Sixteenth

KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth, Twenty-Fifth

Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Thirty-Second, Thirty-Third, Thirty-Fourth, Thirty-Fifth, Thirty-Sixth

KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Thirty-Seventh, Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth, Fortieth, Forty-First, Forty-Second, Forty-Third

Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Forty-Fourth, Forty-Fifth, Forty-Sixth, Forty-Seventh

“heya.”

“you’ve been busy, huh?”

“...” Classic was quiet as he took a breath and continued his monologue.

“so, i’ve got a question for ya.” Classic said, smiling a grim smile.

“do you think even the worst person can change…?”

“that everyone can be a good person, if they just try?”

“heh heh heh heh...”

“all right.”

“well, here’s a better question.” 

“do you wanna have a bad time?” 

“cause if you take another step forward...” 

“you are REALLY not going to like what happens next.”

“welp.” Classic said, smiling as he shifted his feet, excited and brimming with anticipation for what he hoped was their true, last fight. 

“Get ready Frisk.”

“It’s the end.”

“Well Classic I can tell you that Chara doesn't like Frisk one bit. Chara is on your side, so there is that. You can also blame the askers for this, one of us made the mistake of asking Frisk a question about the multiverse.”

“Well, I’m glad to know I have one human ally in this world.” Classic muttered during the pause as he raised his hand and launched his attack. 

“Yes Nightmare! I knew you would get it! Told you that you're smart.”

“Thanks. I just wish I could tell him without being interrupted.” Nightmare said, glaring at Maxie as she shrugged innocently. 

“Nightmare, of course you are a good dad. You are better than my parents, although that is a low bar. I think you are great anyway.”

“Whatever you say.” Nightmare said, laying on his back as he retracted his tentacles. 

“So guys, how are you gonna keep the brat from loading so you can do this? You have to have a plan!”

“Every time they die, we’ll swap out. Keep them on their toes and curious.” Killer snickered, watching Frisk dodge the bones with masterful ease and boredom. 

“if your going to drain frisks DT wait out this timeline and ambush them the second they fall so they never get a save”

“That’s the plan. Get revenge, get a RESET, then drain them.” Dust whispered, eagerly waiting his chance to beat the brat into the ground and turn them into a red mush of flesh and broken bones. 

“frisk if humanity is evil why not kill all humans”

“I can’t save or load on the surface, the only reason I can kill all monsters is because I can save and load.” Frisk whispered, standing before Classic.

“Frisk stop it, you say humanity is cruel but look at yourself! You are showing the worst of our species and it needs to end. You can choose to be kind, you can choose to be the change you wish to see in others but instead you attack the people who cared about you? Stop and look at what you have become, there is so much better you could have done. Please, just stop hurting everyone.”

“I don’t care. I haven’t for a long time.” Frisk said, their eyes filled with bloodlust as they swung their knife at Classic, the punny skeleton grabbing their hands and throwing them across the room. 

“classic if you don't do certain things to not break script do you fall asleep on purpose at the end of the genocide”

“I do. I get completely exhausted, and the only way to get stronger in the time I’m given is something I’ve tried. Twice.” Classic said laughing at Frisk’s shocked face. 

“Though I mostly fake it nowadays, fighting the Dark Sanses really got me into shape.” Classic said, chuckling darkly as Frisk got up and charged. It was pathetic.  

“chara why do you let frisk reset at the end of genocide route if you dont reset for them they wont kill toriel asriel and flowey”

“Ḭ̴̯̚ ̵̼̥̇̀w̸͙̆o̴̻̖̅ù̷̮̞̉l̵̗̠͗̈́d̷͚̼̈́̽ ̴̡̘̚ḩ̸̘͌a̶̯̒͋v̷̙̒ͅe̶͙͑ ̸̦͋ṡ̵̪͍t̴̖́̆o̶̭͍͊p̶͙͐p̸̯̩̐ê̷͚̕d̵̰̞͊͘ ̶̛͍t̴͎̫͊̽h̴̗̥̎e̴͐ͅm̸̖̔̿ ̶͓̄ī̸͎̀f̴̢̚ ̸̪͘Ì̸̢̇ ̴̰̓̚ͅc̸̣͊͝ǒ̸͓u̶̥͚͛l̵̯̃̉d̵̦̈́.̵̩̐” Chara said, small tears forming in their eyes as they held a breath they didn’t need to. 

“Hey Alt, sad to tell you that you're most likely right. Most Errors were never really shown much kindness in their multiverse, most have been tortured by the creators and even the other versions of yourself and your friends. Most Errors need a helping hand, and are too scared of being hurt more to actually accept it. Also there is the touch phobia most have, which is usually a trauma induced phobia in most people who have it so it makes sense Error would have it. So what are you going to do about your Error? Are you going to try to help him?”

“I’ve tried reaching out several times, I’ve apologized for using him like I did when we fought my Nightmare, and I leave him gift baskets with chocolate and sewing supplies. I think they’re working, he’s not as active, but I hope it’s not because of the creators in my world.” Alt said, looking at Classic. He was fighting the human

“Killer, Dust.... you are both precious little beans who love their new found family and will protect them with everything you have. I don't care what you say you are adorable!”

“No we are not.” They said in unison, they were barely audible over Frisk’s screams of frustration at Sans’ new patterns. Though they haven’t died yet. 

“Oh Stretch, you must mean the YandereBerry, yeah he is unsettling to say the least.”

“Ink genuinely made one, and then never made another. Everyone stayed away from our AU for a week after that incident.” Stretch said, shuddering at the memory. 

“frisk what do you think of jerry”

“I hate him as much as humanity.” Frisk said, their arm crackling and bones fragments grinding against each other as they swung their blade again. 

“I know those ships made you guys cringe but what they put other Red's through is worse. He gets shipped with everyone and everything, including(but not limited to) his brother, blue, the pet rock, classic, black, lust, horror, jerry(ew), and of lust.”

“Oh boy. Do not get me started.” Red grumbled, growling as he remembered one time Ink rambled on about all the ships involving him when he confessed to having a crush on Blue. It held a sour taste in his mouth as he didn’t know if it was fake or not, or if his feelings were fake or not. But he kept going as he was happy and no one was being hurt. 

“I feel bad for him, he really has it the worst.” Blue said, kissing him on the cheek or whatever the equivalent was. 

“He does, when I say everyone I mean EVERYONE. Every single sans has been shipped with him at least once, as have the papyrus's, he has been shipped with every monster in his universe and the kid. Red is in a lot of smut pieces, and it is kinda weird.”

“Yeah, it’s almost like he has a lot to choose from.” Black said, and Red’s eye narrowed at the sight of the promiscuous skeleton. 

“killer and dust so aren't you both technically from the classic timeline”

“We are.” They said in unison.

“Oh Black, how are you planning to win Blue over?”

“I will ruin Red’s reputation with scandals and swoop in to comfort Blue in his time of betrayal. Then I will set up many circumstances where he will be in danger and I shall save him. I will also gift him with many great items worthy of Blue’s magnificence!” Black said, whispering so no one would hear him. 

“Hey Frisk why don't you just talk to us for a minute and pay no mind to anything happening, you can just load if something happens anyway so no need to keep your guard up. Stop hunting down monsters and tell me a bit more about who you are, what is a few minutes?”

“A distraction. If better executed, it may have worked.” Frisk said, smirking. 

“Guys please tell me this plan of yours is gonna work, do not let this murder child into the multiverse. And Paps, I know you are the forgiving type but they need to be stopped, if they somehow get access to the doodlesphere there is no telling what they might do.”

“No kidding. They are determined, more so than any monster or human we know. It’s horrifying to know what they would do if they got access to the entire multiverse.” Papyrus said, sighing as he watched what was going on, it hurt even though he had watched several times. 

“I just want everyone to be ok.”

“So do I.” Papyrus said, shaking a bit.

“Yikes, Paps gave up on someone? I mean I get it, they are doing some pretty awful things just cause they can, not for any reason either. They don't have any reason to hurt anyone other than they can and they feel above consequences. Show them they are not, please.”

“With pleasure.” Dust said, watching Frisk fall down dead and swapping with Classic right as Frisk came back. 

Frisk wasted no time before they were stabbed in the arm. And then their other arm, and legs. With cries of agony they fell to the ground and Dust laughed. 

“Pathetic. This is what killed me millions of times? What drove me into insanity? Pathetic.” Dust said, as the kid got up and dodged. 

“Well, I’m going to admire watching you die.” Dust said, firing blasters at the kid who was much slower as they beld out.  

“So Error, your dad knows who you really are, or were... wanna try and guess? I mean you now know you were from a split off of the classic timeline so you should be able to narrow it down.”

“Out of everyone, the chances of them getting into the anti-void is slim, and Ink did entertain Geno as a possibility. And since I did hear a ‘G’ through the censor, I guess I was Geno. Meaning I had to watch them all go crazy at one point in time, though not Horror, he was before any Genocide.” Error said, shaking with rage. 

“Is geno helping too? with stopping the brat?”

“Hell yeah!” Geno said, he was in the save screen. He would be going last. 

“Error the ship with you and Ink is def a different multiverse. It is usually consensual and both are happy together in most cases. There are a few Yandere Inks but only a few. Error makes me happy.”

“Yandere and Ink are two words that shouldn’t be together. In any sentence. Ever.” Error said, shuddering at the thought. 

“Also I will admit to being a tad biased in favor of the Dark Sans's, but just a tad.”

“As are we! I hope that Frisk is murdered and never comes back!” Maxie said, and the other Creators cheered. 

“So Dream, Nightmare... what pranks can I help with?”

“The glitter prank.” Dream said and Red looked at him, and Dream turned away, snickering to himself. 

“Can't Error use his strings to capture Frisk's soul, like when he is destroying a universe so the kid can't just reset?”

“We could, but some souls have gotten out before. We don’t want to risk him escaping.” Error said. 

“Hmm, would be nice if you could somehow give Chara a second chance. They certainly deserve to be part of your family more than Frisk does. Chara still sees you all as their family.”

“They do? You can talk to them?! Oh my god.” Toriel said, falling to her knees as Asgore held his hand over his mouth.

“Well, it seems this is one big mess. Bigger than I thought.” Flowey said, looking at his former parents with an odd feeling.  

“See Nightmare, it is frustrating to not just be able to tell them the answer right? Stupid censoring.”

“It sure is.” Nightmare said, sighing. 

“Blue, what's in the flask? And don't deny having it, I know you do you naughty boy.”

“Whiskey. And I am once again unable to get to any level of intoxication. I might as well be drinking water!” Blue said, rubbing his temples. 

“Hey Alt's Error, you doing ok? The voices aren't being too cruel are they? If they hurt you I will fight them!”

“They’re fine.” He said, giving a very disgusted look. 

“error just out of curiosity aren't you and ink supposed to be there to keep balance in the multiverse”

“Replace Ink with the Creators and you have a correct statement. It used to be Ink and I but that, clearly, didn’t quite work out.” He said, rolling his eyes. 

“chara is a ghost like napstablook or mettaton so isn't it possible to make a body for him”

“It’d be possible to make one for her, yes chara is a girl. A lot of people get that wrong. But the ghosts of the Underground were born that way, they never died. So I’m not sure.” Alphys said, thinking.  

“error have you ever destroyed the classic timeline”

“Wouldn’t be here if I did.” Error said, watching a very morbid display on Dust’s end. 

“Well that’ll give me nightmares.” Error said, turning away.

“ok so if dust sans kills all the monsters i mean all the monsters getting him to level 19 he might be able to talk to chara maybe?”

“I occasionally see a wips of green and yellow. I assume that’s the kid, but I don’t have enough DT to actually hold a conversation with them.” Dust said, sighing. 

“toriel if you break script and cut the flowers that break the humans fall they will never be able to kill anyone since they died”

“I could do that, but there are other ways into the Underground, small caverns and holes on the mountain, and it’s better knowing where they will fall rather than not knowing where.” Toriel said, sighing.

“Hey Chara, is there anything you would like us to tell your parents? I want to help you!”

“Ṱ̷̠͔̲̭͍̩̩̑̀͠e̵͕̰͖̯͙̫̯̔͌̇̀̍̈́̋̂̉̏́̍͆͝ļ̸̹̙̲͖̗͈̟̰̝̀͑͒̚͝l̵̨̞͙̪̬̒̒̂̈͂̉͌̆̓̊̆͘͘ ̴͈̼̰̖̬̊̒́̓̾͋̂̊̚͝ẗ̸̡̧̮̝̹̘̟̰̪̤̰̖̪̝̦̋͂̆̈͜͜h̴̢͇̜̜͚̻̬͕̻̠̤̝̀̾̍̍̋͌̂͊͊̚͜͠ḝ̶̢̛̯̯͍͖̤̳̻̰͍̓̂͑͂̉͋̃́͂̐̕̕̕͝m̷̼͍͑͒͒̓̃ ̴̟̦͉̙̱̫̞̗̪̭̰̫͌͑͋̀͑̾̀̿̀͝͝ͅͅḮ̷̧̡̛̱̠̯̠̘̫̞̮͓̩̻̥̳̪̖̆̃̅̓̄̎̌̾̓̃̀̓͆̚̕͜͠'̵̨̰̹͕͍͎̻̺͍͈͇̿͗̍̉̓͠m̸̩̀̄̾͗̌̔͠ ̸̺͇̟̤̗̹̫̱͍̯̉̾̅̃̾͊̎́̌͝s̴͚͓̽̈́͑̓͐͊̈́̆͠o̵͔̖̠̥̫̓̓̀̀̈̆͑̒ṟ̸̛̩̞̺̝͖̳͍̘̪̗̣͇̇̂̿͛̔̒̒͛͑͐͘͘͠ͅͅr̷̢̻̜̬̬̟͔͇̭͓̺̺̱̜̹̪͗͊̓̒̏́̔͛y̶̧̼̮̦̞̭̙͚̺͆!̵̨̹͚́̏ ̷͕̹̘͔̰̜̞̯͚̇̑͑̅͊̈́̆͠T̸͎̤̎̄̕͝h̵͍̠͍̣̞̣̜̝̦̘͇͆̏̓̾̋̐̀̋̊̽͗͂̔͝a̷̬̱͎̰̐̾͑̒ͅt̸̡̢̛̝̳̠̗̖͙̺̩̖̣̤̙̐̀̐̽̽̄̿̾͌͗̍̅̇́͜ ̷̨̢̧̡̩̭̠̰͈̰͉̻̻͔̼̘̤͇̈́̑̉͂́̐̈͛̈́̽̃̇͌͝I̵̧̲͍͇͉̘̰̝̠̭͓͈̗̩̞̐̉̒̉͗̕͜'̷̨̨̡̺͇̯̮̮̞̘̰̫͓̑̄̈͐̒̄̊̉̇͋͘̕̕m̵̧͕̹̞̩̱̞͍͈͇̜͇͎̦̦͔̃̑̓̎̑͛̅̊̂̉̒̆̃̕͝ ̷͖͉̈̍̆͌̈̉̑́̏̈͆͊͠͝͝s̷̢̢̗͕̺̔̈́̂̐͐̆̉̏̐͘̕̚͝͝͠ò̴̡̢͓̗̪̝͔͈͚̣̋̒̽̓́͋͂̀̋͜͜͜r̸̲͓͎̠͍̀̂̕r̵̮̭̳̙̖͚͓̤̥͕͒̊̉y̸̡̨̗̼̳̦͖͔̖̟̱̙͎͖̆̆̊̍̐̉͌̽̾̒̔̎͘̕͠ ̶̧̬̟̝̏̍̒̈́̏̓̂̊̚͜f̴̢̨̨̺̰̬̰̤̪̫̮͚̣͎̖͑̃̈́͑͛̊͒͜o̷̢̒̓̀̇͒̅̓͝r̶̢͚̘̖̆̏̑̾͝ ̸̻̱͍̳̭̳̥̜̞̻̺͇̝̻̳͋̚ȩ̷̯͕̱͙͍͕̦̘̱̘͚̰̤̬̝́͑͗̋͝ͅv̸̖̬͎̍̉̃̅̚e̴̢͖͖͓͓̣͇̞͖̝͆͊̆̆͌̃͒̕͜͝r̴͕͚̣̯̻̰̭͉͍͓͇̭̐͛̋̀̀̐͜͜ͅỷ̶̘͊͛͌̆̃̒̏̐͛̀̒̀͝͝t̷̙̦̘̿̈̾͋͌̓̌͠ḩ̴͓̘̠̪̫͔͕̳̗͖͇̺̪̲̝̘̓į̴͇̘̗͆̓͋́̆̈́̉̑͗̏̐͒ņ̴̛̛̞̺̯̝̤̜͚̘͙̜̂̔͗͊̐́͂́͆̿́̍̚ͅg̸͈̠̈́́̀̑͠ ̶̧̩̻̰̠͎̍̑̾̀̌͆̈͂͋̓́̎̇ͅȧ̸̧̢̡̭͙̯̲̙͕̩̤̯̜̙̘̼̅͘͜n̴̡̛͓̘̺̹̠̲̔̍̍̅͗͆̍͐͛̄͆̈́̕͘͝d̶̰͇̱̩̫̻̝̝͍̓͜ͅ ̶̨̑̃̈͆͋̓̑̔̾̈̈͐̒͠I̴̢̡̤̦͇̜̳̖̦͙͖͕̖̱̠̬͈͎̊̂̆̇̑̂́̍́̉͑͑͝͠͝ ̵̮̳͔̩̩̙̇́̐͋͂̿̀̌͠͝͠ľ̴̨̧͈̫̏́̿̀̽̇͌͐̔́̈̽͘͝͝ǒ̴͉͔̫̙͖͇̟͑̋̋̂̂̅̉̒̀̇͂̎͆̄͝͝v̴̫͓͎͙̥̥̤̙͙̱͙̮͚͓̭̻̦̾̌̍̉ȩ̵̡̜̜̺̙̩̻̪̬̼̱͈̰͉̦̳̀̃̈͗͜͠ ̴̛̛̥͕̤͙̠̀͆̈́͂̐͊́͒͑̓̄̿͜͜t̴͙̆̓̊̚h̷̢̳̝̜̱̓́ę̵͓̳̫̲̼͈̲̬̟͉̗̈́̑͛͛̒̍̈́͜͝ͅͅm̷̧̛̺̻̱̜͚͔͕͖̳̭̬̫͍̩̩͌̈́̀́̀̑̅̈̏̄̿͌͆̀͘͝ ̸̨̧̛̪̮͚̯͚̖̗͂̊̾̄́̎͊̂̾̀͗͋́̎̚̚ͅm̷̡̳͚͓͈̦̙̯͕̫̫̺̥̳̱͖̂̎̅͆͊̈́͛̂̀͋̒̒̿͋͊̾̚͘ǫ̵̧͔͈̫̮͈͕͉̩͓̭͈̜͋́͠r̵̹̣̬̲͉͌̋̓̐̍̌̓̉̒̏͒̚̚͝ȩ̴̧̲̰̬̦͕̣̙̜͍̬̹͔̼̩̩͊́͒̈́̋̌̿͌̆̓̇ ̸̛̻̙̭̯̳̊̈́̈́́̓̿̆́̽́̿̊͗̈́̕͘̚ṯ̴͉͖̖̥̹̻͓̫͖͒̀̇̍̑̈́̓̊͂̇̀̑̃̌͝ḣ̴̢͔͔̣̼̥̲̫̤̍̓͑̇̇̂́a̸̝̠̖̯̬̔̃͌̑͛̋͘n̸͓̳̹͎̬͚̺̬̮̟̗̞̝͓̹͛̑̓̈́̎̋̈́͠ͅ ̴̺̠̰͇̣̩̐̂̅͌̉͋͘͝͝ạ̵͚̱̥̙̖̣̦͎̣͕̞̪̗̦̑͒͋̇̏̾͐̓̇́̃́͆́͠͝͠ņ̷͈̪̝̔̎͌y̶̰̣̹̰̰̰͚͙̯̮͙̼͕̩̻̘̦̓̑̑̍̀̅̀̍̀̇́̋͒̚͝͝͝ṯ̸̢̢̢̥̺̭͚̳̼̣̠̞̳͈̥̽̂̓͋̋̇͆́̐̀͂́̅͛̕͜͜͝͝ḩ̵̟̹͇͕̜̖̘͓̥͎̮̐͆̋̋͛͆̂̔̿ͅī̴̢̤͙̟̜̜̞̩̠̰̊n̶̨̛̖̹̗͉̜͕̟̔̂̽̔̅̍̐͛̃̀̀̾͘͝ǵ̷̡̧̨̣̗̻̬͉̗̯̋̑̐̈́̐̈͆̑̋͗̕!̷̧̬̪̜̟͍̯̲̞͓̪̤̅̓͗̂̌͘ͅͅ ̶̱̄̓͑͊͆͌̔͠T̷̢̛̤͎̲̰͐̔͛̈̂̃̀͊̌̔̌͒̓͘͝h̸̢̡̡̧̩̟̬̞͙̪̞̹̳͙͈̼̰̊͜ë̶̺͖̠̦͇̹̦́ỳ̵̨̪̟͇̲̻͈̗̠̪̰̆͒̊̇̈̈̈́̌͌̆'̵̠͎̋̽̏́̽͒͠r̶̡̧̢̨̢̮̹͇͇͉̞̼̼̃̏̉ę̵̮̫̜̥̭͉̰̫̩̇̓̐͘ͅ ̷̨̤̯͇̠̯̽͒̓͂͛̅̈̑̇̀͛̓̅͘͝s̸͖͓͎̞̻̑ṯ̶͖̊̈́͌͝i̶̛̯͓͓̦̫̽̑͗͐́͌̏́͜͝l̷̢̛̪̜͙̭̬͚̓̓̈́̾̅̄͊̊̎̕͜l̸̨̛͕̭̰̥̬̱̀̅̄̍͆̑̄̓̏̊̈́͑̐̿̚̕ ̶̖͖̺̠̺̤̺̬̭̫͓̠͛̎̒̓͂͆͋͌̎̓̍̏͜͝ͅm̸̨̡̹͎͖̅͗͜y̵̢͎̫̲̼̏ ̶̛̝̉́̓̕f̴̡̠̹̿̃ȁ̶̢̨̪̦̮̜͉̘̘̪͉̟̠̟̱̜͈͓͂͒̄͋̐̒̿̐̓̇̈́͌͝ḿ̷̢̨̪̫͙̦͙̖̣̲͈͙͑̔͒̄́́͠ͅi̸̧͓̮̪̋͐͆̎͗̂̽̀͐l̷̜͓̞̗̙̤̟̯̦͉͓͍̰̲̖̞̓́͑̂̏̏͊̅̏̍̈́͑̔̋̂̕͝ÿ̸̡͙́ ̸̜̗̭̼̟̭͖̫́̑͜ͅa̵̦̾̐̾n̶̮͖̝͒̾̾̓̎̌̑͐́̔̽̚͠͠d̷̛̙̏͗̉̔̈́̒͑̍̈́̊͌̐̀͋̈̊͝ ̷̨̡̛̦̤̣͕́̉͗͘Í̴̭͖̝͍̜̗̦̀ ̶̨̩̥͙̭̙̹̪͇̠̩̦̳̩͚̣̔̃̑͐̽̃͐̋͝ͅl̴̨̛͉̯̬̲̜̼̼̣͔̣̳͕̎͐̎̃̆͆̍̇͌̄̕ͅō̶͉͔̯͈̳̠̯̤̹̖͌̆̋̅́̍͋̋͐͗̿͗̕͝͝v̸̡̧͎͕̜̘̓́̄̄̀̊̑ḙ̵̛̘̳͇̾̉̐͑͒̎̈́̍̋̕̕ ̸̱̊̾͐̾̃̀̓̐̎́̽̒͘t̶̡͔̬͔̯̠̬͙͇͈̰̤͒̔̋̇̽̑̽̎̔̈́̑͘͝ḩ̸̙̭̘͓̗̪̪̃e̵͖̙͈͙̥͓̦̹͙̾̌͗̆̿̀̉͌̐̉́̾͑̿̚͠m̷̤̩͙̬̰̘͖̞̠̦̉̈̀͐̃̊̉̐͝͝ ̷̢̧̞͈̋͌̈́̉̍̔͘͠s̵̼̣̦͕͈̻̍̈́́͐̀͌ö̸̦̒͗͗ ̷̧͓̮͇͒̆̄m̵̢͔͈̲̰̍̑͆̆͌̃̓̇̓̓͆͆͠͠͝û̶̠̩͔̻͎̘̠̥̲͎̉͂͘c̶̖͕͈̤̼̝̭͙̩̦̭̲̟̫͕̬̼̊̍̇͌͆͋̓̇̀͛̈́̚͠ͅh̵͈̜̣͈͓̑͑̅̌͒̉͌̑̀̔̚!̶̨̩͔͉͔̎̐̿̐̾̇̓̂̎̾̕͘ͅ ̶̛̘̗͚̝̭͚͉͂̂̐͗̉͋̈́̆̂͝͝͝T̴͓̦͙͍̋̄̉̾͊̐̌̓̏̾ͅe̸̱̘̥̼̟̒̈́̊͑l̶̦̬͋͛̆̅̈́̊̓͊̎͜l̷̡̟̘͇͓̙̻̝̞̯̙̙͕̘̥̈̌̓̀̽ͅ ̴̢̠͈͓̹̱̬̫͙̰̻͕̘̓̄̈́̚F̴̛͓̠̪̑̿̏̔͑̊͌̈́͋̽͝͝l̴͉͇͋̓̀̀̉̋͗́̎ȍ̷̡͈̳̗͓̈́́̊͑̎͐̕w̶̪͙͌̎̇̽͑̉̿̉͊̾͠e̷̡̨̢̧̝̘͈̮̲̦̳̘̤̳͇̱̲͑͑̌̏̿͐̇͊̚͝ý̶̡̢̬͈̦̯͓̠̋͊͠ ̸̨̡͍̱͈̻̲̱̩̳̤̲̟͂͑͒̽̎͑͂̕͝ͅͅI̶̢̜̲̲̖̰͙͎͖̣̭̭̠̭͖̠̊̀͘̚'̷̛͎̫̳̲͂̅́͛̆̂͗̔͐̀̅̔̌̕͜m̸̭̲͉͙̤͎̣͖͖̙̦̻̻͔͉̿̇̔͒̒̍̀̑̄̈́͆͝ ̴̡̡͓̝̖̫͇̠̺̙͉͎̻̻̬̋͋̾̈͑͜ṣ̷̡̡̧̯̣͎͎̹͈͈̬̞̮͆̄̑́̌̔̽̎͗̉̒͝ͅo̶̧̨̠̱̭̮͚̻̪̖̝͂͂̔̍̾̈̾͋͜͜͠͠ͅ ̶̧͇͍̩̞̖̖̽s̵̳̓̈́̃̚̚ǫ̸̞̞̼̟͚͉̻͈͕̮͖̈́̌͒̈͂̚͜r̸̥̝̦̯̙̲͛͛̄̅̐̍̊̿͘͜͝ͅr̶̰̫̒̉̂͆̿̓̀̏̕̕y̸̢̡͖̠̯͍̟̹̩̣̱͈̝̰̟̩̬̯̾ ̷̢̛̰̩̪̰̌̈́̉̓̓̒̊͂̉͂̈̀̕ͅa̴̡̨̧̖̤̬͕͓̎͌͆̈̓̈́͒̋̽͆̚͘͝n̶̬̹͆̐̋͌̃́̊̓́̂͒͘͠ḍ̷̬̀͒͂̿͆͒̈̐̃̽̄̒̓̊͠ ̶̱̺͓̼̮̥̳̦̤͍̊̆̈́̉̀̒̅̑̌̂̅̕̕͠t̶͖̰̺́̉̚e̵̢̧͎̘̘̖̹̬̣̲̖̪͂̄l̵̙̈͌͒̏̈͂͘l̶̨͇͙̮̼̳̎ͅ ̵̛̙̙͙̪͓͖̝̐͂̅̏̄͒̀̈́̂͂̒̀̆̈́̔̌͝M̶̳̟͇͓͓͔͎̘̤̘͉͛̈́̀̂͋̔̿̍o̴̡͔̰͕̘̪̻͉̙͇͎͕̠͗m̴̢̟̟͋͊͂͆̏̔̐̓̊́̇̇̉̕̕ ̶̛̛͙̘̑̽̀́̃̈́͌͐̂̂͒͘ṱ̴̛̩͖͕͙͕̣̖̳̖̮̲͉̮̲͖̾̅͊̊͑̋́̆̚͘͘ḩ̴̦̠̙̦̩̦̝͍͇̖͚̞̫́̑̋́͐̍̀͋͒̈́͆̔͐̏͆̌͝͝ͅa̶̡͍̦̲͉̗̻̞̺̪̮̗̼̹̋́́̔̍̀̎̽̓͑̒̐͊͘̚̕̕͠ͅţ̶͉̠̬͉̗̭̱̭̩̫̈́̽̈́͜ͅ ̶̢̨͈̤͈̙̻͙̫̰͓̽͂̆̇͌͑͒̿̎̊̈͗͆̃̃͝Ĭ̸̞͇̓͑͊̇̆̕͠ ̴̨̛̜̩̬̖̬͎̥̳͖̯̝̞̗̰̬͑̿̇̀͊̇̏̌̓̆̀̓̈́͊̚͜͠l̵̤̭̞̰͛͘ͅͅò̵̡̧̨̢̼͍͎͎̞̬̩̭̣̺̤̜̉̾̒̌̌̽̀͊͝v̸̮͔͚̹̬̅̈́̑̌̅̒ē̸̢̧̢̻̺͍̜͈͕̼̰͓̲̻͔̪̼̉̇́̑̈́͊͐́͆̓̿̚̚͠ ̷̢̧̨̛̦͙̞̗͈̭͇̼̹̘̙̺̤̲̑̾̉̈́̐̒͜h̷̛̫̠̬̣̺͎̟̩̟̘̅̈̓͑̍̉̾̒̇ͅͅę̷̫͖̣͎̪̖̱̫͍̫̦͈̯̙̞̎̒̈́͛̏̾̽͑ͅr̸̢̨̭͍̫̓̑̋̾̈͋̀͌̉̓͂̉̐͝ ̵̮͍͇̬͚̙͎̖͖͓͖͔̞̹͎́͠a̷̠̓̓̐̑́͂̀n̸̼̯͕̞͔̂̊̍̈́̇̀͒͐̓͝ḍ̷̨̝̩̝̲̅͂͑̉̄̽̌͊̑͠͠ ̶̛͙̭͔͍͒͆̈́̒̈́̽̈́̈́̽͝h̴̛̝̫͕͎͚̭̪̪͐̂̚͝ë̴̡̧̧̨̺͖̭̰̟̯̻̟͛͛̓͛͛̂̀́̈́̋͗̚̚͜͝͠͝ͅŕ̴̡̼̳̰͚̱̫̩͓̃̍͂̽̓̃͐̅̀͌̄̍̌ ̴̨̨̖̟͖̰͉͉̖̪̫̙̝͛͑̈́̉̆̕̕͝͝p̵̹̣̤̻͈̩̅i̴͖͚͌̔̽́̐͘ę̵͚̩̬͉͖̖͔͎̜́̓̓͂̐̈́̃̚͝ͅ,̸̧̰̬̳̭̦͔̥̬̪̮̹̽̋̓̋̽̉̄̈͌̇͗͛͌͘͠͝ ̷̛̹̻̝̠͉͚̗̎́́̾̈́͛̉͊͌̓̚ͅä̷̮̲̤̟̯̼̰̙͖̼́̊͂̆̄̊̈́̒͗͗͒͗̔̏̍͘̕ņ̵̡̧̧̞̦̹͕̱̪̥̤̰́̊̒̉̑͘͘̕͘͝͝ḑ̶̡̯͇̱̼͇̼̆̎̒̃̌͛́͑͑̏̄͘͠͝ ̸̨̩͕̣̻̾̃̕t̶̲̑̄̏̍̆̅̌̀̐̊͂ḙ̴̛̬̙̤͉̃̈́̈̅̐̌̋ḽ̸̡̛̛͖̹̘̙̩͚̫̾̃̉͑͆͜l̶̦̲̋̌ ̴̢̠̖͓̻̟͔̲͎̤̳̊̋̿̅̑̋̊̈́̔̉͒͒̄̋͝Ḑ̶̧̫͇̘̭̤͛̎à̵̖̥̝̫͇̯̘̞̜̳̙͈́͜d̵̡͚̗̪͖̬̫̬̠̙̮̬̬̪͉̟͕̽ ̴̲̰̼̣̱̺͊̔̓͐̎͜t̶̛͈͖̩̳͓̦̰̘̯̪̣̑̀̔̄͂͆̕͝ḩ̷̢̜̺͙̤̩̭̲͇̦̫̀̉̍́́͛́̀̉͋͛͜͜͝͝ạ̸̦̖͇̜͛t̵̨͈̰͙̘̙̮̦̠͚͕̻͕͓̬͚̬̋̀̄͗͊̑̏́̊̑̆̐̏̀̉̏͝͝ͅ ̶̢̛̛͔̱̮̼̹͍̖͈͓̱̫͎͔̺̰̣͍̔̔͗͝I̵̲͆̇̐́̌̽̄̃͊'̵̨̡̢̥̻͉̫̲̝̖̗̳͚͓̦̻̉́̈́̾̋̿̿͒͜͝m̵̨̱̺̙̠̠̞̯͍̝̦̱͖͎̗̪͈̙͐̋̅̀̅̋̚ ̷̝̞̬̣͍̟̫͇̺̞̐͌͋̀̾̚s̴̢̟̹̲͙̻̗̯͕̳͇̟̝͓̖͂̋̈́̐́̈́̎̿͋̍̈̿̽̄̑̊̀͘͜ͅo̴͖͖͉̝̣̳̗̞̰͓̣͋ ̶̱͎̻̦̮͚̠̦̲̭̜͒̌̓͑͋́̎̏̒̑̕̚͝͠s̸̺̼̯͎͎̞͓̞͇͐ͅo̷̩̥͔͑r̷̡̥͔͖̥̝̹̙̞̈́͂̑́͌̿͂̋͊̐́̽͊́̚̕̚r̴̛͖͎̥͎̝̍̀̀́́̊͊̏̀͌̂̂̄̅̚͝ͅy̶͙͒̀̂͠ ̵̛̦̥̬͉̻͕͙̩͆͌̂͛f̴̛̯̼̫̯̙͍̱̫̩͚̬̜̣͎́̍̒̅͒̏̒͗̿̆̀̑̚̚o̸̢̢̻̞̗̖͉͎͎̠̼̟̳̹͕͓͐̌̄̃̆̂͋͊͑̾̑̒͑͒̄́͜ŗ̸̢̧̦̤̮̼̩̩̄̍̌͊̈́̓͑̚͜͝ ̶̪̖͉̠̘̙͈̬͇̠͙͍̙̽͑̏̐̓̍̾̅̅̂͑̌̃̕͝͝ͅp̶̿̍̌��̙̥̻̬̗̀o̵͉̙̞͗̅͛͛̍͋̾͒̐͐͒͛̋̂͜i̸̛̮̬͂̎̅͌͆̊́̎͐̏̑̚͘͠s̵̡̛͍̠̹̥̼͕͖̖̗̜͍̪̥̪̖̰͛͂̾̈́̅̉̐̈͐͘͠͝ơ̸̬̏̃̓͒́͛̾͂̀̋̎̏͑̚͠ṅ̵̟̮̜͇͚̰̼̈́͗̀͑î̸̗͍̼̯̤͈͒̾͊̈́̉̆̓͠ņ̴͇̟̪̓̍̈́͌̀̍̔̔̽̽́̑́̋̅̽̕͝ǵ̸̢̡̢̯̦̹̝̠̱͍͖͓̠̬̲̿ ̴̛̳̗͈͉̳͉͚̥̭͎̞͐̈́̒̊͊̒̏̃̇͋̂̈́͂̚͝ͅh̸̢̞̭̙̝̲͉͇̼̪̝͕̭̜̦̙͎͂͌͊̊̚į̵̧̢͈͚̩͉̳͈̩̼̦̝͈̟̘͉̀͊ṁ̵̨̛̳̬̰͎͖̻̬̜͇͓͔͍̠̣̀̈́̀̉̋̔̏͒̓͛̐͂̕̚͘͜ ̴̢̨̛͙̪̺̱͍͚̃̍͌̂̃̃̎͑̕w̶̧͍͖̘̥̎̈́̽͐͐́͒̐͛̈̽̏̊̉̀͛ĩ̴̤͓̫͙͛̉̿́̏̆̂̚t̸̠͎̫̱̮̳͈̪͓̝̜̖͒͋̾͘̕͘̚ȟ̸̢̜̭̜̖̖̪̲̺̏̆̆̆͂͗͂̿̃̏̈͗̇̚͠ ̸̡̨̨̱͚͕̣̞̫̫͕̭̝̖̒́͜ͅt̸̡̛̛͓̞̞̱̤̳̝̼̍̉̎̉̓̋̔̒͂̉͗̂̕͠͝h̵̳̠͆͆͆̀̊͐̏̀͝e̵̬͍͓̘̎̿͜ͅ ̶͇͎͖̊f̵̡̡̢̛̛̰͔̼͇͔̫̳͕̤̥͕̩̎͊͗͐͑̓͊́̃̊̇̒͘̕͠l̵̡͙̮̪̪͍͎͚͊̂̅̑͌͛̂͝ọ̵͖͍̺͉̌͛̌̏̈́̍̅̀̍̚͝w̶̨̡̝̪̬͍̤̪͚̙͚̱̣̋̾̃̈́͆͜e̷̬͖̾̏̓͒̀̊̋͆͋̂͒͊̽͆͝͝͠r̸̞͎͚̙͇͇̭̄͆̀̑̊͛̔́̀͝s̵̨̲̞̻͙̪̫͉̭͇̫̮͇̣̼̾ͅ.̸̢̯͕̬̤̹͉͚̬͚̮̫̟̪̺͐́̏͋̈́̿͝ͅ ̶̛̀̓̍̾̏̽͐͌̎͜͝I̷̲̦̺̼̻͐̀̌̉̀̉̆̓̉̏̄̋̐̄̎̊͑̍ ̴̞̃̐̆̋̓̎̈́̀͊̊̏̇͘͘w̵̪͓̳̱̥̗̼̠̮̓̈́́̓̈͒̉̆̒̉͘ö̶̡̯̬͕̳̬͓̜̗͖͖̺̞̼͕́͑̐̇͂̓͐̿̄̌̍̍̈́̑̌͊́̚ü̴̜̘͈͚̣͇̙̹̥̟̣͂̀̀͗̎͘͜͜l̶̡̛͍͓͓͕̾̽̇̈́̀̃̀̑̈́͌̉̕̚d̶̢̪̹͕͍̼͎͊̌̉̾̔̀̄̈'̶͓͖̪̑͒̄͆͆̋̍̈́͑̚͘͜͝v̸̢̡̧̮̝̜̜̫̮̭̬̲͈͖̲͙̈́͋̿̈́̏́͐̂̊̕̚̚e̵̯̺͎̯̩̻͒̔̀̚͠ͅ ̵̙̻͍̘̖̩̞̈́̒̊̀s̴͓͍̗̺̍̀̅͜t̷͇̞̹̮̞͂̋̇̓̃̅̈́̉̚̕͠o̴̢̼̗̤̞̤̳̘̳̫͌̐͐̈́̓͗́͊͌͆̉͘͝p̴̡̛̤̱̪̞̆͒͑̈̀͒̔̔̂̄̈́̚͘͠ͅp̵̨̡̨͉͉̲̦̲͖͎͔̤̯̜͖͕̬͓͗̔̌͛̈̂̈́͝e̸̤̫̪̫̭̲̝͎̰̓̆͊̒̍̀͛̓͑̇̄̒̚͘͜͝ḑ̷̻̙̜̠̯͖͍̦̼͍͛̌͛͊̈́̎̐̋̒͗̕ ̴̺͕̑́͌͗̓ț̸̺̞̤̘̱̯͙̺̏̋̈́̈́̊̓̔͋͆̅̓̐h̷̰̮͈͓̮͐͝ȉ̴̟̲̤̣̳̙̗̹̟̬̠̪̇̋̌̎̓̎̒͆̎̏̈́̕͜͝s̸̞͙̭̜̺͑͗̍̓͊̀̾̅̈́̈͘̚͜͜ͅ ̵͚̤͍̝̮͓͙̻̗̳̬͇͇́̈́͛̃͛͜i̶̧͙͕̦̬͓̦̺̻̺͔̗̗͌̍́͑͒̾͌̒̽̈́̂́͛̿̑̎̐͜ͅf̸̡͉͇̯̗͎̤̻̼̓͗̓͠͝ ̴̼͍̙̪̹̤̟̻͕̬̳̀͜ͅİ̶̢̱̣̲̫̙̩̘̠̫̭͒͒̑̊͝ ̴̧̛̱͓̫̯̰͎͇̺̑͐̆͆̉͒̀̽͆ͅc̴̬͎̖̘͍̣̗̯͚̱͇͚̮͓̐̎̈́͘͝ô̵̡̫̣̩͇̮͚̝̙̱̐͌͑͗͝u̸̧̨̙͕͓̣͔͕͇̪͎̖̘̝͙̤̼͂́̈̑̉͗̚l̵̡̛̼̦̘͉̺̺̗̭̻̜̤͛͛̎̈͌̒̍͂͐͑̀͘̕͝͠ḑ̶͎̻͍̪̱̅̒̋͗̄̿͑̋̐̽͑̐͊̎̍͘͘͝!̵̡̻͔̹̮̬̫̜͑̆͂͛͋”

Chara sobbed as they squeezed their arms and sat on the ground, attacks phasing through them as they watched the fight helplessly. 

“Frisk, buddy, pal, amigo, friend, my compadre... Are you sure you wanna mess around with multi-verse stuff? I don't think the other Skelebros are gonna take your threat lying down.”

“They’re nothing compared to me.” Frisk said, cackling like the maniac they were. 

“How much therapy is Red gonna need after learning someone wrote smut of him and Jerry?”

“No amount of therapy will ever make this moment ok.” Red said, whining as Blue gave a very pouty look at where the sound was coming from. 

“Wait I just realized Maxie forcibly hugged Error just to mess with him, that is messed up. You ask and respect his no, the guy has a touch issue. Don't bully the Error!”

“He’s been getting better, and I rarely do it. And I’m not that mean to him, Nightmare would find a way to kill me if I did.” Maxie said, pointing at Nightmare as he agreed. Not looking up from his spot on the ground. 

“Nightmare, what are you and the rest of the multiverse going to do during the fight with Frisk?”

“We’re on standby in case they need help. But they’ve got this.” Nightmare said, 

“Frisk, why do you hate humans so much? Did your family hurt you? Did you have a family? why betray the nicest souls you may ever meet? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” Frisk said, small tears welling up in their eyes as they tried to killer Dust. 

“Let me make one thing clear, Error better not get hurt or I will raise hell.”

“As will everyone.” Nightmare said, smirking. 

error do you watch undernovela in this version of the multiverse?

“Yes I do. It is amazing.” Error said, winking as he smiled. 

“error what do you think of people who ship you and ink”

“I’m sure it’s ok in alternate multiverses, but I will forever see them as weird.” Error said, walking up to face Frisk. 

“to sans frisk and chara what do you think off your respective stronger than yous”

“I like it.” Classic said, “I actually listen to it every now and then.”

"̴̠̣̉͒F̵̩̆̿̿r̶̦̹̭̄i̸̡̫̖̩̞̐͗s̶̤̗͎̼̪̆͘k̶̳̘͌̎ ̸̞̙̪̱̓͝a̵̞͑͑n̸̺̹̭̽̊̆̎̕͜ͅd̷̤̰̒͘ ̵̱̓̀̉I̵̖͕̖̓ ̶͖̤̙͙͆̄n̸͖͕͐̒̋̂̇ë̴̻́̏ë̸͖͍̦͜͜d̸͔̩̠̿̒ ̴̥̪̣͙͑̋t̸͍̰̱̲̅̽̈́̚͜͠o̸̮͒ ̵̹̭͓̠͒s̶̼̀̐͗͆͌w̷̤̬̳̱̗̽̄a̵̖̻͇̳͛͐͘p̵̪͔̒͆ ̸̢̊s̶̮̎̕̕o̸̟̘̹̹͊n̷͉̭̩̲̘̐̿͊g̷͙̗̑s̵̗̭̠̉̐́̇.̴͉̭̠̀̿͐̈́͂ ̵̡̻̘̩͔͂́͋͌T̸̗̋̓̇̈͝h̵͙̠̭̪̾̂̈͒o̶̻̖̳̓̈́̽̂̿ȗ̵͎̤̪̺̈́͘͠g̶̡͎͋͂h̷͖͍̏̾̾̿͝ ̷̙̥̼͇̓́s̵͖̙̈́́̈́̀̕į̶̖͎̰̾̅ṋ̸͖̟̈́͘c̶̠̜͇̖͐͊̈́͘͝ę̷͛̿͝͠ ̵̧̙͍̲̐̾t̸̟͑̄h̷̬̳̬̩͓̉͒̾̐ẽ̵͍̗͉̩̇̀y̵͉̺͎̒̿ ̴͇̩̭͗͊͐̾͜ò̷̫͈͙͉̓̎ͅn̷̦̤̟͓̈̌͘l̸̨̘͈̱̎y̷̥͆̄ ̶̥̭͓̲̔͗̂̊̈́ȩ̶̻̊͌v̷̜͙̠̝͂̿ȩ̸̛̦͓̞͛̄͘ȑ̴̪̗̪͋̃͝ ̸̖̭̜̏̍͠m̵̟̥̲̈̃̋̕e̸̛̺͉͎̝̼͐̅̑̕ę̷̡̼̭̰͊͒̃̾t̵̟̰͎̪̬͋̔ ̸̩̒m̶̢̛̟̤͓̠͆̒̚͠e̷̡̢̯̹̐̍̀ ̵̫͍͉͑̇̈́a̸̦͠t̷̛̻̙̝͇͔̓͐̉̚ ̵̜̬͈̰̟̌ṃ̷̗̞͎̾y̸̝̻̳̱͐͒̉̎ ̷̝̇͒͂w̴̙̣͚̞͒͛̊ȏ̴̧̞̞̣̓̕r̶̥͆ͅͅs̴͇̞̐̀̏͑̉͜t̶̳͠,̴͕̰̞͂̓̀͠͠ ̴̢͍̲͒͌̈́I̶͔͇͍̅ͅ ̵̨̥̼͒͆̓͠ç̵̗͇͚̈a̶͓̘͍̥̍̾̀̓͝n̴̬͍̞͈͐́̄̚͠'̴̞̑́̑̊͠t̸̥̙̔̊̈ ̴̢͚̟͆̀́̓͝b̴̢̛͕̦̎̄̀l̴͍̄a̸̛̻͇͇̲͋̆͠m̷̖̳͍̠̈͑e̶͈̩̅ ̵͇͇͖̜̖̓̌t̷͓͍͖̖͛̋̂̍͘ḧ̸̖́̋e̶̲̦̐̆̂̉́ ̶̰̈́̓̀ẅ̵̡͖͖͍̯̃̆̄͠r̴͓̪̥͍̐̎i̶̙̲̗̮̘͊̕͘t̴̗̳̫̏ȅ̸̜̞͑r̸̛̪͕̞͓̣̊͐̒̕s̴͚̿̊̑̋.̵̖̩̼̟̿̅̋ ̴̪̗̀͊̈́Ť̸̼̼h̶̛͖͖̝͌͠ḛ̸̉̒̈́͋̕ỳ̵̝̾̓̾̋ ̵͚̠̂̔ș̴̛͙͇̗̉̌̕̕o̶̦̯͆͑̇̔n̴͔͎̽̅̎g̵̮̗̖͆s̷̟͈̹͔̖̓̚͝ ̷̯̥͚̤̅a̴̡̙̻͓̕̚r̷̡̡͓̩̀e̸͙̙̾̍ ̷̮͗̑̈́̄ŗ̴̂́͘ȩ̴̲̗̝̹̀̾̏͑̄ã̶̻̘͛̈̾ͅl̷̖̲͙̈̄͗͝l̸͙̠̎̇̐y̸̨̻͍̻̾͝ ̶͓̹̓g̵͍̙̃̔ͅợ̶͍̙͐̚o̴͎͍͔̎̐d̸̢̺̄́ ̶̦̱̣̳̎̇͠t̶̲͓͒̀̈͋h̴̢̥̠͈̣̀̈́̽̅o̷̡̧͖̔̋̐u̸̙͐͐̅͒g̷̺̖̘̬̀͑̎̕h̶̹̦̳͔̾͐͌.̴̟̉̉̑͝"̴̢̛̼̞͊̉͋͛ 

Chara said as they smiled at Frisk’s miserable state.

“frisk what do you think of tEMMIE pls stop kill tem”

“Temmie is an annoying abomination.” Frisk said, looking at Error as they grinned.

Next - Pending

Previous

[thepetulantpen]

Modern AU/Kindness

(Hey I know this event is literally over but I finally finished day 6 of @mollymauklivesfest so I’m posting it now. Better late than never?)

Molly’s general rule of thumb is to leave the world a little better than how he found it.

And a little more chaotic.

Typically, he’s found, in order to achieve both of those things, one will eventually be on the run from the cops.

Which he is now.

As he nearly gets run over for the third time that night, diving across traffic and into an alley where he leaps onto a dumpster and scales an apartment complex, he takes a rare moment of reflection to think about how he ended up in this position.

It either started with the kids who tried to rob him or the racist elven lady, depending on how much faith you put in Molly’s moral code.

...

When a bony hand reaches into his purse, Molly stops and fidgets with his phone for a bit to give the kid a better chance. He may not be the most observant person, but even he saw the three dirty, skinny children sneaking up behind him.

He’s not exactly made of money- he reads fortunes, for gods’ sake- but he can spare something to give to people even less fortunate than him. Whatever they can swipe, they’ve earned.

When Molly dies in Crossy Road, he moves on and the kids scatter, back to whatever alley they crawled out of. He wishes he could help more, but they’re just three of many in this city.

It probably won’t keep him up at night, but it does distract him long enough to not look where he’s going, long enough to trip over an older elven lady. Old enough to look old, which means she must be ancient.

“Sorry-“

Molly cuts himself off at the look on her face, needlessly shocked and disgusted. He knows what that means.

There’s no major freak out, which is nicer than previous encounters of similar types, but she does mutter “demon” as she crosses the street in a hurry. She’s dramatically rubbing at the front of her shirt, as if Molly might’ve gotten a bit of his Infernal on her.

He’s gotten it before, gotten it far worse. It probably won’t keep him up at night.

That might’ve been the end of it, if Molly wasn’t Molly.

The shiny pearls around her neck and the gold bracelets on her wrist give him an idea.

And that is what’ll keep him up at night.

...

Caleb wakes at 3:34 am to the sound of his phone buzzing violently against his nightstand. He grabs for it blindly, wondering which of his dumb friends could be calling at this time of night.

The screen lights up too bright in the dark, washing over his face and making his eyes squint to adjust. ‘Robin Hood’, Molly’s chosen nickname on Caleb’s phone, is calling, which would’ve earned Caleb money if he’d bet on it. These sorts of calls are Molly around 80% of the time.

He lets it ring for a few seconds, pretending to debate taking the call. He promises to himself that if this isn’t an emergency, he’ll kill Molly, but it’s an empty promise, one he never keeps when Molly calls him high or horny or just bored.

He answers the call.

“This had better be good, Mollymauk.”

There’s a huff, some shuffling, and the sounds of a busy street on the other end of the call before Molly finally speaks, out of breath.

“Yeah, yeah it’s an emergency, actually,” he grunts and Caleb hears something slamming against metal, “Are you still friends with that guy in Nicodranas?”

Caleb sits up in bed and rubs his eyes. He really doesn’t need this, at 3:36 in the morning.

“Friends is a strong word.”

Caleb can practically hear the eye roll on the other end of the line, but he ignores it because Molly has no right to be annoyed with him, when he’s calling at 3:37 in the morning.

“Associate, acquaintance, whatever. Will he still help you cross the border?”

“Molly, what-“ Caleb sighs and shakes his head. He’d been fine when they talked last week. “What could you have possibly done in the last few days that makes this necessary? No, no, don’t tell me, I want plausible deniability. Just, how soon do you need to leave?”

“Well-“ Molly starts but is cut off by the blare of police sirens and his own footsteps against the pavement. When the noise fades a bit, he asks, “Does that answer your question?”

Caleb groans, standing to grab his coat and books. It’s going to be another long fucking night.

“Unfortunately, yes. Can you hold out till morning?”

He can imagine Molly grinning on the other end, feels the sharp energy of it through the receiver.

“Have I ever given you reason to doubt my skills?”

...

After about the third rich person party he’d robbed, Molly starts to think he’s getting in a little too deep.

But he’s got a bag full of jewelry and other useless expensive trinkets and he’s driving to yet another pawn shop, so he’s committed for now.

Emerging with a wad of cash is pretty satisfying and spending it on a car full of non perishable meals and blankets eliminates all doubt and conflicting feelings from his mind.

This whole scheme has gotten pretty ridiculous and is starting to take way too much planning- he’s had to research parties and fake identities and pawn shops. It shouldn’t have been this elaborate when the premise seemed so easy: steal from the rich, give to the poor. But bullshitting your way into parties without a plan is risky, and selling hoards of jewelry to the local pawn shop every week is a sure way to get investigated and arrested.

It’s a lot of work, more work and planning than Molly typically participates in, but it’s worth it. The people who attend these kind of parties are the perfect sort of uptight that provides endless entertainment, and pretending to be rich (or even royalty, on one occasion) is not only fun but empowering. Nobody dares question guests at these parties, he could tell them he got banished from a pirate island and they’d nod politely while sipping champagne.

Some people would say it’s exhausting pretending to be someone else, but not Molly. For him, it’s exhilarating to weave lie after increasingly ridiculous lie- and it’s not hard either. Rich Molly is just Molly but worse and more shiny.

He will say that the best part isn’t the parties or the lies. It’s now, as he rolls up to one of the dark alleys in the worst part of town and finds the sad little camps of boxes and torn blankets.

The kids don’t approach him, watching warily as he sets down his offerings of food and other supplies from Dollar Tree. It’s the most he could get with the money he made, plus his efforts in bargain hunting and buying in bulk. They’ll eat and be warm for months, hopefully.

This camp is just one in a series of stops he’ll make today, grim reminders of the desolate conditions the poor of Zadash live in. He’s determined to keep up this act until every one of the kids in this city has gotten their share of its wealth. Or until he’s arrested.

One of the bigger kids comes out first, opening up cans of fruit for the little kids and passing out blankets. He waves to Molly, a small gesture of thanks before he turns his attention to his charges.

Molly waves but doesn’t stop long, heading back to his car before he gets wrapped up in a conversation. He has more work to do, if he’s going to make this city better.

...

Caleb rubs at his eyes again, trying to make them focus on the map through the haze of his exhaustion and shakiness of Molly’s shitty driving.

They almost go airborne on a bump in the road and Caleb scrambles to keep hold of his books.

“Scheisse, Molly. Easy on the gas pedal, I need to make sure we’re going the right way.”

Molly nods absently, eyes darting in between the windshield and rear view mirror, watching fervently for any sign of authorities. Caleb’s contact in Nicodranas has outlined the fastest, most discreet route over the border, but these things can change so fast that there’s never any true guarantees of safety. At least he has Caleb here to navigate and steer him out of trouble. If anyone can bail Molly out of a jail cell, it’ll be Caleb.

“Left here.”

Moly turns the wheel too hard, taking the turn as sharp as he can. Caleb is holding onto the armrests for dear life and staring at Molly in disbelief. It’s a wonder to Caleb that they haven’t died yet, with Molly being as impulsive in driving as he is in life. He should’ve called Fjord and made him give them a ride.

“You’re just going to attract more attention if you drive so fast,” Caleb pauses as he watches the meter lower a little closer to the speed limit, he’s got to find a way to distract Molly from the high speed chase he’s envisioning, “Finish telling your story, I’m dying to know how your flawless plans could’ve been outsmarted.”

...

Picking pockets is not a terribly difficult art. Some can do it masterfully, some are abysmal at it, but most can do a decent job and grab a few things without trying their luck.

Molly falls into the last category, but he’s too stubborn for his own good. He just has to get that last bracelet.

The woman he’s robbing, a respectable, no nonsense businessperson, looks down at Molly when his hands slip. He manages to not only screw up his extraction of the bracelet, but also drop the rest of her jewelry to the ground with a loud series of clinks.

Molly only has time for an abashed smile before he’s leaving a tiefling shaped cloud of dust behind him and utilizing his other talent: running.

There’s an broken window, a two story climb, and a crash through some overly manicured hedges, then he’s hitting the pavement and diving down the nearest alley as sirens wail in the distance.

He stops to heave in a few breaths, preparing for a chase, and that turns out to be a mistake as the guards for the party are smarter and faster than he thought. There’s shouting and uniforms so he makes a quick decision, jumping up—

“I can’t believe you. We had to leave the country because you suddenly became a bigger kleptomaniac than Nott?”

“Technically,” Molly smiles at Beau across the table from him, “you didn’t have to leave. This is just your excuse for a vacation.”

Beau crosses her arms and returns the shit-eating grin. “But I couldn’t leave my best friend to fend for himself in his run from the police.”

Molly is going to fire back, maybe bring up the time they had to evacuate a town because of something Beau did (they can never go back to Trostenwald) but Jester walks in carrying a tray of cookies and he’s sufficiently distracted.

“Look what my mama had the cooks bake!”

Jester giggles as Beau and Molly immediately pounce on the plate, competing to build the biggest cookie pile. She grabs a cookie from Beau’s pile and sits down with them, smiling with crumbs in her teeth.

“Since we’re sort of trapped here until the police forget about Molly-“

“Trapped is such a strong word.”

“-then we’ll have to plan a bunch of beach days to fill time. We’ll get to drag Caleb out there and we could invite Nott’s family, I’m sure Yeza would love to see the ocean!”

Jester’s words become indistinct as Molly zones out, happy to enjoy this moment with friends despite the circumstances that landed him here.

It’s a happy ending really, and some good karma from the world at last. He did something good by doing something bad and now he gets to hang out at the beach with his friends- his family.

Gods, he can’t wait to goad Caleb into buying swim trunks in the most atrocious pattern possible.

[sailor-cresselia]

The Great Ex-Aid Rewatch: Episode 10

When last we saw our hero, Emu kicked his own ass by way of not being able to control Drago Knight Hunter Z. Said gashat will be referred to from here on as Drago Knight, because that title is just too danged long.

We start off with him being half-carried into CR, Asuna supporting him. He is not in a good way, almost immediately collapsing on that couch. Like, he’s bruised and bloodied, and covered in what looks like soot. It probably is, given the amount of fire that was going on back there.

Despite this, he says that he’s fine as Asuna wheels over a supply cart to start patching him up.

–––

(Also, there’s a brief segment with Kiriya, watching people being brought to the hospital, and knowing full well that this is Zero Day all over again… and he’s not gonna let that happen.)

But the virus is spreading throughout the city, and people are panicking. So Emu tries to run off, to go stop Graphite.

Even as Asuna is telling Emu that his own treatment should come first. Even as Dr. Kyotaro staggers out of the room, asking if the virus is spreading… and then asking how Emu got so many injuries.

He tries to play it off, moving the secretaries hands away. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.” Emu looks away as he’s saying this. He knows full well he’s lying, but also doesn’t want to worry anyone. Doesn’t want to worry his hero. To his visible shame, Asuna tells Hinata that Emu tried to use Drago Knight by himself.

Emu is desperate to save him, because he feels like he owes him. He’ll do whatever it takes, regardless of the risks.

Hinata’s not okay with that.

–––

Cut to the still ongoing battle of Hiiro, Taiga, and Graphite.

Hiiro is taking way more hits than either of the others on the field – mostly from Graphite, because Taiga’s way out of reach thanks to Jet Combat. But the miniguns on Jet Combat don’t discriminate, and I’m fairly certain a lot of those shots at least winged Hiiro. So, Brave is the one taking the majority of Graphites attacks, and occasional splash damage from Snipe.

And the two of them are fighting each other all the way, even actually attacking each other – Hiiro actually goes at Taiga with a fire attack to get him out of the way, so that he can be the one to take down Graphite.

A shot from the Gashacon Sparrow interrupts them.

Kamen Rider Lazer has joined the fray.

–––

Back at CR, Dr Kyotaro basically chews Emu out for thinking that only one doctor can do any work alone – there is always a team at work. He also warns Emu about knowing his limits, about not overestimating his abilities.

Emu’s basically frozen as Asuna helps the secretary back into the room.

“Some Genius Gamer I am… Going on about not losing at any game. I was just being full of myself. I never tried to trust anyone.”

Emu, hon, it’s definitely not that. Well, okay, the first part about being arrogant, yeah. Yeah, you were. But it’s not that you haven’t tried to trust anyone. It’s that the others have pretty much thrown any attempts you’ve made for the four of you to work as a team back in your face. What was happening was that you got fed up, and when the case got truly personal, you snapped. Started acting like Hiiro and Taiga. You got reckless, and not in the usual Made Of Iron/Determinator way.

–––

Meanwhile, with Graphite and the other three riders, everyone is getting their asses kicked. Taiga seems to have been pulled out of the air finally, since he’s fighting on the ground now. Graphite lands some solid hits on all three of them. This knocks Taiga down momentarily, and he drops Doremifa Beat and Gekitotsu Robots – the level three gashats he took from Hiiro and Emu in episode 8. Hiiro quickly reclaims his, and Kiriya grabs Emu’s. Taiga, being Taiga, takes great offense to this, and to Kiriya’s jab about it being better than letting him have all of them. So now the three of them are bickering about this, because they are all clearly children.

Hiiro isn’t looking too hot, actually. He’s the only one here who isn’t in level 3, and it looks like he had a harder time getting back up from the last attack by Graphite than either Kiriya or Taiga did. I mean, yeah, there’s probably a decent difference in how good their defenses are with the extra armor, but still.

But yeah. The three alleged adults are bickering, and guess what? Graphite doesn’t like to be ignored! Named attack, GO!

–––

Well, looks like everyone got kicked out of the battle stage and onto a roof. I think it’s the one Emu was on earlier, where he confronted Graphite.

…Hiiro. Hiiro, sit down. The others have the right idea. At least try to catch your breath while you blame the others for getting in your way.

To set the scene: Hiiro is staggering, leaning on a wall with one arm. Taiga is crouched, and pissed that they’re getting in his way. Kiriya is just sprawled out on the rooftop, is really sick of these guys bickering, and would really like it if everyone would just shut up for a while.

Emu approaches, apologizing for trying to do this on his own, and saying that they should be able to work together – and is promptly shot down by everyone.

Taiga, please. Quit saying you don’t want to play at being a doctor, it’s only episode 9 and we can already tell you’re lying through your teeth.

Oooh, and Taiga’s finding out that he wasn’t just pulling thoughts from nowhere, Emu really hasn’t had the compatibility surgery. I think he had only suspected it before, but now Kiriya’s said it plainly.

“How can you transform into Ex-Aid without having the compatibility surgery?”

Emu can’t answer, because he has absolutely no idea what anyone is talking about.

And Kiriya goes on – Emu’s only had one operation, the one when he was eight. Kiriya’s suggesting that maybe… maybe Emu had it performed on him then, without his knowledge by Doctor Hinata. And he’s not going to play a part in saving a guy who would do that.

–––

Okay, see, this thing here. With Kiriya accusing the secretary? I like this. He knows that nobody trusts him, but also that this is, technically, information that Hiiro at minimum can access. Secretary Hinata is the government official in charge of CR, ergo, he would know about the compatibility surgery. Hell, he might even have been the one to do it for the others.

So, with all of these aligning, it’s incredibly justified that he’d be willing to accuse the secretary. The fact that Emu has no clue what anyone is going on about only makes the situation more damning.

Of course, as we find out later, Kiriya’s technically not that far off. Emu was, technically speaking, given the ability to become a Kamen Rider 16 years ago. Well, the start of it, anyway. It was just… you know, maybe a few months earlier than they’re thinking right now.

–––

Parad is bored out his mind. They won’t be able to get any data if the doctors are just griping at each other.

Kuroto’s all like “Eh, if they don’t work out, we can just find some new users. It’s fine.”

Parad smirks. As if he’s going to let Kuroto get rid of M that easily.

Elsewhere, Graphite says that all he has to do now is wait for the outbreak.

–––

It’s nighttime. Emu sits on a rooftop, crying, because he can’t do this. He can’t convince them all to work as a team. He can’t save anyone like this.

Asuna asks him if he’s really okay with this – with just stopping.

She believes in him.

He reaches into his pocket, and pulls out his phone.

–––

Cut to Hiiro. In a hospital room. Which I’m sure is just cautionary, he came out pretty poorly in that last fight, after all. I’m sure it’s fine, the IV is just in case, there’s nothing wrong.

Anyway, his two early-show assistants are here, and he snaps at one when she says to make sure he gets some rest. Because Hiiro is an asshole.

The phone rings. It’s Hojo.

Like, Emu specifically introduces himself that way – formally and everything. He’s saying that Hiiro was right, he can’t do this. But a genius surgeon like Hiiro should be able to… so he’s going to give him Drago Knight.

–––

Daytime, probably early morning. Emu sits in stony silence on a skyway, Asuna asking if he’s really giving the Gashat to Hiiro.

Hiiro approaches, saying that Emu’s finally realized that he’s not cut out for this job, and should just hand over the gashat.

Taiga approaches, asking why the pampered little surgeon is here. After all, he’d been promised the gashat.

Kiriya approaches, wondering what’s going on. He’d been told he could have the thing!

All four of them seem to start to realize they’ve been played.

Emu’s still hunched over, until Hiiro asks what he’s planning.

His eyes flash a reddish-pink, as a breeze blows back his hair and he smirks. “If you want this so badly, you’ll have to go through me to get it. That is, unless you think you’ll lose.”

As Asuna points out to herself… he’s gotten aggressive, but a game hasn’t even started yet.

Area intern is channeling his internal competitive gamer tendencies.

(Meanwhile, the physical embodiment of his external competitive gamer tendencies watches from a distance, getting a kick out of realizing Genius Gamer M’s plan.)

Emu’s in the Drago Knight armor, which he’s still having trouble handling. There’s visual glitching every now and then, and arcs of electricity keep going across it, even as he continues to cream the other riders.

He’s taunting them, too. Don’t they feel just humiliated, losing to a mere intern? He’s practically growling. Whether that’s just a side effect of not being quite able to handle the full armor, or if he’s putting on an act, it does it’s job of aggravating the others well enough.

Though Kiriya has to admit, Emu knocking the Gekitotsu Robots gashat out of his holder by barely deflecting an attack to get behind him is well played.

They launch attacks at him, as he tells them to come at him. The Dragon armor seems to take the brunt of the attack, breaking off of him and forming back into its robot form, which they then shoot down with a trio of finishers…

And the Drago Knight gashat divides into four.

Four gashats for four players. It’s supposed to be a co-op game.

Emu, internally: Now, if we could all act like the mature adults we are supposed to be for five minutes…

Emu, externally: Time to take out Graphite.

As Emu warps everyone to the battle stage, Parad turns and walks away. “That’s how it’s going to be, then.”

–––

Holy shit, when we get to the game area? We can see that everyone is going into this battle at half health.

Yo.

I saw that Emu was at half when the dragon came off of him, but since the others were in level three, their gauges weren’t visible. But each and every one of the four doctors is at half.

When the armor divides between them, all of them going to level five, most of them start at level two. Kiriya starts at level one, because he doesn’t exactly have a choice if he wants to transform on his own. And then he’s the bike aNYWAY before he receives the Claw portion of the armor. Because of COURSE he has to be the bike before he can get limbs.

Kiriya and Poppy both think that this is pretty damned cool – though Poppy would never phrase it quite like that. Fifty-fifty odds that Kiriya thinks it’s sweet primarily because he DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A BIKE RIGHT NOW.

Then the fight begins… and yet again, half of it is the Riders bickering and shoving each other out of the way. Poppy’s a bit embarrassed, and Graphite is really sick and tired of these assholes ignoring him.

Hm. As everyone prepares their finishers – the four riders and Graphite – we get a good look at everyone’s rider gauges again. They’re all back to full. Interesting. I wonder which was the production error.

But Graphite is defeated. The armor parts pull off of the riders and reform into the dragon robot, as the Game Clear announcement plays.

(Also, Kiriya is a bike again, because this is just his life, he supposes.)

–––

On the roof, Parad picks up the Proto-Drago Knight gashat. “Nice work, Graphite.”

(‘See you in a few months.’)

He walks off, just as Poppy teleports in with her back to where he was standing.

They just missed him.

At the other end of the skyway, the four riders stand a distance apart from each other. Emu’s looking at the gashat, and then back up at the others.

Emu: ‘So, which of them is going to try and punch me for this first…?’

There’s some stoic ‘discussion’ over who should get the Gashat, and when Hiiro just goes up to take it from Emu, Poppy stops him, saying that they should all just call it a draw. They can all work as a team now, right? Right? RIGHT?

No. Sorry Emu and Poppy, but no they won’t. Because all three of the ‘senior’ riders are stubborn and refuse to see reason.

(Even though Hiiro has the most reason to be agreeable to working together. You know. Because he’s a surgeon. And we just got done going over how one person cannot perform a surgery alone.)

Everyone walks off as Poppy and Emu just wind up disappointed in all of them.

–––

Hiiro looks out over the ocean. Yes, he’s technically avenged Saki but… it feels hollow. This was never going to bring her back, after all.

–––

Back at CR, Secretary Hinata is being discharged, and says that the ministry will clean up the incident. It’s fine, because none of the infected had their cases truly break out.

(Of course, by ‘clean up’ we mean ‘cover up’, but regardless.)

He goes to thank Emu, but Emu tells him not to. He was only able to pull this off thanks to Hinata’s guidance, after all.

Emu please develop some self worth, I’m begging you.

–––

At Kuroto’s office, we find out that they’ve accumulated the data they need to move on to ‘the next stage.’

That’s the combat data acquired. Next up…

Well, we don’t know just yet, now do we?

See you next game~

––––––

Well, that’s ten episodes in the bag!

I am enjoying this so much, guys! I hecking love Ex-Aid.

–––

Last time I watched the show, I hadn’t really started writing fic yet. That was why I was watching, actually, to focus on Parad so I could write Event Flag XX.

This time around, I’m really data gathering. I’m getting all the info I can. Partly for ReUnited purposes, partly because I love knowing all I can about these shows.

And partly because a friend and I got to talking about how Ex-Aid’s advertised secondary is Brave, but… well, both Taiga and Kiriya fit the mold far better than Hiiro. In fact, there wouldn’t really be that much of a difference in the story if Hiiro wasn’t there at all.

And can you imagine how much of an uproar there would have been if the advertised secondary was written out? Like, say he had a battle that was incredibly personal. And he just… doesn’t make it out. Or maybe he does, but is just a little too injured to go on afterward.

You may have noticed the particular attention I’ve paid to Hiiro and his overall lack of polish in the fights in the past ten episodes.

Basically we accidentally a whole-ass AU and now I’m writing the whole damn show over. One of those ‘events parallel to canon except where they’re not’ deals.

It’s not nearly polished enough for publishing yet. But eventually I’ll be able to start releasing what we’ve been referring to as ‘The Hiiro-less AU’ to the public. Eventually.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still doing the liveblogs, this wasn’t just an extended sneak preview.

–––

(Highlights of what I’ve got written thus far include:

“Wow, if Emu’d just had one of his coworkers die, that’d explain a lot about how frozen he was during Dr. Pac-Man, since that takes place between episodes 10 and 11.”

“Oh shit, hey, Hanaya, wanna help me keep an eye on the Ace? I’m getting real worried about him zoning out all the time.”

“Oh shit now there’s only two of us please do not use that gashat this is not how I wanted to be the only rider around here.”

My having ZERO IDEA how to adapt the Gashat Gear Dual, because by the time it comes into play in canon, one of the gashats that it got data from hasn’t been in use for QUITE SOME TIME. However… “That sure looks like Brave… but in purple. And there’s only one gashat there, so that can’t actually be the visor from Doremifa Beat, right?”

Kenzaki being Aorider never really sat well with me, since he is alive, after all, unlike the others… but now there’s another blue rider available, isn’t there?

“Looks like the cartridge for Kamen Rider Chronicle works in these things, after all. I was hoping it would. That’ll make clearing this a whole lot easier.”

“She left the driver behind – after all, she can't use it. It’s meant for humans only. And her bugvisor is fairly distinct. …Best to cover it up, then.”)

[insanescriptist]

Rereading the Fairy Tail manga for research purposes, so having reached a little past chapter 100, here’s impressions:

-Natsu’s not a complete idiot

-He’s just a mostly thoughtless one who doesn’t see destruction as a bad thing or as something to avoid. Hence why he doesn’t try to limit it

-He’s actually bad at intentionally trying to destroy things. Accidentally however...

-Dragon Slayer Magic is technically using an Enchantment to temporarily transform parts of a person’s body to be like a dragon’s. Which makes sense considering an Enchanter made it.

-Considering that magic can change a person’s body in various ways, accidentally making it possible to turn into a dragon should have been expected.

-Actually considering that due to Lacrima, Cobra and Laxus don’t have inner dragons doing the anti-body thing to prevent that specific side-effect, chances are they will turn into dragons eventually if they keep using it.

-Same for Sting and Rogue, since their dragons are dead.

-A lot of Natsu’s attacks are actually magnified by the enchantment; Natsu’s sheer destructive power makes a lot more sense that way. Natsu however has no sense of scale so he does things like 500x times more powerful than he needs to

-Happy is a lot smarter than he appears; he’s just an obnoxious little shit-stirrer

-Lucy stayed with Mira while trying to find an apartment to rent; also it’s Mira that hands out a copy of Lucy’s apartment key to her team.

-So they’re not breaking in. Mostly.

-Gray so killed a person without blinking; he froze a guy’s head solid during the whole ‘Lullaby Incident.’

-It’s Gray’s speed with his magic that makes him dangerous

-Gray has his issues but he’s a lot more prideful than a person would expect; intelligent fighters are great okay?

-Lyon however I have issues with. Lots of. How did you get followers? Especially ones that were part of a mage guild? Did you put out an ad in Socerer’s Weekly? How did you pay for all the supplies you’d need for a group of people for three years? How did you even move Deliora?

-Also Gray’s from the ‘northern continent’ so um... plot-hole space? Unless there’s like a second ‘northern continent’ so the ‘western counties’ remark by Ur makes sense

-need to go look at that book Levy has on one of the splash pages; is a world map

-Actually there’s a lot more death, but it’s mook death so we don’t care. See how the army was ‘defeated’ by Eisenwald or whatever it was called. This is further combined with the mooks that died at the Tower of Heaven; not just in the slave revolt flashback but when the tower is destroyed and they’re crushed, followed by the unstable magic of Etherion doing whatever to the crystals

-Lucy knows she weaker than them physically; she at least makes up for it by having a wider background knowledge of magic. Too bad none of this ever gets followed up on in other ways.

-Lucy is uncomfortable taking jobs without the rest of the team; no wonder you’re a broke bitch. Taking jobs with just Natsu means your income is breadcrumbs.

-Lucy’s also had to have renegotiated her contracts with her keys several times; otherwise she’d have only access to all her spirits on Wednesday as that’s the only ‘day’ Aquarius originally let Lucy call her on.

-When Lucy got Loke? She went and accidentally renegotiated Celestial Spirit Magic contracts in general. Because for Loke’s story to logically work out, a mage could only have one Celestial Spirit out at a time. With Loke jamming Karen out, she couldn’t summon another.

-So Lucy made it possible for summoners to have two out at one time; clearly the time for Spirit Double Battles is near

-Also Karen probably had another magic of some sort. Celestial Spirit Mages by themselves are considered weak because there’s so many conditions built into using the magic; when to use the spirit mostly but also all the agreements between the contractors. Hence Lucy must have renegotiated all her contracts at least once, as Lucy uses her keys more indiscriminately as the series progresses. It’s a versatile magic, but limited to having the item, having the contract, being the day of able to use the spirit’s time/energy etc

-Lucy might want to look into learning some other magic to be more well-rounded; as intelligent as she is, runes would be easy enough. So would re-quip. You’ve lost your keys how many times now?

-Laxus what are you wearing when first introduced? Please tell me that it was laundry day and you were wearing a gag gift from Bixlow, even if Bixlow hasn’t been introduced yet. Because awful. Let Natsu burn it, please.

-Also Laxus, considering the size of the communication lacrima in the guild, how large is the one you’re carrying? Also how do they work because the one Urtear has with her later is like the size of a basketball. Not exactly portable.

-Cana is awesome and has great leadership skills; she lead the defense of the guild against Phantom while Erza was out cold and Mira was being useless

-The Guildhall clearly has several sub-levels. Mavis’ body is well hidden and probably the reason why the basement hasn’t flooded despite being next to the lake. Makarov, I love you but it’s probably Prech/Hades who reinforced the shit out of the sub-layers.

-Loke probably overdid it during the attack by Phantom Lord and probably shaved off a few months of his ability to stay in Earthland while defending the guild. No wonder he was looking so terrible after

-Juvia once dated Bora of Titan’s Nose; you know the guy in the first chapter that Natsu beat up? You’re better off without him.

-Juvia dear, a crush is not love and you’re being somewhat obsessive; that it only gets worse and is eventually reciprocated is less than ideal; maybe it’s those last few chapters of Naruto but I keep seeing Sakura/Sasuke parallels in the ‘chase the man down for a pity fuck, get it, get a child, have ongoing depressive episode’?

-I probably wouldn’t mind this so much if Juvia had more of a personality than ‘love struck, obsessive fan.’ Like what are your ideals, what do you like that’s not about Gray?

-Lucy’s tragic backstory is probably less lonely when you consider she probably could hang out in the local ‘large’ village; she’d be slumming it but she at least would have had friendly acquaintances

-The staff do love her and she them; Lucy just doesn’t have her father’s love

-Jude is a piece of work that deserves to be told off; also, marrying Lucy to nobility for land to expand business so your eventual grandson will inherit?

-Fuck you; Lucy should have slapped a bitch. As it is, refusing to do so probably put a nail in the coffin of your business Jude.

-There’s a difference between ‘army’ and ‘rune knight’ and the latter are solely answerable to the ‘Magic Council.’ Also the ‘Magic Council’ seems to be a continent spanning organization separate from the national government, meant to monitor and organize mage guilds.

-It being corrupt as it is later is not really a surprise as there’s really not a lot to hold them accountable; Jellal and Ultear infiltrated the council and it’s implied that Jellal through work for the Council was named Wizard Saint.

-There’s probably more than just those two who have infiltrated the ‘Magic Council’ organization. Those two are just notable for having reached such a high level, as they both had voting power.

-Erza’s actually a holder-type mage, who can also use caster-type magic

-Specifically re-quip is a caster-type magic but she uses both the inherent and charged abilities of her armor and weapons to further her strength and abilities physically and magically. She’s also got some telekinesis so she can also further use this to ‘wield’ more weapons

-Erza’s oblivious to a lot of social things, which is not surprising as she’s not actually the social type.

-She’s missed so many people having a crush on her: Simon, Lucy, Gray, Bisca... yeah, Erza turns people into useless lesbians. Gray somehow manages to avoid this, possibly through the power of stripping. More probably through friendship and being in a Rivalry with Natsu

-Rivals is a relationship status okay; someone where between committed and it’s complicated

-Erza’s ability to kill a bitch gets nerfed for plot purposes; namely Jellal

-Jellal, you being evil I like. You have personality. You’re an asshole but somehow charming with your teenage boy sense of humor and extra-ness. Your fashion sense however needs work.

-Jellal was clearly in charge of getting supplies and such for his minions/slaves. And yet he can’t import a fashion sense? Clearly skipped movie night too much

-Wally so did make movie nights happen; they can probably quote movies verbatim

-Jellal focused a lot on Natsu. Not for his magic but because he wanted to fight Natsu. No evil plotting here

-Simon, you are so pathetic, this is why you’re a plot point later, so you can actually be useful after death

-Also Erza, ‘Eternal Wizard Saint’? Aren’t you just going a little far in your imaginary funeral. Makarov’s speech was in character but, a little more realism

-Oh and there’s more mook death in the Tower of Heaven arc; I think I mentioned it before? Them getting crushed by a collapsing tower and then vaporized by unstable magic? No wonder Erza and Jellal were spit back out; plenty of people died.

-Erza probably ripped open her second origin/magic container here, trying to absorb and direct the unstable Etherion magical build-up

-The way the story is framed makes you think the dragons are out and in hiding somewhere, instead of being spirits inside their slayers or something

-It’s probably a flashback?

-Oh and Lucy can make fireworks too; clearly gate keys are not just for summoning spirits

[klanced]

how is kevin doing? is he okay? i miss him

I was going to give you some meme-y headcanons but then I realized that Kevin could actually like. Single-handedly fix the plot of Voltron. So time to actually get down and flesh my boy’s backstory out? Lol. So this is less headcanons, and more pre-story plot.

I’ll be retconning some things about Kevin, now that we know more about Keith’s canon family.

(Explanation as to who the fuck Kevin is, as well as his tag)

Kevin is Keith’s older alien half-brother. He’s about… 8-10 years older. He and Keith haven’t seen each other in uh… a while. But they’re still close. Once they get all the yelling out of the way.

Keith and Kevin’s mom (who I will now refer to as ‘Ma Kogane’ because I think it’s funny) is a member of the BoM who volunteered to take a ten year long undercover mission. In reality, she was pregnant with Kevin, and wanted a place to hide.

As a side-note, I headcanon the BoM as kind of relying on legacies to keep going, since members die at an alarmingly fast rate and it takes too long to fully vet someone + train them to adopt the ‘victory or death’ mentality.

So essentially, all BoM are encouraged to have kids, and those kids are pretty much immediately inducted into the ranks of the Blades the moment they’re born.

Ma Kogane is one of those legacy kids, and while she’s proud of her work as an agent of Marmora, she doesn’t want that life for her kid(s). So when she finds out she’s pregnant with Kevin, she decides to run without actually running away. Kolivan, who is either in charge already or at least second-in-command, knows what she’s doing but lets her hide because they’re bros (Listen… Kolivan as Keith’s blood-uncle or as his family friend-uncle or as his godfather is. So funny.)

It helps that they both know she’ll be coming back after those ten years are up. Once a Blade, always a Blade. Loyalty or death.

Ma Kogane is either half-Galra, half-(insert Alien race that can shapeshift), or she has some sort of cloaking device that allows her to look human. She shows up on Earth in her first trimester pretty much miserable, wracked with guilt because she’s essentially betraying her family/cult by hiding her child away, and she’s also betraying her child because she knows she’ll have to abandon them one day. She’s also entirely alone, and has no idea how to actually be a mother since her own parents died when she was fairly young herself (The BoM have a high turnover rate for agents lol)

AS AN ASIDE I love the idea of Ma Kogane essentially space-googling ‘average human on earth’ and then disguising herself as a 28yo Han Chinese woman. That’s really funny to me hgsjkdghsd.

ANYWAY Ma Kogane lands in America because of Course, and finds a Certain Shack In The Desert.

Since her mission is to ostensibly monitor and report the technological capacities of the human race, etc, it makes sense for her to be in reasonably close proximity to the Garrison. U feel. She doesn’t like it though, she’s found what the humans call ‘Netflix’ and has watched their borderline-hilarious-if-it-wasn’t-abusive-and-cruel movies about aliens, and she hates the idea of putting her child potentially at risk. But the Blades aren’t supposed to know she’s fighting for two, and so she goes. 

Ma Kogane occasionally heads into a nearby town to procure supplies + gossip (she calls it information but. it’s gossip lol) from the local folks… One of whom happens to be TEXAS KOGANE (Keith and Kevin’s dad :>)

Texas Kogane is a mechanic or smth, and Ma Kogane is honestly impressed by his ability to repair engines… Especially engines that are alien in origin.

Ma Kogane 100% flirts by having Texas Kogane fix her hoverbike’s engine. One, it’s practical. Two, Texas Kogane is proving his worth/value as a potential lover by demonstrating his technical skills. Three, she gets to impress him with a sick-ass hovercycle. Four, he gets to impress her.

Yeah he’s 100% aware of what she’s doing and he’s into it.

Also, yes, that means the hoverbike we saw Keith riding in the first episode belonged to his mom, and his parents worked on it together :’)

Anyway, insert a Lifetime movie here, everyone in this tiny ass town becomes overly invested in the bumbling romance brewing between these two. God, it’s like Luke and Lorelai from Gilmore Girls. Keith’s parents are Luke and Lorelai from Gilmore Girls. I love this au.

Speed forward a few months later, Kevin’s due date is approaching and Ma Kogane obviously can’t go to a hospital for the birth. So she’s gonna pop a squat in her shack, but she’ll need help since she isn’t 100% equipped to deliver a baby by herself. And she trusts Texas Kogane well-enough (she death drops to avoid the ‘l’ word), he’s even bought her baby clothes (bless his heart; Kevin will shred through those clothes in a month), so she drops the alien bomb.

After Texas Kogane recovers from his Holy Fucking Shit moment, he’s surprisingly cool with things and is there when Kevin is born. Ma Kogane gives him the honor of naming her son, and he panics and blurts out ‘Kevin’, which unfortunately sticks.

Texas Kogane eventually convinces Ma Kogane that maybe a shack in the middle of the desert isn’t the greatest place to raise a baby, so they put a cloaking device on Kevin to make him look like a normal human baby and go into town to raise him together.

They insist they’re just friends. Everyone looks at them, looks at baby Kevin who is sitting in a stroller Ma Kogane bought in clothes Texas Kogane’s mom made, and raises an eyebrow.

Kevin’s first word is ‘dada’ and Texas Kogane drops dead. (Just kidding! That happens later.)

It takes them like four or five years to ‘officially’ start dating. They’re Keith’s parents. Of Course it takes them that long to pull their heads out of their asses.

Ma Kogane told Texas Kogane all about the Blades and how she has to go back in a few years in order to protect them all from Zarkon a few days after Kevin was born. Texas Kogane wasn’t happy about it, but he eventually accepted her decision and continued to love and support her whenever she started getting torn up about it. They don’t tell Kevin about any of it, though. And they don’t tell Keith either (though that’s mainly because neither of them ever gets the chance).

Ma Kogane’s time limit on Earth is a big factor in why it took them forever to actually get together. No one wants to know there’s an end date on your life together.

Both end up regretting the time they lost in the end.

Keith is 100% an accident. To be fair, they had no idea Galra and humans were genetically compatible so. Oops?

He comes out looking entirely human and his parents breathe a sigh of relief. Kevin wants to know why his baby brother looks so ugly. 

They get to be a happy family for about a year or two before Ma Kogane has to go back to the Blades. She knows if she doesn’t report in at her specified time she’ll be hunted, and now she has two children to hide from the Blades. She can’t risk running. So she goes.

Kevin complains that he’s too old to cuddle with his parents - he’s ten, that’s practically an adult!! - but Ma Kogane insists and they all climb into bed together. She spends the entire night awake with her husband (though they never actually got around to marrying) watching over their two sleeping kids. She’s gone by morning.

Keith is too young to really understand everything, but Kevin isn’t and he’s furious. 

By the time Kevin shows up in the show he’s in his twenties and a little bit more even-tempered, but right now he’s ten and his mom is gone (he refuses to say the ‘a’ word) and his dad won’t stop lying and Keith won’t stop crying and no one is doing anything.

At his lowest moment, Kevin blames Keith for their mom leaving. They don’t talk about it. Kevin doesn’t want to know if Keith knows.

His relationship with Texas Kogane is… pretty strained after that. Kevin runs away when he’s fifteen, determined to find his mom. He’ll find her, drag her back home, and they can be a happy family again, just like he remembers.

Texas Kogane dies when he’s seventeen. Kevin isn’t there. Keith is.

[saltwukong]

Jaune and why he’s a disaster from the beginning--Volume 1

Jaune is an audience surrogate. He is intended to be the audience’s focal point for learning about new things in the RWBY universe, since he is obviously inexperienced and needs to be taught things.

Which means that right out of the bag, we’re tripping up. The setting for the first three seasons is Beacon, a very prestigious school that takes graduates from the more populated training schools (like Signal) and turns them into fully-fledged Huntsman. Jaune being inexperienced is an understatement. It would be one thing if Jaune were at a training school, where no matter how crappy he is, he can still have reasonably gotten in and still need more help than most. No, Jaune is in fact four years behind, on top of being mediocre at best. 

This, naturally, creates a problem down the line with faking his transcripts--I’ll get the actual crime and punishment aspect later, but for now I’ll hang on Aura.

This is the first real part where Jaune gets to fill out his “learning with the audience role”. If I were in charge here, I wouldn’t have had Jaune needing to be taught the basics of Aura, a skill that is flat-out essential in order to not be mince-meat and makes up the largest chunk of difference after skill level.

What I’d have done is have Jaune’s Aura--which is said to be unusually plentiful--and have it be his saving grace. Yeah, he might absolutely suck as a fighter and have a record of C’s, D’s and F’s on his Signal transcript--but he could still sway his entrance examiners by truthfully saying “I once got smashed by a Beringel through two buildings and got back up.” Since Jaune would be battling Grimm for a living, his Aura would conceivably be the tool that allows him to turn fights into battles of attrition until he wins by lasting longer.

That also provides a fine explanation for why the audience can hear about it. Remember when they get launched into the forest? Don’t have super-spear-Pyrrha save him. Let Jaune “Biggest Tank You Ever Saw” plow straight into the fucking ground and survive. Pyrrha finds him, walks up and comments that he’s hurt and asks why he’d blow such a huge chunk of his aura by neglecting a landing strategy before he even fought anything. 

Boom. The audience has just been presented with a new, important term and now gets to hear the characters chat about it without it being too noticeably expository.

Jaune: “Aura”?

Pyrrha: ...Your projection of your soul force? Your barrier against damage?

Jaune: Oh, is that what you guys call it? I’m from an old-fashioned family, we call it “spirit shield”. Aura does seem like a cooler name, though. [a cut on Jaune’s cheek heals].

Pyrrha, who Jaune now knows is a Big Fucking Deal: I have to say I’m impressed. Not many fighters would be so gung-ho. You must be pretty good!

Jaune, sweating: U-Uhh, right. But uh, like you said, I kind of blew a lot of it, so--why don’t you take point while I recharge?

Pyrrha, walking off: Sure.

Pyrrha, over her shoulder: If I might make a recommendation though, try channeling your aura through your shield for a future landing strategy. That’s what I did, and yours looks pretty tough.

There we go. The audience has just learned about aura--that it’s a projection of the soul, that it has a limited supply, that it can heal wounds, that it can be channeled through weapons and tools, and that while Jaune might have some capability, he’s misusing his and may not be as skilled as should be expected. In a conversation that takes 30 seconds.

That aside, while people do routinely fall back on “Jaune isn’t a main character, he shouldn’t be treated like one”, they do have something of a point. In most cases, the audience surrogate is also the central character, so time spent on them isn’t detrimental. But this is where Jaune starts to lose points as an audience surrogate as well, because the Jaunedice arc is where he starts making decisions we ourselves wouldn’t.

Barring the rather drab and annoying nature of an “overcoming the school bully” arc in a show we were led to believe was kind of serious, Jaune here stops learning about things while losing our patience with his decisions. We see right off the bat with his duels with Cardin that while Jaune might be able to do okay against Grimm, which do little to no thinking and which he can tank, that strategy works poorly on human huntsmen and gets him easily defeated. Yet, when the matter comes up between him and Pyrrha, not only do we learn he has no fucking combat experience or training whatsoever, but he somehow faked transcripts to get into the super-prestigious school, which requires an entrance exam to provide displays of actual combat.

Most of us in the RWBY fandom can be safely said to be at least teenagers in high school if not older, and most of us, having the matter of being accepted into collages drilled into our head and being good enough to get into them made into our biggest priority, would not have appreciated this. Jaune has admitted to seriously illicit activity and potentially could have legal trouble coming his way if this ever got out. At worst, he’d be unceremoniously killed when his lack of ability caught up to him, or he’d get a team member killed because they were unable to rely on him to make up a decent 1/4th of their team. At best, he’d be found out and shamed into leaving in total disgrace and barred from ever being trained at any official academy again. It flies in the face of not only our expectations as the audience, but the things we already know from those around her--we are supposed to admire Ruby for getting in two years ahead legitimately on her prodigious skill with a scythe and being considered on par with those who have more experience, so the revelation that Jaune cheated his way in seems almost tailor-made to make us lose respect for him.

What does Pyrrha do when faced with this dilemma? Why, she offers to train him! It’s a sweet deal very graciously given--Jaune’s future isn’t looking good right now and if he doesn’t get help, he’ll go down the drain fast. He’d ordinarily be a hopeless case, but his teacher would be Pyrrha Nikos, renowned huntress-in-training who’s won multiple tournaments and makes fighting look like art. It’s a great opportunity.

What does Jaune do when presented this offer?

He essentially snaps at her to fuck off. See, he needs to do this himself.

Another audience sympathy point lost on our audience surrogate. He makes pretty much the opposite of the right decision and the dumbest one possible. He has been caught red-handed with being a loser who has zero chance of keeping up, yet insists on doing so anyway even when granted the chance for help. For no reason. 

Jaune stops being the audience surrogate entirely throughout the Forever Fall Forest segment, where the only new thing we learn (Semblances, also a pretty big deal), is delivered by Pyrrha without him hearing it. Sure, he gets his victory over the Ursa Major, but saving Cardin just made Cardin look incompetent, something he shouldn’t be if he can defeat Jaune so easily. Moreover, how this ensures his secret about the transcripts stays silent is a mystery. Jaune is still shaming the huntsmen-in-training around him and it was technically Pyrrha that saved Cardin (by saving Jaune).

Jaune has so far not only failed to be punished for cheating his way in, Cardin is now keeping that secret and Pyrrha accepts him coming back and asking for teaching. Thus begins the start of Jaune being rewarded for terrible behavior.

[foxesandferrets]

Daisuga Week Day 7

Prompt: Forest

Summary: Daichi needs footage to finish his film final, so he drags Suga and their friends with him into the woods to search for the Blair Witch. What’s the worst that can happen?

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

Witch Hunt

“Did you pack extra batteries for the flashlights?”

“Two whole packs.”

“Lighters and matches?”

“Enough to burn the whole place down.”

“Not funny. What about extra socks and shoes.”

“Do you expect to be able to walk with these giant backpacks? Or are we just packing and not actually going to hike anywhere because we’re trapped under the weight of our own preparedness?”

“Will you put that camera away already?”

Suga pouts as he shuts the little window of the camera and shoves it back into his bag. “I thought you said it was important to document the experience,” he says, putting air quotes around Daichi’s words.

“This isn’t the experience,” he replies, shaking his head. “This is just the drive to the experience.”

“That totally qualifies as part of the experience,” Suga argues, fishing for the camera again. “Ever heard of rising action?”

“Ever heard of limited battery supply and no electricity in the woods to charge our cameras?”

“I told you I got two packs!” Suga says, pretending to be upset and failing miserably. He’s just as excited as Daichi is.

“The others are going to blow through those in one night recording stupid stunts and telling ghost stories with the flashlights. Just watch,” Daichi tells Suga, who pouts again. He mocks Daichi’s words under his breath as he rearranges his pack, and Daichi pretends not to notice.

Speaking of the others, a car appears beside him, speeding up to pass them on the empty road. Kuroo leans against the back window and salutes them cooly, Bokuto practically crawling on top of him to press his nose flat against the glass, white fog spreading from his nostrils. In the passenger seat Oikawa turns to face the window, pulling the collar of his shirt down as if flashing his nonexistent boobs and sticking out his tongue before a hand reaches out to grab his shoulder and pull him back down. Daichi does not envy Iwaizumi; he definitely got the short end of the stick on their driving arrangements.

Daichi turns to Suga, watching his stare quietly out of the passenger window, a bored expression on his face.

“You know, there’s still time to turn back. I know you don’t like camping or any of this urban legend stuff,” Daichi says, feeling bad for dragging him out here with him.

“Where you go, I go,” Suga says, turning away from the window to smile at him. “Besides, it’s only three days. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Daichi tries to ignore the ominous feeling Suga’s words carry and smiles back, thankful for his company.

Both cars pull off of the road after a few more minutes, going slowly over the uneven ground and bouncing around in their seats. They stop near an old fence, one Daichi had seen before but never ventured past, the posts barely being held up by rusted strings of barbed wire. Everyone spills out of the cars, and Iwaizumi makes his way over to Daichi.

“Next time you can take the peanut gallery,” he says, voice gruff and tired.

“No way,” Bokuto calls from behind Iwaizumi’s car, hoisting his backpack on his shoulders. “I don’t wanna ride with the love birds.”

“But you rode with Oikawa and Iwaizumi,” Suga says, appearing at Daichi’s side and reaching for his hand.

“Yeah, but they aren’t dating,” Bokuto replies, confused.

“Yet,” Kuroo adds.

“Oi! Shut it!” Iwaizumi calls, chucking a bottle of water at Bokuto while Oikawa winks.

“Why are all of our friends so gay,” Bokuto asks, walking over to pick up the water bottle with a huff.

“You’re gay as hell too, Bo,” Kuroo chuckles. “Don’t think I haven’t seen you eyeing that barista on campus.”

“Wha,” Bokuto sputters, puffing out his cheeks. “So are you! What about that guy at gamestop?”

“I am not,” Kuroo gasps, jaw dropping in offense. “I am ostentatiously bisexual, thank you very much.”

“Is everybody done? Let’s go,” Daichi calls, already feeling exhausted. He’d have taken the trip with only Suga if he wasn’t so nervous about it, not that he’d ever let anyone see that. Part of him knows that they won’t find anything, but a smaller, much less rational part of him, believes the stories could be true.

“What are we out here for again?” Kuroo asks after about ten minutes of hiking and an entire argument about dark haired boys versus blonds with Bokuto.

“Mothman.”

“UFO sightings.”

Oikawa and Iwaizumi answer at the same time, shooting each other equally unimpressed looks at the other’s choice of cryptid.

“We’re looking for the Blair Witch,” Suga answers, squeezing Daichi’s hand as he turns to look over his shoulder. “It’s for Daichi’s filmmaking final, so we should all try to take it a little more seriously, okay?”

“Is that why you made us watch that creepy documentary?” Oikawa asks. “The one with those hicks talking about that guy who murdered kids and all those other people who went missing trying to look for his house in the woods or whatever?”

“That wasn’t a documentary,” Daichi sighs, rubbing at his temple with his free hand. “That was the footage I’ve already gotten. I’ve been doing research and interviews for months now.”

“So there really was some kid murderer out here?” Iwaizumi asks, face betraying no emotion on the matter.

“From what I’ve gathered, yeah. The murderer was real, but legend says the witch made him do it, so that’s what we’re investigating,” Daichi explains, feeling silly as the words leave his mouth. He hadn’t really thought of all of this sensibly since choosing a subject for his project, but now that he’s standing in the woods with his boyfriend and best friends, claiming that they’re going on a witch hunt, he suddenly feels like deflating. He wouldn’t be surprised if they all turned and went home right now.

They all stand and stare at him for a few moments, the silence heavy and time slowing to a crawl. Daichi can practically feel himself sinking into the dirt, Suga’s hand in his the only thing anchoring him to solid ground.

“Wicked,” Kuroo smiles, tucking his thumb under the straps of his backpack and rolling on the balls of his feet. “Let’s go catch a witch.”

Everyone else nods and follows him as he starts walking again, Daichi’s surprise rooting him to the spot. Suga stays beside him, turning to smile up at him with that ‘everything's going to be fine’ smile he’s so good at.

“I told you they’d be supportive,” he says, rubbing small circles on Daichi’s hand with his thumb. “They’re a bunch of goofballs but they know this is important to you.”

“Thanks,” Daichi whispers, voice carrying in the emptiness of the trees around them. Suga kisses him quickly on the cheek in response. “Let’s hurry and catch up before they get lost. I doubt they brought the maps I gave them.”

“Good idea. Lead the way, director.”

They catch up quickly, the group practically impossible to lose with how much noise they’re making, and Daichi pulls his camera from his bag. There’s not much to see, just trees and a wall of green occasionally broken up by a stream or fallen log, so he tries to narrate a few shots.

“The last known people to have entered these woods disappeared almost fifteen years ago, their camera footage found not far from where their cars were parked. The same place we have parked today. It’s a mystery as to how their cameras ended up in this area, since their footage showed their last known location to be the abandoned house of the murderer”

“Is that your narrator voice?” Oikawa asks, popping into the view of Daichi’s camera. He sighs and lowers it, hoping he can edit Oikawa out later without ruining what he was saying. “You’ve got to put more flare in it. Make it spooky.”

“This isn’t a scary movie, it’s a documentary,” Daichi tells him, rolling his eyes.

“Try something like this,” Oikawa continues, paying no attention to what Daichi says. He clears his throat, lowering his voice to a smooth rumble. “This area is where the Blair Witch was known...to eat children. Nothing could satisfy her insatiable blood lust.”

“You sound like one of those call services for phone sex.”

“Thanks,” Oikawa smirks, “that’s what I was going for. You need to dress this movie up. Make it sexy.”

“Witches aren’t sexy,” Daichi shakes his head, turning to catch back up with the others.

“Not yet. You have an untapped market here,” Oikawa continues, jogging back to Daichi’s side.

“Give it a rest, dude. We’re not starting a witch fetish movement.”

“I’m just saying it would be a waste not to-,”

“Hey! Daichi! Come check this out!” Suga calls him from somewhere ahead on the trail, and Daichi speeds up before Oikawa can keep talking to him about...whatever it was he was implying.

Suga stands a ways away from the others, who continue walking, smiling when Daichi returns to his side. “Thought you might have needed bailed outta that once,” he winks, pretending to point out a patch of flowers to the side of the trail.

“I owe you one. You don’t even want to know what he was going on about,” Daichi says, hugging Suga to his side and pressing a kiss to his temple.

“I usually don’t,” he laughs.

The group continues on much the same for a few hours, stopping shortly for water and trail mix before setting off again to find a place to camp. As they pitch their tents Daichi can’t help but feel disappointed not to have seen anything interesting so far. He knows that’ll probably be the case for the entire three day journey, but he was looking forward to finding at least a few oddities he could try and sell as ambiguous evidence. Despite that, though, he was enjoying himself.

They eat a dinner of hotdogs in smashed buns, the ends scorched from the open fire and tasting of char but still good. This is what Daichi had meant by the experience, even if he had sold it as a journey of spooks and mysteries. It’s still technically a witch hunt, yes, but mostly it’s an opportunity for him to spend some time with Suga and the others before they all graduate. That is, if his film project is good enough to pass.

When the sun disappears completely, leaving nothing but inky darkness creeping on the edges of their campsite like an opaque fog only restrained by the light of the fire, Bokuto and Kuroo start telling ghost stories by flashlight just as Daichi had predicted. He and Suga sit and listen for a while, Suga sitting between Daichi’s knees and leaning his head back against his chest, before retiring to their tent for the night. The others shout after them, silly things about staying quiet and keeping their hands to themselves, but mostly they let them be.

They don’t talk much, both exhausted from their day of hiking and feeling the activity finally settle into their bones, snuggled close inside one sleeping bag despite bringing two. Just before falling asleep Suga turns his head, mouth close to Daichi’s ear, and whispers, “Don’t get discouraged. Two days is a long time for spooky stuff to happen.”

“Hmm,” Daichi replies, focusing instead on Suga’s arm across his chest and their legs tangled together. “As long as it waits until morning. I’m comfortable.”

Suga kisses Daichi’s neck before nuzzling back against his chest, and before he knows it he’s asleep.

***

Turns out, the spooky stuff does wait until morning.

Daichi wakes when the sky is mostly, the sunlight weak as it hits the walls of the tent. He has to carefully extract himself from Suga’s grip to slide out of the sleeping bag, immediately feeling cold and wondering how Suga slept through so much movement. He unzips the opening of the tent and steps out, his stomach immediately dropping.

Hanging from the trees, in a radius around their camp, are dozens of little people fashioned out of sticks and straw. Daichi can’t breathe; he remembers learning about something like this from his research. The people who went missing had found something like this too, stick dolls and little piles of—

His foot hits something hard, and he looks down to find a small pile of rocks tumbling over, several similar piles sitting in front of the other two tents. This is too much to handle.

“Suga!” He calls, unwilling to take his eyes off of the dolls to crawl back in the tent and wake him. “Babe, get out here!”

He hears rustling behind him, and a few moments later Suga pokes his head out of the tent, silver hair sticking up on one side and sleeping bag wrapped around his shoulders. “Why are you yelling? It’s too early for noise.”

“Look,” is all he manages to choke out, gesturing to the dolls and rocks.

“Hey, that looks pretty good,” he yawns, scratching his head. “Make sure you get some good footage before the others wake up.”

“No, Suga, I didn’t do this,” Daichi insists, trying to convey his fear to Suga who still isn’t quite paying attention. “I just woke up and...and this was out here.”

Suga blinks slowly, words starting to register in his sleepy brain, his eyebrows pulling together. “Woah, babe, are you serious?”

“I’m dead serious. I don’t understand it.”

“Why is everyone being so loud? I’ll have you know I’m a real pain when I don’t have my beauty sleep,” Oikawa says, unzipping his tent to their side and poking his head out.

“You’re a pain anyway,” Iwaizumi’s voice comes from inside the tent.

“Mean,” Oikawa pouts, crawling out and knocking over one of the rock piles. “What’s this doing here….oh.” He looks up, eyes widening at the dolls hanging around him, some just above his head and some eye level.

“Don’t knock over the rocks,” Daichi says, stretching a hand out as Oikawa steps into another pile.

“What is this? Did you do this?” He asks Daichi, shooting him an accusatory look as Iwaizumi stumbles out of the tent wearing just a pair of green plaid pajama pants.

“Why are you wearing Iwaizumi’s shirt?” Suga asks from behind Daichi’s shoulder, raising his eyebrows at the matching green plaid shirt over Oikawa’s track pants.

“Stay on subject,” Iwaizumi growls, shooting a glower at Oikawa who shrugs. “Daichi what is this?”

“I honestly don’t know. There have been sightings like this before but I didn’t actually believe them. I mean, maybe a little but not really. That’s crazy, right? This is crazy.”

“Babe,” Suga says behind him, reaching out to put a hand on his arm. “You’re rambling. Let’s just calm down for a second.”

“Yo, is it breakfast time?” Bokuto fumbles with the zipper on the last tent, finally pulling it open to let him and Kuroo tumble out.

“The rocks!” Daichi calls, but it’s too late, the last of the piles toppling over. “Dammit, you guys!”

“What’s the deal? They’re just rocks. We’re surrounded by them,” Kuroo says, lifting up one of the stones and testing its weight in his palm before looking up. “Woah, nice dolls, dude.”

“They’re not just rocks,” Daichi says, rubbing at his face as Suga tightens his grip on his arm. “They’re cairns.”

“They’re what now?” Bokuto eyes the rocks as if they’re going to come alive.

“Piles of stones used to mark burial grounds. I’ve seen this before. It’s not good.”

“I’m sure it’s okay,” Suga says softly, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around Daichi’s, looking him in the eyes. “It’s probably just someone playing a trick on us.”

“In the middle of nowhere?”

“Didn’t all the locals know we were coming?” Iwaizumi asks, holding his arms close to himself as if he’s afraid to touch anything but doesn’t want to show it. “They probably haze all the witch hunting tourists like this.”

“It took me a week to find the fence we parked at because I couldn’t get any of the locals to come close enough to show me,” Daichi shakes his head, dismissing their speculations. “Plus they’re all like, a million years old. There’s no one else out here.”

“Well our only other option is to believe a witch did this,” Oikawa rolls his eyes, stepping toward a doll hanging in front of his face. “And frankly, I don’t buy it.”

“Don’t-!”

He’s too late, Oikawa reaches out and tugs on one of the dolls. Just as the twine snaps there’s a crash between the trees to their side like the sound of wood splintering, a flock of crows taking flight and breaking through the canopy of trees.

“Alright, I’m out of here,” Iwaizumi says. “Fuck this, fuck the witch, fuck your film final. I’m out.”

Daichi can feel his heartbeat in his throat, and Suga’s matches his pace against his side. Oikawa looks dumbstruck, dropping the doll like it burned him, and Kuroo and Bokuto are already pulling on their boots and backpacks.

“H-hold on guys,” Suga stutters, clutching one hand to his chest. “Let’s be rational.”

“There’s nothing rational about magic dolls and...whatever Daichi called those rock things!” Iwaizumi yells, throwing on a shirt and not bothering to put on jeans.

“Cairns,” Daichi whispers, unable to think straight. Nothing makes sense, and he can’t force his brain to process any of it.

“Whatever! It’s not important. We’re leaving now.”

“At least let us go together,” Suga says, the voice of reason among the chaos. “The last thing we need is to get separated.”

“Yeah, just hurry up.”

Suga tugs on Daichi’s arm to get him moving again, and everyone starts to throw on clothes and take down their tents, the work taking a fraction of the time setting up camp did.

As he pulls his boots on and stands to grab his pack Suga hands Daichi his camera with a worried smile. “You should get this.”

“Oh, yeah,” Daichi mutters, taking the camera in his shaky hands and turning it on. He almost forgot about the project all together. He catches a few good shots as they all hurry away from the camp, moving quickly back the way they came.

The hike this time is noticeably free of playful banter, tensions high and nerves shot. It isn’t until they come across a section of river they haven’t seen that someone speaks up.

“Daichi, are we going the right way?” Kuroo asks, looking up with a concerned expression, exhaustion showing in his eyes.

“We were following the trail back in the direction we came from,” Daichi answers, looking around confused. We should be about halfway back to the cars.”

“Why don’t we check the map,” Suga suggests, voice even.

“Yeah, sorry I forgot to get it out. I wasn’t thinking.” Daichi opens his pack, rifling through a few things before his heart starts to hammer. “Shit, did someone take my map?”

“Why would we take the map?” Oikawa sneers. “No one knows how to read it but you anyway.”

“I mean did you grab it by accident or something? Or did anyone else pack the copies I gave them?” Daichi’s voice is frantic as he searches the same spots over and over.

Everyone slips their backpacks to the ground, checking through their supplies and coming up empty handed.

“Great, now we’re lost,” he mumbles, running both hands through his hair and tugging at the ends. He turns and kicks a stone into the water. “Dammit!”

“Calm down, it’s alright,” Suga says, grabbing his hands and talking in his soothing voice. “Let’s just sit and have breakfast and come up with a plan from there, okay? Are you guys starving? I’m starving.”

They all nod with varying degrees of fear and anger, or somewhere in between. After a breakfast of dried fruits and granola bars they all decide to head back the way they came, hoping to follow the trail back to camp and the trail that should lead them out.

It isn’t until a few hours pass with no sign of their camp that they realize they’re going in circles, coming back upon the bank of the river where they ate breakfast. They try again, and again they end up at the river.

“This is bullshit,” Iwaizumi spits, pacing and tugging at his hair.

“I...I don’t know what’s happening,” Daichi whispers, dropping to the ground and sticking his head between his knees. He’s so tired, so stressed, and he has no idea how he’s going to get everyone out of this situation he dragged them into.

“Let’s just...rest for a while,” Suga says, kneeling beside Daichi and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. “We’ll camp here and get a fresh start in the morning. If we can’t find our way tomorrow someone will come looking for us. People know we’re out here, and they know when we said we’d be back. We have enough supplies to last until then.”

“I don’t want to wait for someone to come find us,” Oikawa huffs, voice high pitched and tired. “I want to go home.”

“We all do,” Suga replies, and Daichi wonders what he would do without him.

“Wait, what’s that,” Iwaizumi asks, and Daichi follows his finger pointing towards Kuroo’s backpack.

“What’s what?” Kuroo asks, nervously, trying to sidestep in front of the bag. He’s not fast enough, Iwaizumi grabbing it in a flash and pulling it open.

“This!” He pulls out a bundle of twine and scissors, holding it out in his palm like an explosive. “There was a piece sticking out of the zipper. Do you think this is funny?”

“Dude, hold on, I think you’ve got the wrong idea,” Kuroo says, holding his hands up and backing away. “Daichi, come one, man, tell him to calm down.”

“What’s the twine for?” Daichi asks, shrugging off Suga’s arms and standing.

“Guys, don’t do this. Babe,” Suga calls, hopping up and following Daichi as he walks towards Kuroo.

“What was it for?” Daichi repeats, seeing red in the corner of his vision.

“I brought it because...it just looked like camping supply stuff, I don’t know man. C’mon, you’ve gotta believe me,” he pleads.

“Bo has some too,” Oikawa says, cutting into the confrontation. They all turn to see him holding Bokuto’s backpack, an identical ball of twine in his hands.

“Hey!” Bokuto calls, suddenly nervous. “Why are you searching my stuff?”

“Because you idiots do everything together. Even this, apparently.” Oikawa throws the bag to the ground, venom in his voice.

“I’m sure there’s an explanation,” Suga says, still struggling to keep the peace, but the peace is long gone.

“Get out, both of you,” Daichi hisses.

“What? Dude, you can’t be serious,” Kuroo pleads, one foot landing in the water as he continues to back up.

“Go where? We’re lost,” Bokuto adds, eyes darting between Kuroo and Daichi, terrified.

“We’re lost because of your stupid fucking prank,” Iwaizumi spits, eyes burning like embers.

“Everyone calm down, let’s talk this through,” Suga continues, tears welling on his lashes.

“Leave!” Daichi yells, voice echoing through the clearing, and everyone freezes. “Now!”

“Just...just c’mon, dude,” Bokuto mutters, voice weak as he beckons to Kuroo. “Let’s go.”

Kuroo and Bokuto scramble to grab their bags, setting back on the path that led them in circles without another word. Daichi doesn’t breathe again until their shapes disappear between the trees, finally deflating.

“We shouldn’t be splitting up. It’s dangerous,” Suga says, voice level. “We could’ve talked about it.”

“Not now,” is all Daichi says, refusing to look Suga in the eyes so he can’t see the hurt sitting there.

He ignores him and starts pulling the crumpled tent pieces out of the bag he shoved them into that morning, busying himself with setting up camp and letting the tension and anger fade from his system. Iwaizumi and Oikawa do the same, the camp almost eerily quiet, the only sound being the clink of poles and fingers swiping over vinyl tent walls.

They eat dinner in silence as well, the air thick as they swallow down their cans of baked beans with the sun setting slowly and casting them in darkness. The campfire doesn’t seem to hold it back as well as the night before, their circle of light seeming smaller and less protective.

Suga sleeps in his own sleeping bag that night, pushed up against the side of the tent as if trying to stay as far away from Daichi as he can. It’s cold without him, and Daichi had grown so used to Suga’s head on his chest while he slept, but he knows he deserves it.

Despite the exhaustion in his bones and tired fog in his brain, Daichi can’t sleep, his mind running wild with thoughts of witches and murderers and friends wandering the wilderness alone. He had almost believed the dolls and cairns were real, but he should’ve know they were a trick. The worst part was that despite being afraid he had been sort of excited. He hadn’t expected anything to come of his project but then there it was, real concrete evidence, set perfectly for him to document. Too perfectly, and definitely unbelievable. Using the word unreal would be too literal.

Daichi isn’t sure when he dozes off, but he wakes with a start in a cold sweat after what feels like seconds. He’d dreamt of the house, the one the other people had allegedly went missing in, where the supposed murderer had lived. He remembers the stories the locals had told, about how the murderer would make his victims stand with their noses in the corner as he picked them off one by one. In his dream he had walked into the house alone, wandering until he made it to the basement, finding Suga with his back to him, face in the corner. Daichi had woken just as his dream self had reached out to touch Suga’s shoulder.

He bolts upright, panting. Suga doesn’t move from his spot in the corner, still fast asleep, but suddenly the air in the tent is too thick to enter his lungs, and Daichi scrambles out of the tent.

The campfire has died down to weak embers, only visible in the lack of moonlight. Daichi digs a flashlight out of the one the packs, fumbling in the dark until the light flashes on, making him squint. There’s no dolls or cairns this time, and he lets out a breath of relief, heart still hammering from his dream. Everything seems to be just as they left it, but something catches his eye.

The door of Oikawa and Iwaizumi’s tent is open, and Daichi feels his heart leap into his throat. He inches towards it, peeking his head in and only finding one sleeping lump, the other sleeping bag completely empty.

“Oikawa,” He blurts out, stepping into the tent and shaking his friend awake. “Dude, wake up, where’s Iwaizumi?”

“Hmm,” Oikawa mumble, rolling over and shoving his face deeper into the sleeping bag. “He’s...out.”

“Out where?” Daichi asks, shaking him again.

Oikawa huffs, throwing off his covers and sitting up, rubbing at his eyes. “I don’t know...he said he had to pee or something.”

“How long ago?”

“When I looked at my watch it was like 1am,” Oikawa yawns, not seeming to be as worried as Daichi. “He should be back any minute. What time is it?”

Daichi hold the flashlight to the watch on his wrist, his entire body going cold. Oikawa must see the color drain from his face in the limited light, his expression finally turning serious.

“What? What time is it?” He grabs Daichi’s arm and pulls it towards him, hand stiffening around his wrist. “That can’t be right. It’s dark out. Your watch is broken.”

Daichi look at it again, the arms still pointing at 8am. He shakes his head, trying to come up with a plausible explanation.

Oikawa starts rummaging through his bag and pull out his cell phone to power it back on. “C’mon, c’mon,” he mutters, waiting for the screen to come back on. “Holy shit. Oh god.”

From his spot in the doorway Daichi can see the numbers on Oikawa’s screen, 8:43am sitting across the face of him and Iwaizumi at Kuroo’s frat party the weekend before. Suga crawls into the tent beside Daichi, scaring him with the sudden movement.

“Is everything okay? I heard shouting.”

“Hajime’s gone. And the sun was supposed to rise three hours ago,” Oikawa says, standing suddenly and grabbing for his boots.

“What?” Suga asks, drawing his brows together in confusion. “What do you mean? Hey! Where are you going?”

Oikawa squeezes out of the tent beside them, setting off straight for the trees. Daichi and Suga scramble behind him, standing as he steps into the trees.

“Oikawa!” Daichi calls, but he doesn’t stop.

“I’m going to find him. Wait here,” He calls behind him, disappearing quickly in the darkness.

“We can’t let him go alone,” Suga says, turning to Daichi with worry apparent in his eyes. “We have to help.”

“Suga, the sun didn’t rise, there’s something seriously wrong here,” Daichi tells him, grabbing his arm as if it will keep him safe.

“All the more reason to go after them.” Suga kisses Daichi quickly and wriggles out of his group, grabbing his boots and shoving them on. “You don’t have to come, but I’m going.”

“Of course I’m coming with you,” Daichi mutters, putting on his boots and hurrying after Suga, reaching out to take his hand.

They walk for about thirty seconds before something crashes up ahead, the sound identical to the splintering sound from the previous morning when Oikawa broke the doll.

“Tooru!” Iwaizumi’s voice booms to their side, followed by heavy rustling through the brush.

“This way! C’mon!” Suga says, grabbing Daichi’s hand and pulling him in the direction of the noise. Daichi can’t focus on anything but the ground beneath his feet and Suga’s hand in his, the noises pressing in on them like hands closing around them like a bubble.

“Iwaizumi!” Suga calls, the sound echoing back like it hit a wall. “Oikawa! Where’d you go?”

“Over here!” Another voice calls from right in front of them, and Daichis stops, pulling Suga back by the hand to keep them from toppling into the others.

“Bokuto?” He asks incredulously, Bokuto and Kuroo stepping out from the trees and into the beam of their flashlight.

Kuroo raises his hand to his eyes, shielding them from the beam of light and squinting, tracks of tears breaking through the grime on his cheeks. “Oh thank god. Bo, we found them.”

Bokuto falls to his knees, grabbing onto Daichi’s pant legs. “It’s been so long,” Bokuto sobs, his voice hoarse. “We came back so many times but you guys were gone.”

“What? What are you talking about? You only left a few hours ago,” Daichi says, eyes widening at the sunken look of their cheeks and the dirt covering their clothes and faces. Their eyes are full of fear, like an animal being hunted.

“Hours? We’ve been wandering for days,” Kuroo says, shaking his head. “We thought you guys had left without us, but we couldn't be sure because the sun hasn’t risen so we didn’t know where we were.”

“That...that doesn’t make any sense,” Daichi mumbles, taking a step back, his head pounding as hard as his heart.

“It makes about as much sense as the sun not rising by 9am,” Suga says, squeezing his hand. “Daichi, I don’t know what’s going on but it’s not good. We need to stick together and find Iwaizumi and Oikawa.”

“I-,”

“Hajime!” Oikawa voice cuts him off, booming like a megaphone from the direction they had come from.

Without hesitation all four of them take off running, Daichi trying his best to stay close enough to Suga not to lose him, everything moving too fast to comprehend. There’s a snap, and Suga falls in front of him, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

“Suga!” Daichi drops to his knees beside him, hands hovering over his form and unsure of what to do.

“I’m fine, I just, ah-,” he winces, pulling one knee up to his chest. “I think I twisted my ankle. I hit a tree root or something.”

Daichi looks up, no sign of Kuroo, Bokuto, or the others anywhere around them. No rustling, no splintering booms, no voices.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to get us out of here. I got us into this mess, I can fix it,” Daichi says, scooping Suga up bridal style, the adrenaline rush giving him an extra boost of strength.

“Hey,” Suga whispers, wrapping his arms around Daichi’s neck and pulling his head down to kiss his cheek. “Don't blame yourself. We’re all in this together. And when we make it out you’re going to have the best documentary the world has seen.”

“That doesn’t matter anymore,” Daichi sighs, stepping carefully forward to avoid whatever Suga had tripped on, listening for any sign of noise that will lead him to his friends.

“Of course it does,” Suga replies, reaching into the pocket of his hoodie and pulling out the camera. “Even if we die there’s still going to be a great story.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It wasn’t a joke.”

Daichi sighs, trying to even out his breathing as Suga turns the camera on, surveying the woods around whem with the night vision mode. He points out things in their path as they continue, and Daichi tries his best to focus and not let guilt wash over him.

The air suddenly turns static, like a thunderstorm is on the horizon, but the sky remains blank and still. The hairs on the back of Daichi’s neck rise, and he can feel eyes on him in all directions.

“Do you feel tha-,”

“Daichi!” Suga’s voice comes from ahead of them, cheery and bright, followed by laughter and the rustling of trees.

“What the,” the Suga in his arms whispers. “Daichi, don’t-,”

But it’s too late, he’s already sprinting ahead, charging towards the voice.

“Daichi, it’s a trick!” Suga calls from his arms, tugging on his shirt. “Don’t fall for it!”

Daichi doesn’t hear him, fear gripping his chest like icy fingers beneath his skin. Even with Suga in his arms he can’t stop himself from following the voice. He’d follow that voice anywhere.

They break through the trees into a clearing, and Suga holds the camera up so Daichi can see the little rectangle of green. “Is that…,” his voice wobbles, hands shaking as he holds the camera. “Is that the house?”

Daichi stares at the screen, the outline of a broken down house sitting clearly in the center. He can no longer feel his body, going numb as if he floated up and out of his form. “Y-yeah. That’s it.”

There’s a flash of movement in one of the windows, and Daichi takes off again, walking purposefully towards the house.

“Daichi...babe, what are you doing,” Suga asks, looking at with a worried expression. “You’re not going in there, are you?”

“Of course I am. Our friends might be in there, and they’re out here because of me, so I have to get them out.”

“I told you, no one blames you, don’t be rash,” Suga pleads, stiffening in Daichi’s arms.

“I blame me, Suga!” He yells, louder than he meant to. “I did this, I’m fixing it. You don’t have to come, you can wait out here.”

“No way. Where you go, I go, remember?”

He’d never been so thankful  and terrified to hear those words, but he’s thankful all the same. He couldn’t ask for better friends, or a better boyfriend, than the ones he has, and if he gets them out he’s never going to let them forget how special they are to him.

There’s no door on the house, just a gaping hole where a door should be, and rusted hinges hanging from the frame. Daichi doesn’t give himself time to be afraid, walking straight in without hesitation. The hallways are narrow, and he has to turn sideways to keep from bouncing Suga’s head against the walls. They reach the foot of the stairs, half leading up to the second story and half leading to the basement.

“Well, up or down?” Daichi asks, voice feeble.

Suga turns the camera in both direction, finding a barricade of rotting boards waiting for them at the top of the stairs. “Down, I guess,” he mutters, his heart beating so fast Daichi can hear it in the stagnant air.

With a nod he takes to the stairs, stepping down carefully as they creak and whine under Daichi’s weight. The trip down is short, his feet hitting dirt as they step into the basement. Daichi can’t see a thing, the darkness thicker than any he’d seen yet, but Suga sucks in a gasp of air.

“What?” He whispers, but Suga doesn’t speak, just holds up the camera for him to see.

In the tiny rectangle Daichi can see a shape, the hair unmistakable even from behind. Kuroo stands in one corner, completely still with his nose pressed to the wall. Daichi can’t breathe, his throat constricting. He spins slowly, watching the window reveal Bokuto, Oikawa, and Iwaizumi all standing in separate corners of the windowless room.

“This isn’t happening,” he chokes, silent tears falling down his cheeks. “This can’t be happening.”

He steps forward, one hand outstretched as he approaches Iwaizumi, pausing with his fingers millimeters away from his shoulder.

Suga squeezes his neck, pulling closer as if it’ll keep them both safer, and as Daichi’s fingertips brush Iwaizumi’s shirt he feels Suga���s breath in his ear.

“Boo!”

He jumps so hard he drops Suga hard on the ground, but he doesn’t have time to apologize, or even register what the hell just happened, before four lights flick on around him, his friends bursting into laughter with flashlights in their hands.

“Surprise!” Suga calls, letting Kuroo pull him to his feet and leaning against his shoulder. “You caught the Blair Witch!”

“What the...what the fuck are you talking about?” The words have no venom to them, Daichi’s mind still scrambling to make sense of whatever is happening.

“We staged it, all of it,” Bokuto says excitedly, reaching out to pull Daichi up.

“We’d better all get Oscars for this,” Oikawa smirks, running a hand through his hair. “I gave the performance of my life.”

“I told them not to do it,” Iwaizumi sighs, tapping his flashlight in top of Oikawa’s head. “Thought it was just a tad too mean.”

“A tad,” Daichi breathes, not knowing how to respond. “Unbelievable. How?”

“Bo and I really did hand up the dolls and make the rock things, and Iwaizumi pretended to catch us,” Kuroo says. “And we all led the group in a circle on purpose. That tree falling down sound effect when Oikawa broke the string was from his phone, the birds were an added surprise, though.”

“And I set your watch back, and Oikawa changed the timezone on his phone to trick you about the sun not rising thing. It’s like, 4am right now,” Suga adds, shrugging sheepishly though Daichi can tell he’s proud of how well they pulled everything off.

“I was helping Kuroo and Bokuto look like they’d been lost for days in the woods while you guys were looking for me, and we were all causing the rustling noises and the trees falling,” Iwaizumi says, crossing his arms over his chest.

“And we recorded Suga calling out to you and laughing in the motel while you were packing up the cars,” Oikawa tell him, lifting up his phone and playing the noise again.

“How’d you know this house was out here?” Daichi asks, head starting to clear and heart camling its pace as he realizes his friends aren't actually going to die after all.  

“Kuroo and I scouted the place out a few weeks ago,” Bokuto answers, pulling a folded square of paper out of his pocket. “We made a pretty good map and found this. I don’t know if it’s the murder house or anything, but it worked.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Daichi starts, rubbing at his eyes, “none of this was real, and we’re not going to die?”

“Right! But you’re going to have a hell of a film final,” Suga winks, limping over to Daichi to plant a kiss on his cheek.

“And your ankle?”

“Oh no, I really twisted it pretty good. That wasn’t according to plan. I was supposed to jump out of a corner or something, but this worked fine.”

Daichi is silent for a moment, everyone looking at him expectantly as if they’re expecting him to laugh or scream or both. He does neither, deflating against Suga and dropping his head onto his shoulder, careful not to put enough pressure to hurt him.

“So you guys know the way back to the cars, then?” He asks, feeling Suga laugh beneath him.

“Yup, don’t worry babe, we’re done torturing you,” he threads their fingers together, turning back to the group. “Shall we go, then? This place is starting to give me the creeps.”

By the time they make it back outside the house the sun is starting to rise, and Daichi doesn’t think he’s ever been so grateful to see sunlight. They slowly make their way back to camp, going slow enough to help Suga hobble his way around. The playful banter returns, and despite everything he’d felt over the past two days Daichi is happy. This trip wasn’t what he expected, and it definitely wasn’t completely enjoyable, but he’s glad to have shared it with these people, with Suga. He knows he’ll be able to look back on it someday, with Suga by his side, and laugh.

And, with the power of editing, he’ll graduate with a pretty good grade in film class.

[spicynbachili1]

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The follow-up to Verdun

We’re hooked on contests. Assist us get clear by coming into to win a Steam copy of Tannenberg.

For some time there, it appeared like each struggle sport targeted solely on World Warfare II. Certain, it was greater and extra private, as any good sequel is, however WWI continues to be so amazingly important because it immediately made the world smaller as the worldwide powers fought over the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, who charted within the early 1900s with “Take Me Out.”

I believe.

We have Steam Early Entry keys up for grabs for Tannenberg, the follow-up to the hit FPS Verdun. Come win one for rock ‘n roll.

Blackmill Video games and M2H have introduced that Tannenberg is leaving Early Entry and heading into full launch on February 13, 2019. Concerning the sport:

Tannenberg is the most recent entry within the WW1 Recreation Sequence that began with FPS Verdun, increasing the main focus to embody the Jap Entrance. Warfare between the Russian Empire and the Central Powers affords a contemporary expertise for brand spanking new and veteran gamers alike, with 5 new squads, 20+ weapons, 5 open maps that give gamers tactical freedom, and a complete new 64 participant sport mode with full AI bot help so you may expertise epic battles at any time!

Tannenberg key options embody:

Genuine WW1 environment; accuracy in every little thing from maps and weaponry to uniforms

Tactical squad-based FPS; play as Russian, Roumanian, Austro-Hungarian and German troops

Majestic Jap Entrance; giant maps every with climate variants from snow to summer season solar

64 participant Maneuver sport mode; seize strategic sectors in grand battles of motion

By no means battle alone; AI bots for Maneuver so you may be part of epic battles at any time

Warfare is Hell, however at the very least you are getting a free ticket.

To enter to win your copy, remark beneath telling us what really began World Warfare I, since I clearly don’t know. It needed to do one thing with an archduke who fell out of a automotive or one thing, proper? He hit the mattress and bumped his head and could not stand up within the morning, as I recall, which sparked a global affair. Yeah, that sounds about proper.

We have now 5 Steam Early Entry keys to offer out. Winners shall be drawn on Tuesday, November 6. Please ensure you remark utilizing a Dtoid account together with your present e-mail tackle on file.

Tannenberg is offered now on Steam Early Entry, with a full launch coming February 13, 2019. For extra probabilities to win, head over to PC Invasion.

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[shielddrake]

Rebel of Sky City Ch. 2

Author’s Notes:  So, I’m a sad person.  MCSM Season 2 isn’t available for Mac users, and that’s the only platform I have that the game (supposedly) was released on.  So, I’m still avoiding spoilers as best I can.  To make up for this, I spent my time editing this chapter.  Enjoy!

Chapter Two

 "Come back here!"

 "Freeze, criminal!"

 Three of the Sky City guards were very busy chasing a thief.  Or, at least, they thought he was a thief.  Really, he had just been trading some building materials with another person who had been at the supervised crafting table earlier that day. He hid the sticks he received close to his chest, and made sure that his head, face, and neck were completely covered by the black hood he wore to conceal his identity.  It was no problem making the trade without anyone seeing them, but once the guards saw a hooded man carrying crafting items they were sure he wasn't permitted to have they immediately chased after him.

 Unfortunately for the guards, this man was used to ducking and weaving between the iron buildings of Sky City, and he knew some of the secret passages and tunnels that Build Club had prepared for just such an occasion.  He took a right and then a left before ducking into a small hollow next to the outer wall of the city.  The young man waited, staying completely still until the thundering footsteps of his pursuers disappeared and the street was quiet.

 Once he was sure it was safe, he lowered his hood, causing his blond hair to tumble over his ears. His piercing blue eyes peeked out for just a moment to watch the guards head down the wrong direction, and he smiled, showing off a set of bright teeth to absolutely no one.

 "That was close," said Lukas.  He tucked the sticks he had traded into the front of his jacket and zipped up the front, holding them close to his chest and keeping them well hidden from prying eyes. "Guards could still be around. Better lay low for a bit."

 Lukas knew exactly where to go in this situation.  His father had taught him to keep his head down if there was any chance of someone catching him carrying crafting supplies.  And what better place to hide out for a while than at his best friend's home?

 Trying to walk as naturally as he could with a bunch of sticks jabbing into his chest, Lukas made his way through the streets until he came to a small, two-story building. Technically it housed two separate homes, with his friend living on the upper floor.  He climbed the stairs to the entrance and knocked, glancing back down the street one last time before turning his attention to the door as it was opened.

 The tall redhead stared at Lukas for only a split second before she let him inside.

 "Let me guess," she said, smirking.  "You were chased by the guards and need a place to lie low for a while?"

 "And someone to be my alibi just in case they followed me here," Lukas replied with a grin. "Thanks, Petra."

 Petra shook her head as she closed the door and locked it.  "Sure thing.  Just don't get dirt on my couch this time."

 Lukas knew he was welcome to make himself at home in Petra's little flat.  It was a simple place, just like many of the homes in Sky City, with a single floor and a living room, dining room, and kitchen that were all connected in one space.  Only the bedroom and bathroom had their own separate doors.  Petra was never one to have extravagant things, even by Sky City standards, but her place was comfortable enough, with its own couch and tables.  Petra wasn't a big reader, but she had a small bookshelf with a few books she managed to gather over time by petitioning The Founder.  Most of the subjects were benign enough, focusing around history and law, and Lukas had read each one at least three times within the first year she owned them.

 He sat on the light brown couch, making sure he didn't prop his feet up on the small table in front of it. (He already made that mistake once, and he wouldn't again.)  He pulled the sticks out of his jacket and placed them on the table, before leaning back into the couch and letting out a loud breath.

 "The guards are getting more and more tenacious," he commented as Petra brought him a drink of water.  Thankfully, The Founder never limited anyone on the amount of water they could have. The various pools around the city were apparently designed to be infinite.  "I think the ones in this part of town might be onto me.  I might need to avoid trading around here for a while."

 "Your dad won't be happy about that," Petra stated, taking a gulp of her own water. "Some of those deals are the main sources of resources for Build Club."

 "I know, but I doubt Dad would want me caught for it," he said.  He scooted over to give her room to join him on the couch. "After all the time he spent in jail..."

 "Yeah, no kidding," the redhead agreed.  "So, those sticks are what you traded this time?"

 Lukas leaned forward and started moving sticks around, putting them in positions she knew would make something, but without being on a crafting table, they would simply remain a pile of sticks.  

 "Yeah.  Dad said he'll show everyone some things we can do with them.  He promised me weeks ago, but we haven’t been able to get sticks in a while.”

 "Well, that stinks. I can’t wait for the day when we don’t have to bed to craft the simplest little thing.”

 “Tell me about it.”

 “Speaking of which, that reminds me.”  Petra put her drink down on the table.  " I’ve got something to show you."

 Petra rose from her seat and headed to her bedroom.  Lukas folded the sticks back into a straight pile while he waited.  He certainly knew better than to poke around Petra's room, even if she was there...or perhaps, especially because she was there.  That was another mistake he wouldn't make twice. Petra was his best friend and he had known her for years, but she liked her privacy, and Lukas could appreciate that.

 It didn't take long for Petra to return with a couple sheets of paper.  She handed them to him with one of her trademark small grins. Whatever this was, she was proud of herself.

 “I think I might be able to make your life a little easier, Lukas.”

 Lukas took the papers and spent a moment looking them over.  His eyes went wide as the repercussions of this sank into his mind. He waited a long moment before he responded.

 "These are acceptance papers into the Guard," he said.  He tried to keep his breathing even.  "You're joining the Guard?"

 "Yeah, I passed the tests and The Founder found no problems with my background check," Petra explained.  "Turns out all those visits to Build Club never got put on my record, and all the other guards in charge of supervising crafting or building never had anything bad to say about me."

 Lukas was quiet again for a long while, long enough that Petra's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Seeing her puzzled look, he handed the papers back to her.

 "So, I guess this means you won't be coming to Build Club anymore?" he presumed.  "And you're going to have to arrest me if you find me trading resources?"

 Lukas could have sworn he heard Petra snort as she put her palm to her forehead.  “No, you blockhead.  I'm not going to do that."

 "But won't you have to if you're in the Guard?"

 "Sheesh, Lukas. I know you're smarter than this." At this comment, Lukas glanced up at her as Petra rolled her eyes.  "Members of the Guard have access to the palace, and all the inventory The Founder keeps in there.  I’m going to smuggle resources out for you and your dad."

 Lukas blinked a couple of times.  "What? Really?"

 "No, I'm going to turn in all of Build Club so I can become the next Captain of the Guard." Petra's voice was as flat as a pancake. "Of course I'm doing it to help get supplies.  Why else would I join the Guard?  Not because I like the idea of keeping people from building, I’ll tell you that."

 Lukas let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.  "Oh man.  You had me worried for a second."

 "If you weren't my best friend, I'd feed you a fist for having so little faith in me," she said with a scowl.  "I hate the no building laws as much as you do.  My joining the Guard won't change that."

 Lukas chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.  "Sorry, Petra.  I should've known better."

 "Yeah, you should've."  Now Petra's tone was more sarcastically playful, and Lukas immediately knew he was forgiven.  She sat on the couch again.  "I don't know how much I'll be able to get out of palace, but I can give it a try."

 “It’s really risky though. Are you sure you want to do it?”  he warned.  “If you get caught, who knows how The Founder will punish you?  It could be worse than what happened to Dad!”

 “I’ll just have to not get caught.”

 Lukas shook his head but smiled nonetheless.  Petra’s always been braver than me.

 “How long before I have to call you Officer?”  he joked.

 “Oh god, I don’t think I’ll ever get comfortable with that idea.  Makes me feel like I have to be formal or something.” Petra leaned her head back to stare at her ceiling.  “Not for a while.  There’s basic training first. That’s not for a few weeks.  And then I’ll be enlisted for real.”

 “And I bet you won’t be allowed access to any resources for some time after that.”

 “Probably, but what’s a few more weeks when we’ve been stuck waiting a lifetime already?”

[scottmapess]

Is Bitcoin Set For $9,000 Before The Halving Event?

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Let’s go out, everyone, my name is Nicholas Martin here, a day to dash in today’s April 17th of twenty twenty. Well, folks, I hope you all are having a fantastic day wherever you are. And in today’s video, I want to talk about a lot of different things. I want to start out by talking about the short term price action in Bitcoin and how we’ve gotten back above seven K and why still believe we’re very much on pace to go to the upper eight thousand or nine thousand dollar range going into the having event. And along with that as well. I want to talk about the emergence of stable coins, a potential major onramp for the cryptocurrency space as it comes more mainstream and tested. And along with that, talking about a lot of major data points in regards to the economy and not just in the economy, but also diving in to specific commodity markets and equity markets. OK. So we’ve got a ton of really interesting stuff to talk about. Let’s just go ahead and dive right into it. So take a look at the last 24 hours here. We can see the vast majority of cryptocurrencies are in the green, but for the most part, most are in a no trend scenario from 1 to 2 percent of the upside and downside. However, we do have some of our players doing well, energy at 6.4 6 percent, chainlink at 3.5 RIN sitting here five point two percent. So again, good play here are good day here for most of our plays here in the sense of the market. And one thing I wanted to share. You guys were quick is I’ve been speaking at a conference. It’s a virtual conference called BLOCK Down 2020. And you guys probably heard me mention it for those who watch every single video. I talked about it a few times. And yeah, it was really awesome. I gave my speech yesterday and along with that, I would be on a panel later this afternoon for the second day of the conference. And this was a really cool illustration that a company called IDEO Inc, which BLOCK Down, has doing illustrations for all the speakers. They basically illustrated in a really awesome creative fashion all of the major points that I talked about in my speech. And it was a really, really cool. I just wanted to give them props. This. I thought it was such a cool design. But just to give you guys a little bit of kind of an update on what it was about real quick, because I think it’s a very relevant topic to what we talk about here on the channel. I basically accommodated the idea that over the last ten to twelve years we hadn’t really learned much from 2008. We continue to prop up the same or similar issues that it caused the crisis. Previously we talked about excessive risk and the credit system through shadow banking. You know, basically shadow banks are banks that are less regulated. These are companies that Quicken Loans, a lot of companies. They’ve started to dominate the mortgage and lending markets along with that as well, hedge funds taking on excessive leverage. And then also this kind of failed idea that monetary policy is going to fix the underlying economy. In reality, it propped up an asset bubble and basically it transitioned into now covered, bringing all those problems to the forefront. We’ve kicked the can down the road with a lot of stimulus in the past, and that’s finally coming to roost. And now we’re getting to a point where we don’t have the same firepower like we did back in the last recession. We can’t lower interest rates as much as we want. We can print a ton of money, but it’s going to start having secondary effects on people through inflation. So what’s the best place you can park your capital when there’s mass inflation and devaluation and of course, possibly negative interest rates, which will penalize savers and those who own treasuries or other government bonds? Well, there’s basically three assets in the world that do that. Gold, silver and bitcoin. Plain and simple as a few other commodities you could probably match in there, but they’re much more driven by market forces of supply and demand. These are more of the hedges that in this case provide you a way to get out of any kind of geopolitical or national ties in this case to any specific economy, if you will. That’s the general gist of what Bitcoin offers here. And it offers an even better argument, the perfect store value in this case because of its limited supply and more specifically, its finite supply. So it was that it was really caught as one of the kind of give you guys a little bit of an update on what I talked about there. But I want to go ahead and talk about yesterday’s performance. Markets did really well. We went for about sixty six hundred up to seventy one hundred, recovering about five days worth of kind of stagnant sideways price action coming back up. And in a close back to the range we’re at now, which is where we were back a week ago. Go ahead. Just pull up the more relevant charge here in the short term. I think a big step is the one I want. Yes. Bitstamp so again, we’re getting very close to where we’re still holding these gains here. And again, I want to emphasize here that we’re continuing to set higher lows and higher highs here. Now, if the momentum really starts to stagnate sideways, I can understand it might be a sell off. But right now, guys, this is looking pretty healthy here. I like seeing this thing work, showing consistency here. The major thing that I like to look for when it comes to bitcoin, because bitcoin is a fast moving market. It is a very select few days. Where does the vast majority of price action? This is something that Tom Lee brings up a lot. It’s a very important thing to see in the market when you’re curious about whether or not the trend is gonna continue or that if we’re in kind of a short term bull phase or long term bull phase, that you’ll want to see this consecutively on a daily and weekly. And that is consecutive green candles. Basically, when you have these kind of pullbacks for a week, we can have you have two or three days where it’s made up instantly, like buyers are basically following and they’re buying it. Well, those are larger players or smaller retail buyers. Basically, you want to see those quick recovery. So here’s a good example back here. We had a pullback two days, one day and we closed on all those losses and continue climbing. Higher again. Back here about three days or we really had our price action equal amount of time or less in order to get back up and then continue higher. Right. So again, give or take or it’s never gonna be exactly perfect. But I like to see here more than anything these periods where the vast majority gains hold and then we have one or two days that just blast through. So I think we’re gonna probably get a continuation throughout today and tomorrow. But the major thing, no matter what happens here in the next 24, 48 hours, this still looks like to me that we’re gonna be probably rallying up here to test up towards the line of resistance. Or you can see here. Right. This is a long term wedge. We’ve talked about this a lot. This is where the having events going to be. We’re getting very close to it. I think you have a lot of pressure applied by said price. You have some people following in because of the having. I’ve told you guys personally, I don’t believe that’s usually like the right thing to do because we think we usually know there’s a sell off after the having event. But something we’re gonna buy anyways just to simply speculate. I don’t run the world right. I’m just one voice in this whole sea of the cryptocurrency space. Right. So some people are going to buy in anticipation for that. The second thing you have is while that actually does build some credence to this is we have China’s central bank digital currency. And again, the short window of time that we have now, it seems, before that comes out basically is a big thing that a lot of Chinese investors have to keep in mind are people who own a lot of wealth in China, because once they transition to that system, it is likely that they are never going to be able to get into Bitcoin or it’s going to have to be in some kind of system where they don’t have their sovereignty over their wealth. It’s a very, very important thing, because if their wealth is under a system that China controls, a central bank, digital currency, in this case, that is going to be very, very bad for a lot of Chinese investors who don’t want the CCP in this case to have control over their money. Right. So anyways, just wanted to emphasize that we saw some of the photos the other day leaking that. So I think this is showcasing a little bit of FOMO sheer volume overall. I mean, nothing crazy. I do like to see where we’re at right now. I’m actually using a dollar adjusted volume metric here. If we take a look here maybe at the monthly, it might become a little more clear, but volume isn’t too bad. But it’s definitely not something you extremely excited about in the bear mind. April isn’t finished. So again, we’re not going to get full on data until the end of the month. Little over halfway there. But all in all, guys, this looks like the longer term technical pattern. We were looking for a long higher lows, higher highs. Having a bet pushes price still sideways for a while. And then we played pickup NBA airplay catch up basically and start leaping forward for the next logarithmic rise into twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two. We’ll see how it all plays out guys. But again, keep focused on that long term view. I know you guys can do it, and I know that for the vast majority of people, this is going to be the best way to look at the market. Just focusing on the long term perspective. All right. So let’s go ahead and talk a little bit about stable coins, because I know a lot of you had asked me the other day about the comments that the FSP made, and we’re gonna be talking about that as well. But I just wanted to go ahead and first talk about the demand here for stable coins. So Circle CEO circles one of the two companies that created USD CE alongside Coinbase and they basically been claiming explosive demand in stable coins and actually not just for traders and a lot of other individuals and the crypto space, but also for businesses as well. And this is something, again, that I’ve really proposed here about DFI. We really need whether it’s more centralized finance or DPH, decentralized finance. We need to see a push for more loans to real world applications outside of just over collateralized margin trading or providing capital to exchanges in the short term. There’s a lot of demand there, no doubt about it. But I think we need to start seeing again this pivot here for stable coins to serve in other areas of the economy, the real world economy outside of just crypto. Right. And I think, again, this is really exciting to see. So this is a chart here. This is, again, public data. You can take a look at it, Coinbase and circle basically basically been having an explosive amount of growth for their stable point here. Right here. If I get the exact number, I want to try to get some somewhere about 40 to 60 million dollars of USD C existed. And just in the past couple of weeks with Koven 19 and the rush to inject cash here and this case in the stable corn market, basically we have it well over around 730 million. So again, you’re talking about a really nice increase here, about three a million dollars, nearly doubling the overall amount of USD C.. And I think what you SDC is they’re well audited. Their credit is graded by two of the most respectable companies in the space. You know, again, added at the end of the day, this is a really good thing to see here because of Teather did this. I wouldn’t really bat an eye too much, but what I see. USGBC and paxos and you know, Jemini USD and I see all these other stable coins doing really well. I think it speaks to a global trend here that USD CE as well as other staple coins can act as a really good bridge for institutional capital to get into crypto markets. And it’s all done regulatory and regulatory fashion. It’s done by the books and it’s somewhat two companies who I highly respect and a lot of a lot of regards. So again, keep an eye on this, guys. It is very important. Now, I know a lot of you have probably asked me already in previous video. I know I did talk about the other day. I want to talk a little bit on a few of the topics in traditional markets, but the FSB Financial Stability Board in this case, this is a organization that again focuses on regulatory regulation on a global scale. And a lot of people here were asking me about these comments, again for the G20 finance ministers about whether or not, you know, this is going to have some effect. So this is something again. Notice how the article here that put it up here is from October 2018. This has been a discussion point for a while. G20 and central bank governors have been talking about this for some time and it makes sense why they want to talk about it. Because at the end of the day, know you’ll hear all these different reasons for it. They’re going to say that there’s probably risk in regards to having these censorship resistant stable coins, because that day, basically, if I convert a dollar first David Coin and I have it in my wallet, you know, I can go around and I can use it just like a good cash. Right. And that’s kind of what a stable coin or digital dollar is. It should be that I can exchange it with someone. Right. Just second with cash. But at the end of the day, there’s there’s some concern here from the FSB and a lot of other regulatory bodies that we need to consider the other systematic risks that come with this. And I would assume at the end of the day, it’s the sheer fact that the FSB, FSB and the central bank governors and the G20, you know, individuals who are coming and meeting there probably are concern that they don’t have centralized control over it. So this has been a debate between other central banks across the world who have talked about making sentiment, digital currencies. Some have said should it be completely censorship resistant, should be completely private? Well, we don’t know who is who when they’re exchanging it. And some people said, no, we need to have an actual ledger here. We need to have a backdoor to control. You know, there’s there’s so many different perspectives, guys. And that’s again, the thing I stress, not all central banks are on the same page. We make that very, very clear. I know it’s very easy to jump the gun and say all of them are working in a COBOL together. You know, I know I understand the b.a.’s and all that. That’s very true. But there are different perspectives on how to approach this no matter what their intentions are. And I think at the end of the day, this is really at the end of the day, just surface level talks. We haven’t seen any actionable like severe policy just yet. Nor are we seeing if there is some ideas, but how they would implement it. Anything again, being implemented in the actual system for crypto. And I think, again, the confidence that we’re seeing between Circle and and Coinbase in this case again proves that success in this space. And I think that central banks, as well as the general more important part of regulators are going to allow this to continue, persist and just experiment with it for a while, because so far, stable coins like USD have provided nothing. Think the benefits idea that I can’t think of one negative that they brought. If anything, they’ve made it where people are able to digitally transfer dollars at a much faster rate than traditional systems. And honestly, the cynical part of me says that a lot of central bankers and a lot of traditional figureheads are probably hesitant first able coins. Because of that it is severely more efficient. I can send dollars from here to Japan in less than a minute on a theory about blockchain and I could do it for less than one or two cents worth of. I mean, that’s just incredible. That is huge. There are massive positive ramifications to that for remittance markets, for wire transfers, where it can cost me twenty five to forty five bucks to transfer money through a wire transfer. Can you believe that? So anyway, something that’s a fraction of that cost being going to be sent across the world. Again, very important thing to talking about here. So I’m interested to see how this develops. I have no doubt that the FSB, if it really pushed hard enough. Yeah. They could probably bend stable coins. I’m fine honestly with considering a central bank digital currency, but I want to know the properties of it. All right. I mean, if it’s going to be a dollar stable quick, that’s fine with me. That’s what I’m using when I’m using USD C. I’m just curious what they’re going to do. Because if they implement privacy and a few other features, such as the fact that they can’t seize my dollars in this case, in that case, I’m pretty excited about it. Pretty pumped. I think they’ll be really cool. And I’ll be interested to see what the Fed has to propose as well as ECB, the baggage part of the Bank of England. But I really don’t think I would trust the People’s Bank of China. Sorry for being Bidstrup. Typical. But I’ve learned too much for the piece. The BBC, but also the CCP. Anyways, to a more positive note here. Markets across the world rebounded a decent amount, continuing their rally. And this is not only do a course to fed monetary policy and other central monetary policy, but this is coming out of a lot of confidence out of Gilead Sciences, one of the long largest pharmaceutical companies coming out with some successful Phase 2 trials for their drug for and 19 and their vaccine that they’re working on. So it’s really good to see this. I think it’s a little bit of a premature reaction. I have no doubt that eventually we’re going to start seeing a pullback here over the next few days, guys. But I would not challenge or try to short this market. Maybe if anything, I’ll consider buying puts like basically options in this case that would bet against the market over a certain period of time. But I would not be shorting or holding leverage. Short ETF certainly thing. I know some people have asked me about that. And first off, I can’t take us what to do. You get it. So what you want to do? I personally wouldn’t me personally, because this is a moment of time where you’ve got excessive monetary policy and the Fed is basically mentioned infinite QE. I can be bearish here, but I’ll be honest, I’m bearish in the sense that I’m going to wait off and I’m not really to try to hold these gains because quite frankly, guys, it’s good to see equities doing this performance and, you know, the other day and stuff, again, I set aside cash instead of considering positions in equities. But I’m in no rush to get into it. Crypto right now has been a net benefit more than anything I’ve ever had held in equities. Plain and simple. I have had some really good trades in the past with equities, but I think at the end of the day it’s no rush to get into this. I’m sort of rambling here, right? Markets are going to open up about 2.3 percent to new relative highs here or basically a little bit above where we closed the other day and the mid part of April. Or go ahead here and talk about a few things here. First off, the sector, some index here on LMT are showcasing extremely risky behavior. So basically aggregates a multitude of things over forty five different industries. This is basically it. It measures if like, for example, industrials overbought or, you know, consumer discretionary or technology. Each of these will add a point in this case in the sector. And you can see where we went from negative 40, probably negative 40 to up to about 40, 41. So I would say in this case to be a little bit cautious. Again, this speaks to the tone of what I was discussing earlier. Now, initial unemployment claims, this is very important taking the mining guys over the next few weeks from April to May. We are going to see, again, continued week by week increases in this case of millions of people basically claiming unemployment in this case that each of these weeks I get this is not a declining number in the overall cases of people who are on unemployment or filing for unemployment. This is the declining growth. And after this, the real shock right here is going to happen over these weeks. And then after that, it will likely stagnate. But the important thing to note to make keep in mind here. Sorry. I think the important thing to keep in mind here is that every single week we postpone this opening. Right. These ramifications come in. And I’m not saying that’s not the smart move to just hold off and make sure we can contain it or it’ll come better prepared and knocked out the cases. In fact, flying the curve. What I am saying is that this is why I’ve mentioned very strongly that this is going to have long term ramifications. Another chart here, this really sets in stone. This is the official unemployment rate forecast. There’s you 3, you 5 and you 6 from different measures of unemployment now taking the more conservative measures for unemployment, which again, do not include things that people in part. Basically, people who are working part time, very short hours or for example, might not be seeking work. You’re still going to have unemployment anywhere from around 10 to 12 percent here in November of 2020. And over the summer, that’s expected to finalize around 50 percent. Now, if you’re talking towards a much more realistic statistic of U-6 right now, U-6 is a little far out there. It’s considering everyone who is not employed in this case for a very large number of individuals. Again, I think honestly, both of these metrics are a little bit too biased in one way or another. We’ve talked about it on ShadowStats or a few other things. I think it’s good to have this data, these different perspectives. But I would say is we’re somewhere in the middle 20 percent of the economy is not going to be working this summer and a lot of that is well going into the fall. That’s gonna be about the same case as we Prestowitz 15 percent. And it’s going to persist for a very long time. We’re going to be between 15 to 10 percent unemployment going into 2021. Don’t doubt that this is not only a recession, guys, but these are numbers that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression. And that’s the thing that I drill so hard here. It’s so sad because I don’t want this to be the case, but even the forecasts are saying this. So again, unless we can have some kind of miracle happen, if we expedite a vaccine, if the Fed again provides more stimulus in the short term but doesn’t completely destroy the dollar and we get the flow of things going again, possibly, possibly we can avert a depression and only make this a short term recession. Who knows? I personally think that’s the case. Just trying to be a realist, guys, anyways. Well, let’s talk about some interesting ratios here. S&P 500 related to the 10 year Treasury yield. Very, very interesting. Measuring the yield here on the other Treasury. Excuse me. And basically showcasing here a massive decline. Biggest drop here that we’ve seen for a long period time. Although back I think back to the 1980s. Very interesting correlation against Showcase. And I think the kind of peek at the bond market here that we’ve been seeing again is it’s probably to continue rallying. But again, as we go to negative interest rates, bond prices can go skyrocketing. Right. So, again, very important thing to keep in mind along with that as well. Gold oil ratio, all time highs. You’ve had all of these peaks in the past year. Setting up to a massive ratio with gold picking up steam. Oil dropping like a rock. We’ve had a really interesting ratio again. What I always encourage, guys, it’s always been that in a lot of other Web sites. Look at the ratios. Right. You don’t see this on the mainstream headlines, but this is the kind of stuff you want to look at. Look at ratios between commodities and see not just commodities, but markets and commodities, other stocks between one another. It’s very, very interesting. All right. Five largest companies and S.P., five hundred taken up 19 percent of overall market cap for the S&P 500 is the largest number in history. Breaking out the previous high back here during the dot com bubble. Incredible stuff. Even after the sell off is continue to grow market dominance. This is again. I’d like another way of looking at market dominance like we do in crypto markets, 19 percent, nearly 20 percent. Doesn’t surprise me, though. Amazon’s been dominating the market right now in the sense of making shipments during a time of COBA 19, it’s more relevant than ever. You’ve got Facebook, Netflix, Apple, all these companies are still prevalent one way or another. Right. And then lastly, I want to talk about here. One thing I always try to emphasize with gold. A lot of things that people experience about an argument about gold being a commodity and therefore it can be a store value because it has industrial use case. One thing I always talk about is to take a look at what gold is used for when they just want to share it. Gold is a store value it today, a great store of value. And along with that as well. Yes, it does have some industrial applications, but its value is derived simply from the fact of its properties being great for store of value. And I can explain that here by taking a look at the chart we see here that for over 20 percent is foreign investments, 48 percent is jewelry. Now, again, this is where some people would debate this. This is utility. It’s not an industrial utility. This is a store of wealth. It’s but it’s a way to showcase that wealth alone. That’s why you have central banks and other institutions owning 50 percent and an investment ETF like GLAAD owning up to nine point two one percent. So if you take all of these numbers right, you can calculate. But a really simple way to look at it is just take the number of technology in this case for its actual commercial use. So it’s ninety two point five percent of all gold. That is used simply to store wealth. So they’re sitting in a vault or it’s sitting on your finger or your or your neck, in this case for a chain, right? It’s basically because of the properties, guys. It’s not because it’s properties in industrial use cases, it’s it’s properties in regards to store value. Wanted to share this because I thought L.A. or excuse me, Jezebel about sharing this was really cool. I’ve seen a chart similar to this before, but I was trying to stress it again. A lot of different interesting data points, guys. A lot of things are going on. Right. And a lot of interesting changes here in the crypto space. So again, I want to go ahead and emphasize a few key things here, guys. We’re definitely keeping an eye on equity markets, certainly keeping an eye on gold and silver as gold and silver have continued to pick up here over the last few days, still holding up here to its relative highs, looking like it might make support here on previous resistance. Silver silver is still down a little bit comparative to gold in this case, not making new highs, but we have recovered a lot of losses here. Silver said a nice rally here over the last few weeks. But again, we’re going to keep an eye on all this. The major thing, though, is that I am most bullish on cryptocurrency markets personally. And for those you out there who have crypto currency positions. One day I recommend you all to check out, especially as we have this extension to its tax filing this year is out tax. But now you guys probably heard about tax. But if you’ve been a big fan of the channel and watched videos consecutively. But just let you all know taxpayers are sponsor here, the channel, and they produce tax software that allows you to generate tax forms for your cryptocurrency, positions in your trades to know exactly how much taxes you owe. You can plug in all your exchange platforms. And again, it’s a really simple and smooth platform, right to do simply plug in your API keys and then after that your taxes are filed. So I recommend you guys check it out, see if it’s fit for you. And lot of that as well that you guess rewatch the video. Hope you are having a fantastic day wherever you are. There’s a link down below if you want to check out tax bit to get 10 percent off on any of the packages. That being said, though, guys. Thank you all so much for watching. And I’ll see you off in the next video. Stay tuned.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-set-for-9000-before-halving-event/ source https://cryptosharks1.blogspot.com/2020/04/is-bitcoin-set-for-9000-before-halving.html

[heatherrdavis1]

Is Bitcoin Set For $9000 Before The Halving Event?

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Let’s go out, everyone, my name is Nicholas Martin here, a day to dash in today’s April 17th of twenty twenty. Well, folks, I hope you all are having a fantastic day wherever you are. And in today’s video, I want to talk about a lot of different things. I want to start out by talking about the short term price action in Bitcoin and how we’ve gotten back above seven K and why still believe we’re very much on pace to go to the upper eight thousand or nine thousand dollar range going into the having event. And along with that as well. I want to talk about the emergence of stable coins, a potential major onramp for the cryptocurrency space as it comes more mainstream and tested. And along with that, talking about a lot of major data points in regards to the economy and not just in the economy, but also diving in to specific commodity markets and equity markets. OK. So we’ve got a ton of really interesting stuff to talk about. Let’s just go ahead and dive right into it. So take a look at the last 24 hours here. We can see the vast majority of cryptocurrencies are in the green, but for the most part, most are in a no trend scenario from 1 to 2 percent of the upside and downside. However, we do have some of our players doing well, energy at 6.4 6 percent, chainlink at 3.5 RIN sitting here five point two percent. So again, good play here are good day here for most of our plays here in the sense of the market. And one thing I wanted to share. You guys were quick is I’ve been speaking at a conference. It’s a virtual conference called BLOCK Down 2020. And you guys probably heard me mention it for those who watch every single video. I talked about it a few times. And yeah, it was really awesome. I gave my speech yesterday and along with that, I would be on a panel later this afternoon for the second day of the conference. And this was a really cool illustration that a company called IDEO Inc, which BLOCK Down, has doing illustrations for all the speakers. They basically illustrated in a really awesome creative fashion all of the major points that I talked about in my speech. And it was a really, really cool. I just wanted to give them props. This. I thought it was such a cool design. But just to give you guys a little bit of kind of an update on what it was about real quick, because I think it’s a very relevant topic to what we talk about here on the channel. I basically accommodated the idea that over the last ten to twelve years we hadn’t really learned much from 2008. We continue to prop up the same or similar issues that it caused the crisis. Previously we talked about excessive risk and the credit system through shadow banking. You know, basically shadow banks are banks that are less regulated. These are companies that Quicken Loans, a lot of companies. They’ve started to dominate the mortgage and lending markets along with that as well, hedge funds taking on excessive leverage. And then also this kind of failed idea that monetary policy is going to fix the underlying economy. In reality, it propped up an asset bubble and basically it transitioned into now covered, bringing all those problems to the forefront. We’ve kicked the can down the road with a lot of stimulus in the past, and that’s finally coming to roost. And now we’re getting to a point where we don’t have the same firepower like we did back in the last recession. We can’t lower interest rates as much as we want. We can print a ton of money, but it’s going to start having secondary effects on people through inflation. So what’s the best place you can park your capital when there’s mass inflation and devaluation and of course, possibly negative interest rates, which will penalize savers and those who own treasuries or other government bonds? Well, there’s basically three assets in the world that do that. Gold, silver and bitcoin. Plain and simple as a few other commodities you could probably match in there, but they’re much more driven by market forces of supply and demand. These are more of the hedges that in this case provide you a way to get out of any kind of geopolitical or national ties in this case to any specific economy, if you will. That’s the general gist of what Bitcoin offers here. And it offers an even better argument, the perfect store value in this case because of its limited supply and more specifically, its finite supply. So it was that it was really caught as one of the kind of give you guys a little bit of an update on what I talked about there. But I want to go ahead and talk about yesterday’s performance. Markets did really well. We went for about sixty six hundred up to seventy one hundred, recovering about five days worth of kind of stagnant sideways price action coming back up. And in a close back to the range we’re at now, which is where we were back a week ago. Go ahead. Just pull up the more relevant charge here in the short term. I think a big step is the one I want. Yes. Bitstamp so again, we’re getting very close to where we’re still holding these gains here. And again, I want to emphasize here that we’re continuing to set higher lows and higher highs here. Now, if the momentum really starts to stagnate sideways, I can understand it might be a sell off. But right now, guys, this is looking pretty healthy here. I like seeing this thing work, showing consistency here. The major thing that I like to look for when it comes to bitcoin, because bitcoin is a fast moving market. It is a very select few days. Where does the vast majority of price action? This is something that Tom Lee brings up a lot. It’s a very important thing to see in the market when you’re curious about whether or not the trend is gonna continue or that if we’re in kind of a short term bull phase or long term bull phase, that you’ll want to see this consecutively on a daily and weekly. And that is consecutive green candles. Basically, when you have these kind of pullbacks for a week, we can have you have two or three days where it’s made up instantly, like buyers are basically following and they’re buying it. Well, those are larger players or smaller retail buyers. Basically, you want to see those quick recovery. So here’s a good example back here. We had a pullback two days, one day and we closed on all those losses and continue climbing. Higher again. Back here about three days or we really had our price action equal amount of time or less in order to get back up and then continue higher. Right. So again, give or take or it’s never gonna be exactly perfect. But I like to see here more than anything these periods where the vast majority gains hold and then we have one or two days that just blast through. So I think we’re gonna probably get a continuation throughout today and tomorrow. But the major thing, no matter what happens here in the next 24, 48 hours, this still looks like to me that we’re gonna be probably rallying up here to test up towards the line of resistance. Or you can see here. Right. This is a long term wedge. We’ve talked about this a lot. This is where the having events going to be. We’re getting very close to it. I think you have a lot of pressure applied by said price. You have some people following in because of the having. I’ve told you guys personally, I don’t believe that’s usually like the right thing to do because we think we usually know there’s a sell off after the having event. But something we’re gonna buy anyways just to simply speculate. I don’t run the world right. I’m just one voice in this whole sea of the cryptocurrency space. Right. So some people are going to buy in anticipation for that. The second thing you have is while that actually does build some credence to this is we have China’s central bank digital currency. And again, the short window of time that we have now, it seems, before that comes out basically is a big thing that a lot of Chinese investors have to keep in mind are people who own a lot of wealth in China, because once they transition to that system, it is likely that they are never going to be able to get into Bitcoin or it’s going to have to be in some kind of system where they don’t have their sovereignty over their wealth. It’s a very, very important thing, because if their wealth is under a system that China controls, a central bank, digital currency, in this case, that is going to be very, very bad for a lot of Chinese investors who don’t want the CCP in this case to have control over their money. Right. So anyways, just wanted to emphasize that we saw some of the photos the other day leaking that. So I think this is showcasing a little bit of FOMO sheer volume overall. I mean, nothing crazy. I do like to see where we’re at right now. I’m actually using a dollar adjusted volume metric here. If we take a look here maybe at the monthly, it might become a little more clear, but volume isn’t too bad. But it’s definitely not something you extremely excited about in the bear mind. April isn’t finished. So again, we’re not going to get full on data until the end of the month. Little over halfway there. But all in all, guys, this looks like the longer term technical pattern. We were looking for a long higher lows, higher highs. Having a bet pushes price still sideways for a while. And then we played pickup NBA airplay catch up basically and start leaping forward for the next logarithmic rise into twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two. We’ll see how it all plays out guys. But again, keep focused on that long term view. I know you guys can do it, and I know that for the vast majority of people, this is going to be the best way to look at the market. Just focusing on the long term perspective. All right. So let’s go ahead and talk a little bit about stable coins, because I know a lot of you had asked me the other day about the comments that the FSP made, and we’re gonna be talking about that as well. But I just wanted to go ahead and first talk about the demand here for stable coins. So Circle CEO circles one of the two companies that created USD CE alongside Coinbase and they basically been claiming explosive demand in stable coins and actually not just for traders and a lot of other individuals and the crypto space, but also for businesses as well. And this is something, again, that I’ve really proposed here about DFI. We really need whether it’s more centralized finance or DPH, decentralized finance. We need to see a push for more loans to real world applications outside of just over collateralized margin trading or providing capital to exchanges in the short term. There’s a lot of demand there, no doubt about it. But I think we need to start seeing again this pivot here for stable coins to serve in other areas of the economy, the real world economy outside of just crypto. Right. And I think, again, this is really exciting to see. So this is a chart here. This is, again, public data. You can take a look at it, Coinbase and circle basically basically been having an explosive amount of growth for their stable point here. Right here. If I get the exact number, I want to try to get some somewhere about 40 to 60 million dollars of USD C existed. And just in the past couple of weeks with Koven 19 and the rush to inject cash here and this case in the stable corn market, basically we have it well over around 730 million. So again, you’re talking about a really nice increase here, about three a million dollars, nearly doubling the overall amount of USD C.. And I think what you SDC is they’re well audited. Their credit is graded by two of the most respectable companies in the space. You know, again, added at the end of the day, this is a really good thing to see here because of Teather did this. I wouldn’t really bat an eye too much, but what I see. USGBC and paxos and you know, Jemini USD and I see all these other stable coins doing really well. I think it speaks to a global trend here that USD CE as well as other staple coins can act as a really good bridge for institutional capital to get into crypto markets. And it’s all done regulatory and regulatory fashion. It’s done by the books and it’s somewhat two companies who I highly respect and a lot of a lot of regards. So again, keep an eye on this, guys. It is very important. Now, I know a lot of you have probably asked me already in previous video. I know I did talk about the other day. I want to talk a little bit on a few of the topics in traditional markets, but the FSB Financial Stability Board in this case, this is a organization that again focuses on regulatory regulation on a global scale. And a lot of people here were asking me about these comments, again for the G20 finance ministers about whether or not, you know, this is going to have some effect. So this is something again. Notice how the article here that put it up here is from October 2018. This has been a discussion point for a while. G20 and central bank governors have been talking about this for some time and it makes sense why they want to talk about it. Because at the end of the day, know you’ll hear all these different reasons for it. They’re going to say that there’s probably risk in regards to having these censorship resistant stable coins, because that day, basically, if I convert a dollar first David Coin and I have it in my wallet, you know, I can go around and I can use it just like a good cash. Right. And that’s kind of what a stable coin or digital dollar is. It should be that I can exchange it with someone. Right. Just second with cash. But at the end of the day, there’s there’s some concern here from the FSB and a lot of other regulatory bodies that we need to consider the other systematic risks that come with this. And I would assume at the end of the day, it’s the sheer fact that the FSB, FSB and the central bank governors and the G20, you know, individuals who are coming and meeting there probably are concern that they don’t have centralized control over it. So this has been a debate between other central banks across the world who have talked about making sentiment, digital currencies. Some have said should it be completely censorship resistant, should be completely private? Well, we don’t know who is who when they’re exchanging it. And some people said, no, we need to have an actual ledger here. We need to have a backdoor to control. You know, there’s there’s so many different perspectives, guys. And that’s again, the thing I stress, not all central banks are on the same page. We make that very, very clear. I know it’s very easy to jump the gun and say all of them are working in a COBOL together. You know, I know I understand the b.a.’s and all that. That’s very true. But there are different perspectives on how to approach this no matter what their intentions are. And I think at the end of the day, this is really at the end of the day, just surface level talks. We haven’t seen any actionable like severe policy just yet. Nor are we seeing if there is some ideas, but how they would implement it. Anything again, being implemented in the actual system for crypto. And I think, again, the confidence that we’re seeing between Circle and and Coinbase in this case again proves that success in this space. And I think that central banks, as well as the general more important part of regulators are going to allow this to continue, persist and just experiment with it for a while, because so far, stable coins like USD have provided nothing. Think the benefits idea that I can’t think of one negative that they brought. If anything, they’ve made it where people are able to digitally transfer dollars at a much faster rate than traditional systems. And honestly, the cynical part of me says that a lot of central bankers and a lot of traditional figureheads are probably hesitant first able coins. Because of that it is severely more efficient. I can send dollars from here to Japan in less than a minute on a theory about blockchain and I could do it for less than one or two cents worth of. I mean, that’s just incredible. That is huge. There are massive positive ramifications to that for remittance markets, for wire transfers, where it can cost me twenty five to forty five bucks to transfer money through a wire transfer. Can you believe that? So anyway, something that’s a fraction of that cost being going to be sent across the world. Again, very important thing to talking about here. So I’m interested to see how this develops. I have no doubt that the FSB, if it really pushed hard enough. Yeah. They could probably bend stable coins. I’m fine honestly with considering a central bank digital currency, but I want to know the properties of it. All right. I mean, if it’s going to be a dollar stable quick, that’s fine with me. That’s what I’m using when I’m using USD C. I’m just curious what they’re going to do. Because if they implement privacy and a few other features, such as the fact that they can’t seize my dollars in this case, in that case, I’m pretty excited about it. Pretty pumped. I think they’ll be really cool. And I’ll be interested to see what the Fed has to propose as well as ECB, the baggage part of the Bank of England. But I really don’t think I would trust the People’s Bank of China. Sorry for being Bidstrup. Typical. But I’ve learned too much for the piece. The BBC, but also the CCP. Anyways, to a more positive note here. Markets across the world rebounded a decent amount, continuing their rally. And this is not only do a course to fed monetary policy and other central monetary policy, but this is coming out of a lot of confidence out of Gilead Sciences, one of the long largest pharmaceutical companies coming out with some successful Phase 2 trials for their drug for and 19 and their vaccine that they’re working on. So it’s really good to see this. I think it’s a little bit of a premature reaction. I have no doubt that eventually we’re going to start seeing a pullback here over the next few days, guys. But I would not challenge or try to short this market. Maybe if anything, I’ll consider buying puts like basically options in this case that would bet against the market over a certain period of time. But I would not be shorting or holding leverage. Short ETF certainly thing. I know some people have asked me about that. And first off, I can’t take us what to do. You get it. So what you want to do? I personally wouldn’t me personally, because this is a moment of time where you’ve got excessive monetary policy and the Fed is basically mentioned infinite QE. I can be bearish here, but I’ll be honest, I’m bearish in the sense that I’m going to wait off and I’m not really to try to hold these gains because quite frankly, guys, it’s good to see equities doing this performance and, you know, the other day and stuff, again, I set aside cash instead of considering positions in equities. But I’m in no rush to get into it. Crypto right now has been a net benefit more than anything I’ve ever had held in equities. Plain and simple. I have had some really good trades in the past with equities, but I think at the end of the day it’s no rush to get into this. I’m sort of rambling here, right? Markets are going to open up about 2.3 percent to new relative highs here or basically a little bit above where we closed the other day and the mid part of April. Or go ahead here and talk about a few things here. First off, the sector, some index here on LMT are showcasing extremely risky behavior. So basically aggregates a multitude of things over forty five different industries. This is basically it. It measures if like, for example, industrials overbought or, you know, consumer discretionary or technology. Each of these will add a point in this case in the sector. And you can see where we went from negative 40, probably negative 40 to up to about 40, 41. So I would say in this case to be a little bit cautious. Again, this speaks to the tone of what I was discussing earlier. Now, initial unemployment claims, this is very important taking the mining guys over the next few weeks from April to May. We are going to see, again, continued week by week increases in this case of millions of people basically claiming unemployment in this case that each of these weeks I get this is not a declining number in the overall cases of people who are on unemployment or filing for unemployment. This is the declining growth. And after this, the real shock right here is going to happen over these weeks. And then after that, it will likely stagnate. But the important thing to note to make keep in mind here. Sorry. I think the important thing to keep in mind here is that every single week we postpone this opening. Right. These ramifications come in. And I’m not saying that’s not the smart move to just hold off and make sure we can contain it or it’ll come better prepared and knocked out the cases. In fact, flying the curve. What I am saying is that this is why I’ve mentioned very strongly that this is going to have long term ramifications. Another chart here, this really sets in stone. This is the official unemployment rate forecast. There’s you 3, you 5 and you 6 from different measures of unemployment now taking the more conservative measures for unemployment, which again, do not include things that people in part. Basically, people who are working part time, very short hours or for example, might not be seeking work. You’re still going to have unemployment anywhere from around 10 to 12 percent here in November of 2020. And over the summer, that’s expected to finalize around 50 percent. Now, if you’re talking towards a much more realistic statistic of U-6 right now, U-6 is a little far out there. It’s considering everyone who is not employed in this case for a very large number of individuals. Again, I think honestly, both of these metrics are a little bit too biased in one way or another. We’ve talked about it on ShadowStats or a few other things. I think it’s good to have this data, these different perspectives. But I would say is we’re somewhere in the middle 20 percent of the economy is not going to be working this summer and a lot of that is well going into the fall. That’s gonna be about the same case as we Prestowitz 15 percent. And it’s going to persist for a very long time. We’re going to be between 15 to 10 percent unemployment going into 2021. Don’t doubt that this is not only a recession, guys, but these are numbers that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression. And that’s the thing that I drill so hard here. It’s so sad because I don’t want this to be the case, but even the forecasts are saying this. So again, unless we can have some kind of miracle happen, if we expedite a vaccine, if the Fed again provides more stimulus in the short term but doesn’t completely destroy the dollar and we get the flow of things going again, possibly, possibly we can avert a depression and only make this a short term recession. Who knows? I personally think that’s the case. Just trying to be a realist, guys, anyways. Well, let’s talk about some interesting ratios here. S&P 500 related to the 10 year Treasury yield. Very, very interesting. Measuring the yield here on the other Treasury. Excuse me. And basically showcasing here a massive decline. Biggest drop here that we’ve seen for a long period time. Although back I think back to the 1980s. Very interesting correlation against Showcase. And I think the kind of peek at the bond market here that we’ve been seeing again is it’s probably to continue rallying. But again, as we go to negative interest rates, bond prices can go skyrocketing. Right. So, again, very important thing to keep in mind along with that as well. Gold oil ratio, all time highs. You’ve had all of these peaks in the past year. Setting up to a massive ratio with gold picking up steam. Oil dropping like a rock. We’ve had a really interesting ratio again. What I always encourage, guys, it’s always been that in a lot of other Web sites. Look at the ratios. Right. You don’t see this on the mainstream headlines, but this is the kind of stuff you want to look at. Look at ratios between commodities and see not just commodities, but markets and commodities, other stocks between one another. It’s very, very interesting. All right. Five largest companies and S.P., five hundred taken up 19 percent of overall market cap for the S&P 500 is the largest number in history. Breaking out the previous high back here during the dot com bubble. Incredible stuff. Even after the sell off is continue to grow market dominance. This is again. I’d like another way of looking at market dominance like we do in crypto markets, 19 percent, nearly 20 percent. Doesn’t surprise me, though. Amazon’s been dominating the market right now in the sense of making shipments during a time of COBA 19, it’s more relevant than ever. You’ve got Facebook, Netflix, Apple, all these companies are still prevalent one way or another. Right. And then lastly, I want to talk about here. One thing I always try to emphasize with gold. A lot of things that people experience about an argument about gold being a commodity and therefore it can be a store value because it has industrial use case. One thing I always talk about is to take a look at what gold is used for when they just want to share it. Gold is a store value it today, a great store of value. And along with that as well. Yes, it does have some industrial applications, but its value is derived simply from the fact of its properties being great for store of value. And I can explain that here by taking a look at the chart we see here that for over 20 percent is foreign investments, 48 percent is jewelry. Now, again, this is where some people would debate this. This is utility. It’s not an industrial utility. This is a store of wealth. It’s but it’s a way to showcase that wealth alone. That’s why you have central banks and other institutions owning 50 percent and an investment ETF like GLAAD owning up to nine point two one percent. So if you take all of these numbers right, you can calculate. But a really simple way to look at it is just take the number of technology in this case for its actual commercial use. So it’s ninety two point five percent of all gold. That is used simply to store wealth. So they’re sitting in a vault or it’s sitting on your finger or your or your neck, in this case for a chain, right? It’s basically because of the properties, guys. It’s not because it’s properties in industrial use cases, it’s it’s properties in regards to store value. Wanted to share this because I thought L.A. or excuse me, Jezebel about sharing this was really cool. I’ve seen a chart similar to this before, but I was trying to stress it again. A lot of different interesting data points, guys. A lot of things are going on. Right. And a lot of interesting changes here in the crypto space. So again, I want to go ahead and emphasize a few key things here, guys. We’re definitely keeping an eye on equity markets, certainly keeping an eye on gold and silver as gold and silver have continued to pick up here over the last few days, still holding up here to its relative highs, looking like it might make support here on previous resistance. Silver silver is still down a little bit comparative to gold in this case, not making new highs, but we have recovered a lot of losses here. Silver said a nice rally here over the last few weeks. But again, we’re going to keep an eye on all this. The major thing, though, is that I am most bullish on cryptocurrency markets personally. And for those you out there who have crypto currency positions. One day I recommend you all to check out, especially as we have this extension to its tax filing this year is out tax. But now you guys probably heard about tax. But if you’ve been a big fan of the channel and watched videos consecutively. But just let you all know taxpayers are sponsor here, the channel, and they produce tax software that allows you to generate tax forms for your cryptocurrency, positions in your trades to know exactly how much taxes you owe. You can plug in all your exchange platforms. And again, it’s a really simple and smooth platform, right to do simply plug in your API keys and then after that your taxes are filed. So I recommend you guys check it out, see if it’s fit for you. And lot of that as well that you guess rewatch the video. Hope you are having a fantastic day wherever you are. There’s a link down below if you want to check out tax bit to get 10 percent off on any of the packages. That being said, though, guys. Thank you all so much for watching. And I’ll see you off in the next video. Stay tuned.

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source https://cryptosharks.weebly.com/blog/is-bitcoin-set-for-9000-before-the-halving-event

[jeffrmayhugh]

Is Bitcoin Set For $9,000 Before The Halving Event?

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Let’s go out, everyone, my name is Nicholas Martin here, a day to dash in today’s April 17th of twenty twenty. Well, folks, I hope you all are having a fantastic day wherever you are. And in today’s video, I want to talk about a lot of different things. I want to start out by talking about the short term price action in Bitcoin and how we’ve gotten back above seven K and why still believe we’re very much on pace to go to the upper eight thousand or nine thousand dollar range going into the having event. And along with that as well. I want to talk about the emergence of stable coins, a potential major onramp for the cryptocurrency space as it comes more mainstream and tested. And along with that, talking about a lot of major data points in regards to the economy and not just in the economy, but also diving in to specific commodity markets and equity markets. OK. So we’ve got a ton of really interesting stuff to talk about. Let’s just go ahead and dive right into it. So take a look at the last 24 hours here. We can see the vast majority of cryptocurrencies are in the green, but for the most part, most are in a no trend scenario from 1 to 2 percent of the upside and downside. However, we do have some of our players doing well, energy at 6.4 6 percent, chainlink at 3.5 RIN sitting here five point two percent. So again, good play here are good day here for most of our plays here in the sense of the market. And one thing I wanted to share. You guys were quick is I’ve been speaking at a conference. It’s a virtual conference called BLOCK Down 2020. And you guys probably heard me mention it for those who watch every single video. I talked about it a few times. And yeah, it was really awesome. I gave my speech yesterday and along with that, I would be on a panel later this afternoon for the second day of the conference. And this was a really cool illustration that a company called IDEO Inc, which BLOCK Down, has doing illustrations for all the speakers. They basically illustrated in a really awesome creative fashion all of the major points that I talked about in my speech. And it was a really, really cool. I just wanted to give them props. This. I thought it was such a cool design. But just to give you guys a little bit of kind of an update on what it was about real quick, because I think it’s a very relevant topic to what we talk about here on the channel. I basically accommodated the idea that over the last ten to twelve years we hadn’t really learned much from 2008. We continue to prop up the same or similar issues that it caused the crisis. Previously we talked about excessive risk and the credit system through shadow banking. You know, basically shadow banks are banks that are less regulated. These are companies that Quicken Loans, a lot of companies. They’ve started to dominate the mortgage and lending markets along with that as well, hedge funds taking on excessive leverage. And then also this kind of failed idea that monetary policy is going to fix the underlying economy. In reality, it propped up an asset bubble and basically it transitioned into now covered, bringing all those problems to the forefront. We’ve kicked the can down the road with a lot of stimulus in the past, and that’s finally coming to roost. And now we’re getting to a point where we don’t have the same firepower like we did back in the last recession. We can’t lower interest rates as much as we want. We can print a ton of money, but it’s going to start having secondary effects on people through inflation. So what’s the best place you can park your capital when there’s mass inflation and devaluation and of course, possibly negative interest rates, which will penalize savers and those who own treasuries or other government bonds? Well, there’s basically three assets in the world that do that. Gold, silver and bitcoin. Plain and simple as a few other commodities you could probably match in there, but they’re much more driven by market forces of supply and demand. These are more of the hedges that in this case provide you a way to get out of any kind of geopolitical or national ties in this case to any specific economy, if you will. That’s the general gist of what Bitcoin offers here. And it offers an even better argument, the perfect store value in this case because of its limited supply and more specifically, its finite supply. So it was that it was really caught as one of the kind of give you guys a little bit of an update on what I talked about there. But I want to go ahead and talk about yesterday’s performance. Markets did really well. We went for about sixty six hundred up to seventy one hundred, recovering about five days worth of kind of stagnant sideways price action coming back up. And in a close back to the range we’re at now, which is where we were back a week ago. Go ahead. Just pull up the more relevant charge here in the short term. I think a big step is the one I want. Yes. Bitstamp so again, we’re getting very close to where we’re still holding these gains here. And again, I want to emphasize here that we’re continuing to set higher lows and higher highs here. Now, if the momentum really starts to stagnate sideways, I can understand it might be a sell off. But right now, guys, this is looking pretty healthy here. I like seeing this thing work, showing consistency here. The major thing that I like to look for when it comes to bitcoin, because bitcoin is a fast moving market. It is a very select few days. Where does the vast majority of price action? This is something that Tom Lee brings up a lot. It’s a very important thing to see in the market when you’re curious about whether or not the trend is gonna continue or that if we’re in kind of a short term bull phase or long term bull phase, that you’ll want to see this consecutively on a daily and weekly. And that is consecutive green candles. Basically, when you have these kind of pullbacks for a week, we can have you have two or three days where it’s made up instantly, like buyers are basically following and they’re buying it. Well, those are larger players or smaller retail buyers. Basically, you want to see those quick recovery. So here’s a good example back here. We had a pullback two days, one day and we closed on all those losses and continue climbing. Higher again. Back here about three days or we really had our price action equal amount of time or less in order to get back up and then continue higher. Right. So again, give or take or it’s never gonna be exactly perfect. But I like to see here more than anything these periods where the vast majority gains hold and then we have one or two days that just blast through. So I think we’re gonna probably get a continuation throughout today and tomorrow. But the major thing, no matter what happens here in the next 24, 48 hours, this still looks like to me that we’re gonna be probably rallying up here to test up towards the line of resistance. Or you can see here. Right. This is a long term wedge. We’ve talked about this a lot. This is where the having events going to be. We’re getting very close to it. I think you have a lot of pressure applied by said price. You have some people following in because of the having. I’ve told you guys personally, I don’t believe that’s usually like the right thing to do because we think we usually know there’s a sell off after the having event. But something we’re gonna buy anyways just to simply speculate. I don’t run the world right. I’m just one voice in this whole sea of the cryptocurrency space. Right. So some people are going to buy in anticipation for that. The second thing you have is while that actually does build some credence to this is we have China’s central bank digital currency. And again, the short window of time that we have now, it seems, before that comes out basically is a big thing that a lot of Chinese investors have to keep in mind are people who own a lot of wealth in China, because once they transition to that system, it is likely that they are never going to be able to get into Bitcoin or it’s going to have to be in some kind of system where they don’t have their sovereignty over their wealth. It’s a very, very important thing, because if their wealth is under a system that China controls, a central bank, digital currency, in this case, that is going to be very, very bad for a lot of Chinese investors who don’t want the CCP in this case to have control over their money. Right. So anyways, just wanted to emphasize that we saw some of the photos the other day leaking that. So I think this is showcasing a little bit of FOMO sheer volume overall. I mean, nothing crazy. I do like to see where we’re at right now. I’m actually using a dollar adjusted volume metric here. If we take a look here maybe at the monthly, it might become a little more clear, but volume isn’t too bad. But it’s definitely not something you extremely excited about in the bear mind. April isn’t finished. So again, we’re not going to get full on data until the end of the month. Little over halfway there. But all in all, guys, this looks like the longer term technical pattern. We were looking for a long higher lows, higher highs. Having a bet pushes price still sideways for a while. And then we played pickup NBA airplay catch up basically and start leaping forward for the next logarithmic rise into twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two. We’ll see how it all plays out guys. But again, keep focused on that long term view. I know you guys can do it, and I know that for the vast majority of people, this is going to be the best way to look at the market. Just focusing on the long term perspective. All right. So let’s go ahead and talk a little bit about stable coins, because I know a lot of you had asked me the other day about the comments that the FSP made, and we’re gonna be talking about that as well. But I just wanted to go ahead and first talk about the demand here for stable coins. So Circle CEO circles one of the two companies that created USD CE alongside Coinbase and they basically been claiming explosive demand in stable coins and actually not just for traders and a lot of other individuals and the crypto space, but also for businesses as well. And this is something, again, that I’ve really proposed here about DFI. We really need whether it’s more centralized finance or DPH, decentralized finance. We need to see a push for more loans to real world applications outside of just over collateralized margin trading or providing capital to exchanges in the short term. There’s a lot of demand there, no doubt about it. But I think we need to start seeing again this pivot here for stable coins to serve in other areas of the economy, the real world economy outside of just crypto. Right. And I think, again, this is really exciting to see. So this is a chart here. This is, again, public data. You can take a look at it, Coinbase and circle basically basically been having an explosive amount of growth for their stable point here. Right here. If I get the exact number, I want to try to get some somewhere about 40 to 60 million dollars of USD C existed. And just in the past couple of weeks with Koven 19 and the rush to inject cash here and this case in the stable corn market, basically we have it well over around 730 million. So again, you’re talking about a really nice increase here, about three a million dollars, nearly doubling the overall amount of USD C.. And I think what you SDC is they’re well audited. Their credit is graded by two of the most respectable companies in the space. You know, again, added at the end of the day, this is a really good thing to see here because of Teather did this. I wouldn’t really bat an eye too much, but what I see. USGBC and paxos and you know, Jemini USD and I see all these other stable coins doing really well. I think it speaks to a global trend here that USD CE as well as other staple coins can act as a really good bridge for institutional capital to get into crypto markets. And it’s all done regulatory and regulatory fashion. It’s done by the books and it’s somewhat two companies who I highly respect and a lot of a lot of regards. So again, keep an eye on this, guys. It is very important. Now, I know a lot of you have probably asked me already in previous video. I know I did talk about the other day. I want to talk a little bit on a few of the topics in traditional markets, but the FSB Financial Stability Board in this case, this is a organization that again focuses on regulatory regulation on a global scale. And a lot of people here were asking me about these comments, again for the G20 finance ministers about whether or not, you know, this is going to have some effect. So this is something again. Notice how the article here that put it up here is from October 2018. This has been a discussion point for a while. G20 and central bank governors have been talking about this for some time and it makes sense why they want to talk about it. Because at the end of the day, know you’ll hear all these different reasons for it. They’re going to say that there’s probably risk in regards to having these censorship resistant stable coins, because that day, basically, if I convert a dollar first David Coin and I have it in my wallet, you know, I can go around and I can use it just like a good cash. Right. And that’s kind of what a stable coin or digital dollar is. It should be that I can exchange it with someone. Right. Just second with cash. But at the end of the day, there’s there’s some concern here from the FSB and a lot of other regulatory bodies that we need to consider the other systematic risks that come with this. And I would assume at the end of the day, it’s the sheer fact that the FSB, FSB and the central bank governors and the G20, you know, individuals who are coming and meeting there probably are concern that they don’t have centralized control over it. So this has been a debate between other central banks across the world who have talked about making sentiment, digital currencies. Some have said should it be completely censorship resistant, should be completely private? Well, we don’t know who is who when they’re exchanging it. And some people said, no, we need to have an actual ledger here. We need to have a backdoor to control. You know, there’s there’s so many different perspectives, guys. And that’s again, the thing I stress, not all central banks are on the same page. We make that very, very clear. I know it’s very easy to jump the gun and say all of them are working in a COBOL together. You know, I know I understand the b.a.’s and all that. That’s very true. But there are different perspectives on how to approach this no matter what their intentions are. And I think at the end of the day, this is really at the end of the day, just surface level talks. We haven’t seen any actionable like severe policy just yet. Nor are we seeing if there is some ideas, but how they would implement it. Anything again, being implemented in the actual system for crypto. And I think, again, the confidence that we’re seeing between Circle and and Coinbase in this case again proves that success in this space. And I think that central banks, as well as the general more important part of regulators are going to allow this to continue, persist and just experiment with it for a while, because so far, stable coins like USD have provided nothing. Think the benefits idea that I can’t think of one negative that they brought. If anything, they’ve made it where people are able to digitally transfer dollars at a much faster rate than traditional systems. And honestly, the cynical part of me says that a lot of central bankers and a lot of traditional figureheads are probably hesitant first able coins. Because of that it is severely more efficient. I can send dollars from here to Japan in less than a minute on a theory about blockchain and I could do it for less than one or two cents worth of. I mean, that’s just incredible. That is huge. There are massive positive ramifications to that for remittance markets, for wire transfers, where it can cost me twenty five to forty five bucks to transfer money through a wire transfer. Can you believe that? So anyway, something that’s a fraction of that cost being going to be sent across the world. Again, very important thing to talking about here. So I’m interested to see how this develops. I have no doubt that the FSB, if it really pushed hard enough. Yeah. They could probably bend stable coins. I’m fine honestly with considering a central bank digital currency, but I want to know the properties of it. All right. I mean, if it’s going to be a dollar stable quick, that’s fine with me. That’s what I’m using when I’m using USD C. I’m just curious what they’re going to do. Because if they implement privacy and a few other features, such as the fact that they can’t seize my dollars in this case, in that case, I’m pretty excited about it. Pretty pumped. I think they’ll be really cool. And I’ll be interested to see what the Fed has to propose as well as ECB, the baggage part of the Bank of England. But I really don’t think I would trust the People’s Bank of China. Sorry for being Bidstrup. Typical. But I’ve learned too much for the piece. The BBC, but also the CCP. Anyways, to a more positive note here. Markets across the world rebounded a decent amount, continuing their rally. And this is not only do a course to fed monetary policy and other central monetary policy, but this is coming out of a lot of confidence out of Gilead Sciences, one of the long largest pharmaceutical companies coming out with some successful Phase 2 trials for their drug for and 19 and their vaccine that they’re working on. So it’s really good to see this. I think it’s a little bit of a premature reaction. I have no doubt that eventually we’re going to start seeing a pullback here over the next few days, guys. But I would not challenge or try to short this market. Maybe if anything, I’ll consider buying puts like basically options in this case that would bet against the market over a certain period of time. But I would not be shorting or holding leverage. Short ETF certainly thing. I know some people have asked me about that. And first off, I can’t take us what to do. You get it. So what you want to do? I personally wouldn’t me personally, because this is a moment of time where you’ve got excessive monetary policy and the Fed is basically mentioned infinite QE. I can be bearish here, but I’ll be honest, I’m bearish in the sense that I’m going to wait off and I’m not really to try to hold these gains because quite frankly, guys, it’s good to see equities doing this performance and, you know, the other day and stuff, again, I set aside cash instead of considering positions in equities. But I’m in no rush to get into it. Crypto right now has been a net benefit more than anything I’ve ever had held in equities. Plain and simple. I have had some really good trades in the past with equities, but I think at the end of the day it’s no rush to get into this. I’m sort of rambling here, right? Markets are going to open up about 2.3 percent to new relative highs here or basically a little bit above where we closed the other day and the mid part of April. Or go ahead here and talk about a few things here. First off, the sector, some index here on LMT are showcasing extremely risky behavior. So basically aggregates a multitude of things over forty five different industries. This is basically it. It measures if like, for example, industrials overbought or, you know, consumer discretionary or technology. Each of these will add a point in this case in the sector. And you can see where we went from negative 40, probably negative 40 to up to about 40, 41. So I would say in this case to be a little bit cautious. Again, this speaks to the tone of what I was discussing earlier. Now, initial unemployment claims, this is very important taking the mining guys over the next few weeks from April to May. We are going to see, again, continued week by week increases in this case of millions of people basically claiming unemployment in this case that each of these weeks I get this is not a declining number in the overall cases of people who are on unemployment or filing for unemployment. This is the declining growth. And after this, the real shock right here is going to happen over these weeks. And then after that, it will likely stagnate. But the important thing to note to make keep in mind here. Sorry. I think the important thing to keep in mind here is that every single week we postpone this opening. Right. These ramifications come in. And I’m not saying that’s not the smart move to just hold off and make sure we can contain it or it’ll come better prepared and knocked out the cases. In fact, flying the curve. What I am saying is that this is why I’ve mentioned very strongly that this is going to have long term ramifications. Another chart here, this really sets in stone. This is the official unemployment rate forecast. There’s you 3, you 5 and you 6 from different measures of unemployment now taking the more conservative measures for unemployment, which again, do not include things that people in part. Basically, people who are working part time, very short hours or for example, might not be seeking work. You’re still going to have unemployment anywhere from around 10 to 12 percent here in November of 2020. And over the summer, that’s expected to finalize around 50 percent. Now, if you’re talking towards a much more realistic statistic of U-6 right now, U-6 is a little far out there. It’s considering everyone who is not employed in this case for a very large number of individuals. Again, I think honestly, both of these metrics are a little bit too biased in one way or another. We’ve talked about it on ShadowStats or a few other things. I think it’s good to have this data, these different perspectives. But I would say is we’re somewhere in the middle 20 percent of the economy is not going to be working this summer and a lot of that is well going into the fall. That’s gonna be about the same case as we Prestowitz 15 percent. And it’s going to persist for a very long time. We’re going to be between 15 to 10 percent unemployment going into 2021. Don’t doubt that this is not only a recession, guys, but these are numbers that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression. And that’s the thing that I drill so hard here. It’s so sad because I don’t want this to be the case, but even the forecasts are saying this. So again, unless we can have some kind of miracle happen, if we expedite a vaccine, if the Fed again provides more stimulus in the short term but doesn’t completely destroy the dollar and we get the flow of things going again, possibly, possibly we can avert a depression and only make this a short term recession. Who knows? I personally think that’s the case. Just trying to be a realist, guys, anyways. Well, let’s talk about some interesting ratios here. S&P 500 related to the 10 year Treasury yield. Very, very interesting. Measuring the yield here on the other Treasury. Excuse me. And basically showcasing here a massive decline. Biggest drop here that we’ve seen for a long period time. Although back I think back to the 1980s. Very interesting correlation against Showcase. And I think the kind of peek at the bond market here that we’ve been seeing again is it’s probably to continue rallying. But again, as we go to negative interest rates, bond prices can go skyrocketing. Right. So, again, very important thing to keep in mind along with that as well. Gold oil ratio, all time highs. You’ve had all of these peaks in the past year. Setting up to a massive ratio with gold picking up steam. Oil dropping like a rock. We’ve had a really interesting ratio again. What I always encourage, guys, it’s always been that in a lot of other Web sites. Look at the ratios. Right. You don’t see this on the mainstream headlines, but this is the kind of stuff you want to look at. Look at ratios between commodities and see not just commodities, but markets and commodities, other stocks between one another. It’s very, very interesting. All right. Five largest companies and S.P., five hundred taken up 19 percent of overall market cap for the S&P 500 is the largest number in history. Breaking out the previous high back here during the dot com bubble. Incredible stuff. Even after the sell off is continue to grow market dominance. This is again. I’d like another way of looking at market dominance like we do in crypto markets, 19 percent, nearly 20 percent. Doesn’t surprise me, though. Amazon’s been dominating the market right now in the sense of making shipments during a time of COBA 19, it’s more relevant than ever. You’ve got Facebook, Netflix, Apple, all these companies are still prevalent one way or another. Right. And then lastly, I want to talk about here. One thing I always try to emphasize with gold. A lot of things that people experience about an argument about gold being a commodity and therefore it can be a store value because it has industrial use case. One thing I always talk about is to take a look at what gold is used for when they just want to share it. Gold is a store value it today, a great store of value. And along with that as well. Yes, it does have some industrial applications, but its value is derived simply from the fact of its properties being great for store of value. And I can explain that here by taking a look at the chart we see here that for over 20 percent is foreign investments, 48 percent is jewelry. Now, again, this is where some people would debate this. This is utility. It’s not an industrial utility. This is a store of wealth. It’s but it’s a way to showcase that wealth alone. That’s why you have central banks and other institutions owning 50 percent and an investment ETF like GLAAD owning up to nine point two one percent. So if you take all of these numbers right, you can calculate. But a really simple way to look at it is just take the number of technology in this case for its actual commercial use. So it’s ninety two point five percent of all gold. That is used simply to store wealth. So they’re sitting in a vault or it’s sitting on your finger or your or your neck, in this case for a chain, right? It’s basically because of the properties, guys. It’s not because it’s properties in industrial use cases, it’s it’s properties in regards to store value. Wanted to share this because I thought L.A. or excuse me, Jezebel about sharing this was really cool. I’ve seen a chart similar to this before, but I was trying to stress it again. A lot of different interesting data points, guys. A lot of things are going on. Right. And a lot of interesting changes here in the crypto space. So again, I want to go ahead and emphasize a few key things here, guys. We’re definitely keeping an eye on equity markets, certainly keeping an eye on gold and silver as gold and silver have continued to pick up here over the last few days, still holding up here to its relative highs, looking like it might make support here on previous resistance. Silver silver is still down a little bit comparative to gold in this case, not making new highs, but we have recovered a lot of losses here. Silver said a nice rally here over the last few weeks. But again, we’re going to keep an eye on all this. The major thing, though, is that I am most bullish on cryptocurrency markets personally. And for those you out there who have crypto currency positions. One day I recommend you all to check out, especially as we have this extension to its tax filing this year is out tax. But now you guys probably heard about tax. But if you’ve been a big fan of the channel and watched videos consecutively. But just let you all know taxpayers are sponsor here, the channel, and they produce tax software that allows you to generate tax forms for your cryptocurrency, positions in your trades to know exactly how much taxes you owe. You can plug in all your exchange platforms. And again, it’s a really simple and smooth platform, right to do simply plug in your API keys and then after that your taxes are filed. So I recommend you guys check it out, see if it’s fit for you. And lot of that as well that you guess rewatch the video. Hope you are having a fantastic day wherever you are. There’s a link down below if you want to check out tax bit to get 10 percent off on any of the packages. That being said, though, guys. Thank you all so much for watching. And I’ll see you off in the next video. Stay tuned.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-set-for-9000-before-halving-event/ source https://cryptosharks1.tumblr.com/post/615830095569076224

[cryptosharks1]

Is Bitcoin Set For $9,000 Before The Halving Event?

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Let’s go out, everyone, my name is Nicholas Martin here, a day to dash in today’s April 17th of twenty twenty. Well, folks, I hope you all are having a fantastic day wherever you are. And in today’s video, I want to talk about a lot of different things. I want to start out by talking about the short term price action in Bitcoin and how we’ve gotten back above seven K and why still believe we’re very much on pace to go to the upper eight thousand or nine thousand dollar range going into the having event. And along with that as well. I want to talk about the emergence of stable coins, a potential major onramp for the cryptocurrency space as it comes more mainstream and tested. And along with that, talking about a lot of major data points in regards to the economy and not just in the economy, but also diving in to specific commodity markets and equity markets. OK. So we’ve got a ton of really interesting stuff to talk about. Let’s just go ahead and dive right into it. So take a look at the last 24 hours here. We can see the vast majority of cryptocurrencies are in the green, but for the most part, most are in a no trend scenario from 1 to 2 percent of the upside and downside. However, we do have some of our players doing well, energy at 6.4 6 percent, chainlink at 3.5 RIN sitting here five point two percent. So again, good play here are good day here for most of our plays here in the sense of the market. And one thing I wanted to share. You guys were quick is I’ve been speaking at a conference. It’s a virtual conference called BLOCK Down 2020. And you guys probably heard me mention it for those who watch every single video. I talked about it a few times. And yeah, it was really awesome. I gave my speech yesterday and along with that, I would be on a panel later this afternoon for the second day of the conference. And this was a really cool illustration that a company called IDEO Inc, which BLOCK Down, has doing illustrations for all the speakers. They basically illustrated in a really awesome creative fashion all of the major points that I talked about in my speech. And it was a really, really cool. I just wanted to give them props. This. I thought it was such a cool design. But just to give you guys a little bit of kind of an update on what it was about real quick, because I think it’s a very relevant topic to what we talk about here on the channel. I basically accommodated the idea that over the last ten to twelve years we hadn’t really learned much from 2008. We continue to prop up the same or similar issues that it caused the crisis. Previously we talked about excessive risk and the credit system through shadow banking. You know, basically shadow banks are banks that are less regulated. These are companies that Quicken Loans, a lot of companies. They’ve started to dominate the mortgage and lending markets along with that as well, hedge funds taking on excessive leverage. And then also this kind of failed idea that monetary policy is going to fix the underlying economy. In reality, it propped up an asset bubble and basically it transitioned into now covered, bringing all those problems to the forefront. We’ve kicked the can down the road with a lot of stimulus in the past, and that’s finally coming to roost. And now we’re getting to a point where we don’t have the same firepower like we did back in the last recession. We can’t lower interest rates as much as we want. We can print a ton of money, but it’s going to start having secondary effects on people through inflation. So what’s the best place you can park your capital when there’s mass inflation and devaluation and of course, possibly negative interest rates, which will penalize savers and those who own treasuries or other government bonds? Well, there’s basically three assets in the world that do that. Gold, silver and bitcoin. Plain and simple as a few other commodities you could probably match in there, but they’re much more driven by market forces of supply and demand. These are more of the hedges that in this case provide you a way to get out of any kind of geopolitical or national ties in this case to any specific economy, if you will. That’s the general gist of what Bitcoin offers here. And it offers an even better argument, the perfect store value in this case because of its limited supply and more specifically, its finite supply. So it was that it was really caught as one of the kind of give you guys a little bit of an update on what I talked about there. But I want to go ahead and talk about yesterday’s performance. Markets did really well. We went for about sixty six hundred up to seventy one hundred, recovering about five days worth of kind of stagnant sideways price action coming back up. And in a close back to the range we’re at now, which is where we were back a week ago. Go ahead. Just pull up the more relevant charge here in the short term. I think a big step is the one I want. Yes. Bitstamp so again, we’re getting very close to where we’re still holding these gains here. And again, I want to emphasize here that we’re continuing to set higher lows and higher highs here. Now, if the momentum really starts to stagnate sideways, I can understand it might be a sell off. But right now, guys, this is looking pretty healthy here. I like seeing this thing work, showing consistency here. The major thing that I like to look for when it comes to bitcoin, because bitcoin is a fast moving market. It is a very select few days. Where does the vast majority of price action? This is something that Tom Lee brings up a lot. It’s a very important thing to see in the market when you’re curious about whether or not the trend is gonna continue or that if we’re in kind of a short term bull phase or long term bull phase, that you’ll want to see this consecutively on a daily and weekly. And that is consecutive green candles. Basically, when you have these kind of pullbacks for a week, we can have you have two or three days where it’s made up instantly, like buyers are basically following and they’re buying it. Well, those are larger players or smaller retail buyers. Basically, you want to see those quick recovery. So here’s a good example back here. We had a pullback two days, one day and we closed on all those losses and continue climbing. Higher again. Back here about three days or we really had our price action equal amount of time or less in order to get back up and then continue higher. Right. So again, give or take or it’s never gonna be exactly perfect. But I like to see here more than anything these periods where the vast majority gains hold and then we have one or two days that just blast through. So I think we’re gonna probably get a continuation throughout today and tomorrow. But the major thing, no matter what happens here in the next 24, 48 hours, this still looks like to me that we’re gonna be probably rallying up here to test up towards the line of resistance. Or you can see here. Right. This is a long term wedge. We’ve talked about this a lot. This is where the having events going to be. We’re getting very close to it. I think you have a lot of pressure applied by said price. You have some people following in because of the having. I’ve told you guys personally, I don’t believe that’s usually like the right thing to do because we think we usually know there’s a sell off after the having event. But something we’re gonna buy anyways just to simply speculate. I don’t run the world right. I’m just one voice in this whole sea of the cryptocurrency space. Right. So some people are going to buy in anticipation for that. The second thing you have is while that actually does build some credence to this is we have China’s central bank digital currency. And again, the short window of time that we have now, it seems, before that comes out basically is a big thing that a lot of Chinese investors have to keep in mind are people who own a lot of wealth in China, because once they transition to that system, it is likely that they are never going to be able to get into Bitcoin or it’s going to have to be in some kind of system where they don’t have their sovereignty over their wealth. It’s a very, very important thing, because if their wealth is under a system that China controls, a central bank, digital currency, in this case, that is going to be very, very bad for a lot of Chinese investors who don’t want the CCP in this case to have control over their money. Right. So anyways, just wanted to emphasize that we saw some of the photos the other day leaking that. So I think this is showcasing a little bit of FOMO sheer volume overall. I mean, nothing crazy. I do like to see where we’re at right now. I’m actually using a dollar adjusted volume metric here. If we take a look here maybe at the monthly, it might become a little more clear, but volume isn’t too bad. But it’s definitely not something you extremely excited about in the bear mind. April isn’t finished. So again, we’re not going to get full on data until the end of the month. Little over halfway there. But all in all, guys, this looks like the longer term technical pattern. We were looking for a long higher lows, higher highs. Having a bet pushes price still sideways for a while. And then we played pickup NBA airplay catch up basically and start leaping forward for the next logarithmic rise into twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two. We’ll see how it all plays out guys. But again, keep focused on that long term view. I know you guys can do it, and I know that for the vast majority of people, this is going to be the best way to look at the market. Just focusing on the long term perspective. All right. So let’s go ahead and talk a little bit about stable coins, because I know a lot of you had asked me the other day about the comments that the FSP made, and we’re gonna be talking about that as well. But I just wanted to go ahead and first talk about the demand here for stable coins. So Circle CEO circles one of the two companies that created USD CE alongside Coinbase and they basically been claiming explosive demand in stable coins and actually not just for traders and a lot of other individuals and the crypto space, but also for businesses as well. And this is something, again, that I’ve really proposed here about DFI. We really need whether it’s more centralized finance or DPH, decentralized finance. We need to see a push for more loans to real world applications outside of just over collateralized margin trading or providing capital to exchanges in the short term. There’s a lot of demand there, no doubt about it. But I think we need to start seeing again this pivot here for stable coins to serve in other areas of the economy, the real world economy outside of just crypto. Right. And I think, again, this is really exciting to see. So this is a chart here. This is, again, public data. You can take a look at it, Coinbase and circle basically basically been having an explosive amount of growth for their stable point here. Right here. If I get the exact number, I want to try to get some somewhere about 40 to 60 million dollars of USD C existed. And just in the past couple of weeks with Koven 19 and the rush to inject cash here and this case in the stable corn market, basically we have it well over around 730 million. So again, you’re talking about a really nice increase here, about three a million dollars, nearly doubling the overall amount of USD C.. And I think what you SDC is they’re well audited. Their credit is graded by two of the most respectable companies in the space. You know, again, added at the end of the day, this is a really good thing to see here because of Teather did this. I wouldn’t really bat an eye too much, but what I see. USGBC and paxos and you know, Jemini USD and I see all these other stable coins doing really well. I think it speaks to a global trend here that USD CE as well as other staple coins can act as a really good bridge for institutional capital to get into crypto markets. And it’s all done regulatory and regulatory fashion. It’s done by the books and it’s somewhat two companies who I highly respect and a lot of a lot of regards. So again, keep an eye on this, guys. It is very important. Now, I know a lot of you have probably asked me already in previous video. I know I did talk about the other day. I want to talk a little bit on a few of the topics in traditional markets, but the FSB Financial Stability Board in this case, this is a organization that again focuses on regulatory regulation on a global scale. And a lot of people here were asking me about these comments, again for the G20 finance ministers about whether or not, you know, this is going to have some effect. So this is something again. Notice how the article here that put it up here is from October 2018. This has been a discussion point for a while. G20 and central bank governors have been talking about this for some time and it makes sense why they want to talk about it. Because at the end of the day, know you’ll hear all these different reasons for it. They’re going to say that there’s probably risk in regards to having these censorship resistant stable coins, because that day, basically, if I convert a dollar first David Coin and I have it in my wallet, you know, I can go around and I can use it just like a good cash. Right. And that’s kind of what a stable coin or digital dollar is. It should be that I can exchange it with someone. Right. Just second with cash. But at the end of the day, there’s there’s some concern here from the FSB and a lot of other regulatory bodies that we need to consider the other systematic risks that come with this. And I would assume at the end of the day, it’s the sheer fact that the FSB, FSB and the central bank governors and the G20, you know, individuals who are coming and meeting there probably are concern that they don’t have centralized control over it. So this has been a debate between other central banks across the world who have talked about making sentiment, digital currencies. Some have said should it be completely censorship resistant, should be completely private? Well, we don’t know who is who when they’re exchanging it. And some people said, no, we need to have an actual ledger here. We need to have a backdoor to control. You know, there’s there’s so many different perspectives, guys. And that’s again, the thing I stress, not all central banks are on the same page. We make that very, very clear. I know it’s very easy to jump the gun and say all of them are working in a COBOL together. You know, I know I understand the b.a.’s and all that. That’s very true. But there are different perspectives on how to approach this no matter what their intentions are. And I think at the end of the day, this is really at the end of the day, just surface level talks. We haven’t seen any actionable like severe policy just yet. Nor are we seeing if there is some ideas, but how they would implement it. Anything again, being implemented in the actual system for crypto. And I think, again, the confidence that we’re seeing between Circle and and Coinbase in this case again proves that success in this space. And I think that central banks, as well as the general more important part of regulators are going to allow this to continue, persist and just experiment with it for a while, because so far, stable coins like USD have provided nothing. Think the benefits idea that I can’t think of one negative that they brought. If anything, they’ve made it where people are able to digitally transfer dollars at a much faster rate than traditional systems. And honestly, the cynical part of me says that a lot of central bankers and a lot of traditional figureheads are probably hesitant first able coins. Because of that it is severely more efficient. I can send dollars from here to Japan in less than a minute on a theory about blockchain and I could do it for less than one or two cents worth of. I mean, that’s just incredible. That is huge. There are massive positive ramifications to that for remittance markets, for wire transfers, where it can cost me twenty five to forty five bucks to transfer money through a wire transfer. Can you believe that? So anyway, something that’s a fraction of that cost being going to be sent across the world. Again, very important thing to talking about here. So I’m interested to see how this develops. I have no doubt that the FSB, if it really pushed hard enough. Yeah. They could probably bend stable coins. I’m fine honestly with considering a central bank digital currency, but I want to know the properties of it. All right. I mean, if it’s going to be a dollar stable quick, that’s fine with me. That’s what I’m using when I’m using USD C. I’m just curious what they’re going to do. Because if they implement privacy and a few other features, such as the fact that they can’t seize my dollars in this case, in that case, I’m pretty excited about it. Pretty pumped. I think they’ll be really cool. And I’ll be interested to see what the Fed has to propose as well as ECB, the baggage part of the Bank of England. But I really don’t think I would trust the People’s Bank of China. Sorry for being Bidstrup. Typical. But I’ve learned too much for the piece. The BBC, but also the CCP. Anyways, to a more positive note here. Markets across the world rebounded a decent amount, continuing their rally. And this is not only do a course to fed monetary policy and other central monetary policy, but this is coming out of a lot of confidence out of Gilead Sciences, one of the long largest pharmaceutical companies coming out with some successful Phase 2 trials for their drug for and 19 and their vaccine that they’re working on. So it’s really good to see this. I think it’s a little bit of a premature reaction. I have no doubt that eventually we’re going to start seeing a pullback here over the next few days, guys. But I would not challenge or try to short this market. Maybe if anything, I’ll consider buying puts like basically options in this case that would bet against the market over a certain period of time. But I would not be shorting or holding leverage. Short ETF certainly thing. I know some people have asked me about that. And first off, I can’t take us what to do. You get it. So what you want to do? I personally wouldn’t me personally, because this is a moment of time where you’ve got excessive monetary policy and the Fed is basically mentioned infinite QE. I can be bearish here, but I’ll be honest, I’m bearish in the sense that I’m going to wait off and I’m not really to try to hold these gains because quite frankly, guys, it’s good to see equities doing this performance and, you know, the other day and stuff, again, I set aside cash instead of considering positions in equities. But I’m in no rush to get into it. Crypto right now has been a net benefit more than anything I’ve ever had held in equities. Plain and simple. I have had some really good trades in the past with equities, but I think at the end of the day it’s no rush to get into this. I’m sort of rambling here, right? Markets are going to open up about 2.3 percent to new relative highs here or basically a little bit above where we closed the other day and the mid part of April. Or go ahead here and talk about a few things here. First off, the sector, some index here on LMT are showcasing extremely risky behavior. So basically aggregates a multitude of things over forty five different industries. This is basically it. It measures if like, for example, industrials overbought or, you know, consumer discretionary or technology. Each of these will add a point in this case in the sector. And you can see where we went from negative 40, probably negative 40 to up to about 40, 41. So I would say in this case to be a little bit cautious. Again, this speaks to the tone of what I was discussing earlier. Now, initial unemployment claims, this is very important taking the mining guys over the next few weeks from April to May. We are going to see, again, continued week by week increases in this case of millions of people basically claiming unemployment in this case that each of these weeks I get this is not a declining number in the overall cases of people who are on unemployment or filing for unemployment. This is the declining growth. And after this, the real shock right here is going to happen over these weeks. And then after that, it will likely stagnate. But the important thing to note to make keep in mind here. Sorry. I think the important thing to keep in mind here is that every single week we postpone this opening. Right. These ramifications come in. And I’m not saying that’s not the smart move to just hold off and make sure we can contain it or it’ll come better prepared and knocked out the cases. In fact, flying the curve. What I am saying is that this is why I’ve mentioned very strongly that this is going to have long term ramifications. Another chart here, this really sets in stone. This is the official unemployment rate forecast. There’s you 3, you 5 and you 6 from different measures of unemployment now taking the more conservative measures for unemployment, which again, do not include things that people in part. Basically, people who are working part time, very short hours or for example, might not be seeking work. You’re still going to have unemployment anywhere from around 10 to 12 percent here in November of 2020. And over the summer, that’s expected to finalize around 50 percent. Now, if you’re talking towards a much more realistic statistic of U-6 right now, U-6 is a little far out there. It’s considering everyone who is not employed in this case for a very large number of individuals. Again, I think honestly, both of these metrics are a little bit too biased in one way or another. We’ve talked about it on ShadowStats or a few other things. I think it’s good to have this data, these different perspectives. But I would say is we’re somewhere in the middle 20 percent of the economy is not going to be working this summer and a lot of that is well going into the fall. That’s gonna be about the same case as we Prestowitz 15 percent. And it’s going to persist for a very long time. We’re going to be between 15 to 10 percent unemployment going into 2021. Don’t doubt that this is not only a recession, guys, but these are numbers that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression. And that’s the thing that I drill so hard here. It’s so sad because I don’t want this to be the case, but even the forecasts are saying this. So again, unless we can have some kind of miracle happen, if we expedite a vaccine, if the Fed again provides more stimulus in the short term but doesn’t completely destroy the dollar and we get the flow of things going again, possibly, possibly we can avert a depression and only make this a short term recession. Who knows? I personally think that’s the case. Just trying to be a realist, guys, anyways. Well, let’s talk about some interesting ratios here. S&P 500 related to the 10 year Treasury yield. Very, very interesting. Measuring the yield here on the other Treasury. Excuse me. And basically showcasing here a massive decline. Biggest drop here that we’ve seen for a long period time. Although back I think back to the 1980s. Very interesting correlation against Showcase. And I think the kind of peek at the bond market here that we’ve been seeing again is it’s probably to continue rallying. But again, as we go to negative interest rates, bond prices can go skyrocketing. Right. So, again, very important thing to keep in mind along with that as well. Gold oil ratio, all time highs. You’ve had all of these peaks in the past year. Setting up to a massive ratio with gold picking up steam. Oil dropping like a rock. We’ve had a really interesting ratio again. What I always encourage, guys, it’s always been that in a lot of other Web sites. Look at the ratios. Right. You don’t see this on the mainstream headlines, but this is the kind of stuff you want to look at. Look at ratios between commodities and see not just commodities, but markets and commodities, other stocks between one another. It’s very, very interesting. All right. Five largest companies and S.P., five hundred taken up 19 percent of overall market cap for the S&P 500 is the largest number in history. Breaking out the previous high back here during the dot com bubble. Incredible stuff. Even after the sell off is continue to grow market dominance. This is again. I’d like another way of looking at market dominance like we do in crypto markets, 19 percent, nearly 20 percent. Doesn’t surprise me, though. Amazon’s been dominating the market right now in the sense of making shipments during a time of COBA 19, it’s more relevant than ever. You’ve got Facebook, Netflix, Apple, all these companies are still prevalent one way or another. Right. And then lastly, I want to talk about here. One thing I always try to emphasize with gold. A lot of things that people experience about an argument about gold being a commodity and therefore it can be a store value because it has industrial use case. One thing I always talk about is to take a look at what gold is used for when they just want to share it. Gold is a store value it today, a great store of value. And along with that as well. Yes, it does have some industrial applications, but its value is derived simply from the fact of its properties being great for store of value. And I can explain that here by taking a look at the chart we see here that for over 20 percent is foreign investments, 48 percent is jewelry. Now, again, this is where some people would debate this. This is utility. It’s not an industrial utility. This is a store of wealth. It’s but it’s a way to showcase that wealth alone. That’s why you have central banks and other institutions owning 50 percent and an investment ETF like GLAAD owning up to nine point two one percent. So if you take all of these numbers right, you can calculate. But a really simple way to look at it is just take the number of technology in this case for its actual commercial use. So it’s ninety two point five percent of all gold. That is used simply to store wealth. So they’re sitting in a vault or it’s sitting on your finger or your or your neck, in this case for a chain, right? It’s basically because of the properties, guys. It’s not because it’s properties in industrial use cases, it’s it’s properties in regards to store value. Wanted to share this because I thought L.A. or excuse me, Jezebel about sharing this was really cool. I’ve seen a chart similar to this before, but I was trying to stress it again. A lot of different interesting data points, guys. A lot of things are going on. Right. And a lot of interesting changes here in the crypto space. So again, I want to go ahead and emphasize a few key things here, guys. We’re definitely keeping an eye on equity markets, certainly keeping an eye on gold and silver as gold and silver have continued to pick up here over the last few days, still holding up here to its relative highs, looking like it might make support here on previous resistance. Silver silver is still down a little bit comparative to gold in this case, not making new highs, but we have recovered a lot of losses here. Silver said a nice rally here over the last few weeks. But again, we’re going to keep an eye on all this. The major thing, though, is that I am most bullish on cryptocurrency markets personally. And for those you out there who have crypto currency positions. One day I recommend you all to check out, especially as we have this extension to its tax filing this year is out tax. But now you guys probably heard about tax. But if you’ve been a big fan of the channel and watched videos consecutively. But just let you all know taxpayers are sponsor here, the channel, and they produce tax software that allows you to generate tax forms for your cryptocurrency, positions in your trades to know exactly how much taxes you owe. You can plug in all your exchange platforms. And again, it’s a really simple and smooth platform, right to do simply plug in your API keys and then after that your taxes are filed. So I recommend you guys check it out, see if it’s fit for you. And lot of that as well that you guess rewatch the video. Hope you are having a fantastic day wherever you are. There’s a link down below if you want to check out tax bit to get 10 percent off on any of the packages. That being said, though, guys. Thank you all so much for watching. And I’ll see you off in the next video. Stay tuned.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoin-set-for-9000-before-halving-event/