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[bookqueen1755]

Or Else - Chapter 2

- Synopsis: When Liv Olson, a cynical, ambitious photographer, is given the chance of a life time to come to Tokyo and start her career, she finds that she may have bitten off more then she can chew, especially when she discovers Tokyo's superhero in the form of a large metal man is actually famous baseball player, Ken Sato. Things get even crazier when her best friend is kidnapped by a secret organization known as Nebula and it seems the only one she can turn to is Ultraman. But his arrogance and ginormous ego means Liv is less then enthusiastic to trust the guy, and how's the best way to secure someone's trust? Simple: blackmail. Forced to work together, Liv and Ken must join forces to stop Nebula, realizing they may share a common goal. But can they push aside their differences and rivaling egos to save the people they love most and work as a team...and possibly more?

- Content warnings: None in particular. Just a bit of violence and the occasional cussing, nothing that wasn't in Ultraman: Rising. - Quick Side note: This story takes place after the events of Ultraman: Rising and acts like a sequel.

“This is totally awesome!” Dean hollered, throwing himself onto the beds thick crispy white sheets. Liv rolled her eyes good naturedly as she stood in front of her own separate bed, unpacking the clothes from her suitcase. Their room was large and grand with pearly white walls, fluffy black carpet and a large tv across from their beds. A bathroom veered off to the left of their suite and two glass doors near Liv’s bed lead out to a jutted balcony overlooking the city. They’d arrived in Tokyo during the late afternoon and Liv could just make out the sun through in between the tall glass buildings stretching across the city, still barely hanging above the horizon from their hotel balcony. Looking at the view, their room and the fact they were on one of the highest floors of the building, she was once again grateful Mrs. Arakawa had insisted on paying for their stay as she was sure even spending a day here would leave her completely broke. Only asking for in return one of the best pieces of photographic art she had ever seen. No pressure at all.

“I still can’t believe you were able to convince your work to allow you a whole month off.”

“Come on, who can say no to this face?” He shot her a bright smile, propping his head up on one hand. “And anyway, I built up a crap ton of annual leave, I never took any sick days off, I worked during thanksgiving and Christmas because my parents took a trip to Puerto Rico to visit family and refused to buy me a ticket, so I am good to go.”

“Doesn’t Dr Cole miss his favorite assistant back at the lab, what about the oh so secret and revolutionary project you’ve been bragging about helping him make or has he found someone more competent to help him?” Liv teased.

Dean scrunched up his face mockingly. “Ha, ha, no he hasn’t. Dr Cole and I have a deal. He was chill with letting me come to Tokyo, if, I find something interesting to post on my channel, Uncovering Myth and Matters.”

Liv starred at him, deadpan. “You have a weird relationship with your boss Dean.”

“It’s an awesome relationship. And Dr Cole’s got everything covered. The machines pretty much already to go, he’s just got to work out the last of the wiring and it will be ready for the gala a week after we get back to LA.”

Liv raised an eyebrow at him, grinning. “Oh, so it’s a machine.”

Dean shot up almost hurtling himself off the bed, waving his hands vehemently. “Gah, no I wasn’t supposed to say that! You can’t tell anybody, it’s top secret!” He shrieked.

“Oh no I’m gonna tell everyone. I’m gonna run to the top of the hotel and shout about it for all of Tokyo to hear.”

Dean narrowed his eyes at her, threateningly. “Do that and I will push you.”

Liv hummed, unmoved by his threat and checked her phone with a huff. “It’s five now, we should probably get going.”

Dean leaped off the bed, pumping his fists in the air. “Yes, I am so pumped, I’ve been waiting for this moment all week!”

 Liv groaned. “I can’t believe you actually bought yourself a ticket to sit around for three whole hours and watch a bunch of grown, sweaty men, stand around a field, hitting a ball around.”

“Correction. I brought us,” he flipped out two white tickets, beaming, “tickets to sit around for three whole hours and watch a bunch of grown, sweaty men, stand around a field, hitting a ball around.”

Liv snickered, grabbing a clothes hangar from the wardrobe across the room. “There are baseball games on literally every other week back in LA, why do you want to see one here so badly?”

“Because Liv, those games don’t have Ken Sato, the greatest living baseball player on their teams!”

Liv tried to recall who he was referring to. The name sounded familiar. Liv had heard Dean bring it up on one or two occasions, more than that probably. “Are you talking about that Japanese guy that you always used to rave about? I thought you said he played for the Diggers or something?” She asked, her brain faintly remembering Dean coming home excited one day, waving around a sport card with the image of a tall, lanky Asian man swinging a baseball bat.

“Dodger’s and that was over nine months ago woman, keep up! When I found out he was being transferred over to the Giants and moving back to Tokyo I was super bummed, I ranted to you about it for days!”

“Aw, is Dean in love?” Liv gushed, batting her eyes at him.

Dean rolled his eyes. “Very funny. My only love in life is science. And Quesitos.”

“What am I, chop liver?”

“No, but I wouldn’t love you if you were that either.”

She swiped a pillow from her bed and tried to throw it at his head, but he dodged it, snickering. Liv growled and snatched her last stack of clothes from inside her suitcase, storming off toward the bathroom. “I am going to get changed, I’m not going out wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. I swear that taxi driver that dropped us off cut the cost of our ride in half because he thought we were poor.”

“We are poor.”

“The rest of Tokyo doesn’t need to know that!” She slammed the bathroom door behind her.

[bookqueen1755]

Or Else -

- Synopsis: When Liv Olson, a cynical, ambitious photographer, is given the chance of a life time to come to Tokyo and start her career, she finds that she may have bitten off more then she can chew, especially when she discovers Tokyo's superhero in the form of a large metal man is actually famous baseball player, Ken Sato. Things get even crazier when her best friend is kidnapped by a secret organization known as Nebula and it seems the only one she can turn to is Ultraman. But his arrogance and ginormous ego means Liv is less then enthusiastic to trust the guy, and how's the best way to secure someone's trust? Simple: blackmail. Forced to work together, Liv and Ken must join forces to stop Nebula, realizing they may share a common goal. But can they push aside their differences and rivaling egos to save the people they love most and work as a team...and possibly more?

- Content warnings: None in particular. Just a bit of violence and the occasional cussing, nothing that wasn't in Ultraman: Rising. - Quick Side note: This story takes place after the events of Ultraman: Rising and acts like a sequel.

Liv couldn’t stop her eyes from flitting to the blank page of her notepad and the view outside her plane window. They still had a few hours left until they arrived in Tokyo, but Liv knew deep down it wouldn’t matter. They could keep flying for days and her brain would still be unable to conjure up a single imaginative thought.

She bit her lip, restlessly tapping her pencil against the top of her notebook with her middle and index finger. “Are you punishing yourself or the book?” Liv narrowed her eyes at Dean who was smirking in the seat next to her with his laptop opened up in front of him.

“Unless you can conjure up a creative idea of what the hell I could give Mrs. Arakawa to show at her exhibition in a month’s time I don’t want to hear a single snide remark come out of your mouth.” She ripped out the blank page she had been staring at and balled it up into a ball, aiming it at his head.

“Hey, take it easy, I’m only teasing!” He insisted though Liv could tell he was trying to suppress a laugh.

Liv groaned and hit her head on the back of her head rest. “We’ve been on a plane for nine hours and I still have no idea what to do for this piece that Mrs. Arakawa assigned me to make. I’ve already gone over all my old photos hoping to get inspired, but I’ve come up completely dry. Why is this so hard?”

“Because your entire future and career as a photographer hinges on you making a grand piece that is going to be put up in one of the most famous art museums in the whole world?”

Liv shot daggers at him. “Wow, thank you so much Dean, that was very helpful.” She turned away from him and went back to glaring at her notepad.

“Okay, okay I get it, I’m not helping, I’m sorry.” Liv didn’t bother to look up at him again and pretended she hadn’t heard him. A moment later he snatched her notebook out of her hands, holding it out of arms reach.

“Hey give that back!”

“Why, so you can go back to staring at it for the next three hours?”

“Dean I swear to God, I will stab you with this pencil if you don’t give me my notebook back right-”

“Liv.”

She finally looked at him only to see his warm brown eyes crinkled in concern, his mouth pulled into a frown, all earlier traces of teasing gone. The look melted some of her earlier irritation away and Liv fell back against her chair with a huff, crossing her arms over chest.

Sensing it safe to talk again, Dean said softly, “your being way too hard on yourself. You’ve been stressing over this photo for the last week, and you look exhausted. Let’s just focus on getting to Tokyo, we’ll do some sightseeing, check out some places, get your creative juices flowing and by the time the exhibition rolls around, you’ll have conjured up the best photo the whole of Tokyo has ever seen, and Mrs. Arakawa will be so impressed she’ll have no choice but to give you that recommendation to be sponsored by the LA Art Museum so that you can become the world’s greatest photographer ever.”

Liv raised an eyebrow at him, skeptical. He smiled back, his face full of conviction and determination, leaving no room for doubt. Liv found his optimism contagious, and a small smile tugged at her lips as she sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder. “Thanks D, you’re the best.”

Dean and Liv had met at the University of Southern California six years ago when they’d shared a dorm. He’d been the closest thing she had ever had to a brother and had treated her like family. More than her own family in recent years anyway. He’d at least been there for her. Through exams, late night study sessions, graduation, apartment hunting, failed gallery openings, debt, he’d always been there. They’d been inseparable ever since.

“I know, it’s about time you acknowledge my brilliance.”

She pulled back, shoving his shoulder. “Never mind, I take back everything I said, you’ve ruined it.” He cackled and she took the opportunity to swipe her notepad back, shoving it into the backpack at her feet. She caught sight of her phone floating around inside and fighting all common sense, she picked it up and decided to check to see if she had any new messages. They’d been in such a rush this morning, packing the last of their belongings before booking it to the airport that she hadn’t had time to check, and even though she knew it was pointless, she scrolled through her notifications. Nothing. Typical. She shoved her phone back into her bag and kicked it back underneath her chair, slumping down into her seat. She didn’t know what she had expected. It’s not like her dad had cared when she opened her first art gallery, or when she’d brought her first apartment, or when she’d gotten her degree and graduated. God, she was pathetic. She had just gotten a huge career opportunity, was on her way to becoming a real photographer and finally making something of herself, and she was sitting here sulking and thinking about her dad who clearly hadn’t spared her a single thought in the last seven years.

Dean must have noticed her sour mood because when he looked up from his laptop, his eyes searched her grimace, his expression softening recognizing the look on her face all to well. “Your dad?”

“No response. Not surprising.”

“Have you talked to him recently?”

“No. I didn’t even get the apology call with the usual list of excuses. Not a peep.”

He rested a comforting hand on her shoulder, squeezing. “Sorry Liv.”

She just shrugged, her disappointment melting into exhaustion at the amount of energy she put towards having faith in her father. “Whatever. Who needs him right?”

Dean gave her a confident nod, his eyes burning with resolve. “Yeah, you’ll show him. When you become a famous photographer, I bet he’ll come crawling right back.”

Liv snorted, smirking at him. “Now that would be a picture worth a millions dollars.”

[bookqueen1755]

I really like the entire It Lives series. I do. In fact I will even go ahead and say it may be one of the best series Choices has ever written. But my biggest issue in the series and the thing that to this day, still makes my blood boil is the ending scene of It Lives in the Woods.

Like, my character spent the entire novel having to deal with everyone else's shit, no one ever asking me if I was okay, I literally sacrificed myself, saved all of my friend's, including Noah, and these assholes did not even have the decency, the bare minimum decency to speak at my memorial like, the fuck?! And especially knowing what happens if all your friends die and your the only one left to speak at the memorial you say some very heartfelt words about all of them even though, you know they did not deserve it. It just pisses me off cause like, throughout the entire novel, like I said, I felt like none of our "friends" really gave a shit about us. The chapter after we find Cody's dead body in our tree get's what, two, three paragraphs of dialogue and then people just stop caring and forget about it. Which pretty much summarizes how the rest of the story will go.

Like that whole ending was, so stupid! Where the hell are MC's parent's, wouldn't they be devastated? Like imagine being over sea's and you get a phone call from the police saying that your only child is dead. Losing a kid in and of itself is horrible, especially in such a sudden, horrific way but not even being there, having to hear about it over the phone from another friken country like what the actual fuck? I really feel like MC's parent's should have been more involved in the series at the very least shouldn't they have said something at the memorial, was our character that big of a loser that their own parent's didn't even speak up, not even a "yeah they were a decent kid, sucks that their dead now." Like, you didn't even have to have the parents appear on screen, you could have just had Mayor Green mention that they had already spoken before Connor took to the podium.

Speaking of which, why the fuck was Connor the one who spoke up for us, hell why was Connor speaking at all, he pretty much had nothing to do with the story until the last second, why would they pick him, like I get your choices were limited because our friends are all selfish cowards, but still. And then, he didn't even have the decency to make it a good speech, he said more heartfelt words about Cora who he didn't even know. And the worst part is, his whole little speech about our character, wasn't even about our character, it was about him, he kept saying "I think," "If I had," there was nothing said about MC's sacrifice or how they saved all their friends, nothing. So you'll talk about Cora's sacrifice and how she died to protect the town but not doing it for MC who did the EXACT SAME THING as her. (honestly It Live's Within really redeemed this guy in my opinion, I did not give a flying fuck about him throughout the entire series except for the last book).

Also, this is a problem that I noticed throughout the whole book but like, doesn't MC have, I don't know, other friends. We go through out the entire book without MC ever mentioning if they had any friends outside of the gang, again no one spoke for them at the memorial except for Connor and his half assed speech that was really all about him. I don't know what it is but I really don't like the idea that MC just never made a single friend outside of the gang who weren't really all that great of friends to begin with. I guess I could understand it from like not wanting to lose another friend after what happened to Jane, but that's not really how the narrative handles it. I'm not expecting them to be overwhelmingly popular like how Dan, Lucas and Stacy were, the story clearly state's there a loser at their school but did they seriously not make a single friend? I don't believe that.

I'm sorry this rant was a lot and maybe you disagree with me which is fine. I just really, really don't like how this scene was written and it was one of my least favorite scenes throughout the entire It Lives series.

[bookqueen1755]

Matthias and MC’s relationship be like:

[bookqueen1755]

Found myself thinking of these two bitches again and with It Lives Within coming to an end, I thought I would reminisce back to the good old days when Noah was in love with a shadow monster, all the angst and emotional trauma, good times goooooooood times...

[bookqueen1755]

The School for Good and Evil movie review: SPOILERS

Okay, so I heard the School for Good and Evil series was being adapted and I finally got around to reading the first book before the movie came out and honestly, I really liked it. Yes there were some major changes, some great some bad as there is bound to be whenever a book gets adapted, but overall I really liked it and found it really enjoyable. We also have to take into consideration that there is a time limit and movies can’t go on forever and while I wish they had made the series into a tv show, not a movie, we probably would have never gotten the amazing effects, outfits and settings that were given to us in the movie. I would very much like to see a second book adapted so that the directors and producers can improve for next time, other then this I do really love the book and movie and hope that it gains enough popularity and likes to get a sequel.

CHANGES I LIKED:

- Agatha and Tedros’s chemistry, I liked that they spent more time together and that Tedros didn’t  try to kill her at the end of the movie like he did in the book.

- They made Sophie’s character far more likable and less of a brat while still showing signs of her narcissistic personality.

- I also like how they made Tedros better, as I felt he came of as rather sexist in the book and more dismissive of Agatha.

- I loved the dresses and even though the school uniforms were great, I adored all of the different outfits worn by the Ever’s and Never’s.

- Also glad we saw more of Hort as he is adorable and I love him dearly.

- I liked how we got a little more background on Rafal and how he had deceived the two schools. I also find it good to see him pop up more and interact with Sophie as it added more build up to his and Sophie’s toxic romance.

- Liked how they used pop music during Sophie’s catwalk and the fight between Never’s and Ever’s.

- Hester’s tattoo was sick

CHANGES I DISLIKED:

- I know they were on a time frame but I do wish they had included more from the books such as the relationship between Agatha, Sophie and the Coven.

- More of Kiko and Agatha.

- I felt like some parts were slower and detailed and others were just really fast paced which meant excluding a lot of important stuff from the book.

- I like that they included the Snow Ball but wish they had shown the Circus of Talents as I adored the scene were Tedros asks Agatha to the ball.

- I wish they had extended on the Trial by Tales as it was a major plot in the series and not only Sophie and Tedros competed.

- I don’t know why they made Agatha and Sophie unaware about the School for Good and Evil as the whole point was that the town had been aware of the school and knew that Agatha and Sophie were next to be taken.

- Okay this is just a dislike I also have with the book and that’s the kiss between Agatha and Sophie. It is stated that the two of them are best friends and love each other like sisters so why on earth did they kiss? It wasn’t needed, maybe instead a kiss on the forehead. I get that it was more like a farewell kiss and their was no romantic intention behind it (also when that guy from the books called Agatha ‘queer’ he meant strange and odd, which is what the word means if you look up the definition). But at the end of the day this is just my thought, I know there was no romantic intention behind it, it was just a platonic gesture of love between friends.

THINGS I HOPE TO SEE IN THE FUTURE:

- More of the coven.

- I’d like to see things from Tedros point of view as I always found him to be a complex character.

- More Hester and Anadil as what I saw from their brief interactions in the movie and major interactions in the book these two are very sweet towards each other and follow my favourite trope “I hate everyone in the world but you.”

- Just in general try to follow the books more, some changes are good, and necessary, but some are just unneeded.

Well that's all thank you all so much for listening and have a great day😁

[bookqueen1755]

So this is a sketch I did of Nyx and her familiar, Kan the white tiger. She found him when he was just a cub and he was stranded on a rock in the middle of a lake, abandoned so naturally she took him in and now he’s her baby🥺 He try’s to eat Faust every now and again though😂

[bookqueen1755]

Digital art

Sooooo, in case any of you where wondering why I never do digital art, it’s mostly because I don’t have the material’s for it, like I know there's a special app that people use to make digital art, but I can’t get it on my laptop and I don’t have an iPad, but I will hopefully be getting one for Christmas so I can begin to make digital art so, fingers crossed🤞🏼😁

[bookqueen1755]

So as you all know, The Arcana just released a new short story featuring one of their characters from another game they invented called Fictif, so naturally I had to download it. The first story I tried was Last Legacy and I’ll admit, at first I wasn’t really into it, but after awhile I couldn’t stop playing it, so of coarse I had to draw my MC, Eleanor a fiery red head with a whole lot of sass.

                    Eleanor Lopez

Age: 24

Pronouns: She/Her

Birthday: June 8

Height: 5′2

MBTI: ENTJ

Job Class: Barista

Fashion Sense: Western

One Fear: Dentists

Most Likely to: Carry a weapon of some sort around with her everywhere

Other: She cut’s her own hair

Favourite Food: Cheese burger and chips with ketchup

                        “Did I say you could talk? No? Then shut up.”

[bookqueen1755]

So I’m newish to the Arcana fandom, but I am already head over heels in love with it, I noticed a lot of people doing fanart of their Apprentice so I’ve done mine: 

NYX

A water genasi monk, and apprentice with a wise, playful persona and an urge to find her memories.

* Favourite food: Khaosay Thote

* Favourite drink: Fermented tea

* Favourite flower: Dendrobium Bensoniae