#(him screaming as the happy pills wore off before falling into a coma)

[cheese-water]

I just wanna say, after the whole Forever debacle, this is another instance of Tubbo having weirdly accurate hunches. Not talking the donowall stuff but about his perception towards the N.I.N.H.O and Forever himself.

There’s a reason why he hasn’t set up Sunny’s N.I.N.H.O room yet. Even after being gifted one by Forever. Just a small joke said in response to Forever explaining how eggs and their parents can double reinforce their rooms so that even he couldn’t access them.

“Alright. Well as long as you don’t go crazy again, I’m not fussed.”

Tubbo then not only places Sunny’s warp plate out in the open but also pulls Sunny aside to reassure her that they will create their own safety precautions outside of the N.I.N.H.O. How that he’s found ways with newer mods to make a better safety system that he will use on his own.

Like at first, I wanted him to make improvements on the already existing N.I.N.H.O to protect more eggs. But now, thank GOD he didn’t.

[adriennescomingbacktolife]

(VII)

   “Those shades aren’t fooling anyone.”    Hesitantly, Angie Straussler’s daughter removed the knockoff Ray-Ban Jackie Ooh sunglasses. Angie reached across the small round table and touched Adrienne’s cheek, remarking softly, “Goddamn it, Ade.”    Another extended stay in Baltimore had ended much the same as any of the previous trips: being picked up by her mother. She had managed to delay the judgment on her sudden decision to just leave without notice for the night. She was tired and as soon as she entered her apartment, Adrienne collapsed on the couch. But it was only inevitable that she would be sitting across from her mother at a Starbucks just a few blocks away. Angie was insistent that they talk.    “I’m okay, mom.” She mumbled, embarrassed by her exasperation. Adrienne knew that her mom was reacting to the shiner she had acquired from the final blows that Hudson gave her prior to capturing the victory for her team. We Are Relentless had been a bewildering evening. Sure, she had won. That’s what a lot of folks will talk about. Not only that, it was Adrienne’s third win in a row but she wasn’t counting. She more so relished in the special moment that transpired even with something as innocuous as a temporary tattoo. And then that meeting with Zane King. Not sure what to think about that. Just what had he gone through?    “Adrienne.”    Taking a sip of her hot chocolate, Adrienne concluded that it was still too hot even with the abundant amount of whipped cream lurking beneath the lid. Setting it down on a napkin, she then looked in her mother’s eyes. With a little more bass in her voice, she reaffirmed her status. “Really, I’m okay.”    Angie furrowed her brow, as well as setting her jaw. Adrienne could tell her mother was a little agitated with her and this had been building up for quite a while. Underneath the table, she twisted the gold wedding band around her finger. The ambience of the coffee shop settled in: the folksy music, quiet murmur of other conversations, and the hustle and bustle of the employees. Adrienne flinched a little as her mother’s gaze as she finally broke the silence, “I’m not worried about what’s going on. I still don’t like it but you seem to be getting along well … up there.”    “Okay, then what?”    “Your life is here.”    Mrs. Straussler’s hand shot across the table, her long red nails digging into the soft flesh of Adrienne’s forearm. Her smile framed by loud crimson lipstick, a grotesque representation of her true expressions, as her voice rumbled throughout the shop, “And you’re never leaving!”        The monitor overhead in the abandoned control room cut off. Adrienne Levi sighed before pressing the red transmit button, “That’s not what happened.”    “I thought it was funny.”    “It wasn’t.” She paused, keeping the button held. It wasn’t only not funny, Adrienne was more than a little annoyed at this situation. Trying her best to hide her aggravation, she continued, “I’ve been here for days and all you’ve been doing is messing with me.”    The voice on the other side responds with a mousy meek voice, barely stifling their giggles, “Like when I made you think you were talking to yourself?”    Adrienne pushed the microphone away in disgust. To hell with this, she thought with a flash of anger.    “Or honestly, this whole preposterous set up.” The voice wasn’t coming from the console. And it wasn’t an approximation of her voice anymore. It was a deep rumbling bellow and this time, it was coming from behind her. “Awful rude of you to disturb my rest.”    Turning slowly, she watched as a shadowy form rose from its previously seated position.    “Why’d you come out here, girl? Looking for something?” Cackling, the form stepped into the trembling ray of light from Adrienne’s flashlight. Bones creaked as the corpse stumbled forward, it’s jaw jacking, “There ain’t nothing ‘cept the reruns of your life here.”    “But that isn’t what happened!”    “I don’t give a mutant rat’s ass. Might as well been. Look at you…”    The monitor flickered to life, showing Adrienne at her worst in rapid succession. A blustering, sobbing mess.    “Fuckin’ crybaby.”    Surprisingly not frightened by a reanimated skeleton, Adrienne balled up her fists.    “Dropping your baggage on whoever will listen to the pretty sad girl. Dopes, all of them.”    Upon reflection, she’d had these deep emotional moments with so many people lately. Some had made her feel better. Some not so much. But, if she was really just making them feel worse, that’d make her a pretty bad person.    “Cept that one weird guy. Fuck, they’re all weird. You know who I mean, card boy. Tells you to start living for yourself. Have one measly selfish bone in your body and all you can do is stammer on about yer Mommy. I don’t what’s more pathetic: you going around living this lie or this silly quest you’re on.”    After reaching behind his back, the skeleton in the tattered green jacket tossed something at Adrienne. The sword clattered at her feet.    “There you go. What you were looking for, right? This rusted piece of shit is make believe, girl. Just like all of this.”    Adrienne didn’t want to admit that she was wrong. How worthless her little daydreams had become. She huffed in response, “Just … why?”    Stepping forward with heavy bone rattling thuds, the creature’s voice transformed into one of Danny’s favorite artists. One of her least favorites as she’d heard every one of their albums multiple times over the years on the plethora of fruitless road trips with Danny. The backing track for Coma echoed throughout the small room as the thing imitated Axl Rose, “You live your life like it's a coma, won't you tell me why we'd wanna? With all the reasons you give... it's, it's kinda hard to believe.”    Realizing that this had all been a farce, she backed away to the door. The accusing monster closed in, bones splintering from so much use in a decayed state.    “But who am I to tell you that I've seen any reason why you should stay? Maybe we'd be better off without you, anyway…”    Before it could continue, Adrienne pulled open the steel door and went through the opening. Horrified, she suddenly realized she was falling ...        Adrienne had compiled as much content about Eli Goode as she could and had compiled it into a playlist. His ups and downs, his tendencies to carelessly traipse into some very ugly emotions, and most undoubtedly his astounding tenancy as a competitor.    She reclined on the couch, nursing a pint of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream as the playlist served as background to her own wandering thoughts. It was as if he was trying his best to be a kind person but it seemed to be a poor substitution to what he truly was. Adrienne didn’t want to judge him for this, these were merely just observations. After all, she knew her own flaws. Knew that no matter what she said out loud, that she lacked the convictions to follow through. The other day with her mother had been a tough pill to swallow.    But Angie was right.    Here goes Adrienne Levi, gallivanting off to her perfect wonderful world without a care. Neglecting her responsibilities back home. It was easy to see that everyone was against her but that just wasn’t the case.    “Adrienne,” her mother repeated, putting a hand on her daughter’s forearm, squeezing gently, “Your life is here.”    She stonewalled her inclination to tear up. Adrienne’s voice quivered as she replied, “I don’t want to be here anymore.”    “You don’t think I know that?” Leaning in, Angie spoke just for her daughter, “I’ve tried to get you out of that apartment for over a year now. I’ve tried everything, Ade. You tell me all of these things but here you are, still in Danny’s grasp. Surrounded by his life. By his death. You’re a grown woman, so that’s why I humor your excursions. It’s only natural. It’s a world you’ve never been in and I’m so happy for you.”    Angie paused, stirring in a packet of cream into her cup of coffee.    “You’re going about it the wrong way. Burning through your money just to hang out with your new friends. You don’t know how amazing that is even to say. Your new friends, Adrienne. But you spent nearly three grand for a hotel room alone-- ”    Adrienne’s mother cut herself off. She knew when her point was made. Her daughter’s head was down, eyes averted.    “It’s not all your fault. But he’s dead. And here you are, in the third decade of your life and you don’t know how to balance a checkbook. Or how to drive.”    “Mom.”    “I’m not trying to embarrass you, Ade. But fantasy time is over. You want to leave here? You want to spread your wings? Well, first thing’s first, you’ve gotta leave Danny Levi behind.”        “Hi, Eli.”    Adrienne Levi came into focus. Behold the power of a $400 digital camera. One that Adrienne was still having trouble operating. Her first take, she was upside down. The second time, she had been talking for about five minutes before she realized she never charged the battery. Then after that, she started filming in her living room and realized that the poor lighting made it seem like she was telling a ghost story at the campfire. The unintentional Dutch angle worked for Mitch Heart surely but Adrienne just came off as Minnie Mouse trying to be tough and intimidating.    So after taking a deep breath, many deep breaths actually, Adrienne set up somewhere a little festive. She hadn’t been to the Rumba Island Bar & Grill since quitting her previous job. It had been her go-to watering hole after a long shift of getting screamed at. Charlie the bartender didn’t even remember her - which to be honest was a relief. Regardless, she settled for the patio outside. Under an umbrella, Ade was seated at a small round metal table. She wore a shirt that had a picture of purple oranges with the label Purples. She waved at Eli as she sipped at a ridiculously huge strawberry Daiquiri from a neon purple twisty looped straw.    “Don’t tell anyone but I guess I’m technically drinking on the job. I wanted to formally introduce myself to you. I’m Adrienne. Started here about three months ago. I don’t expect you to know much about me. You are after all a big-time star.” Adrienne took a timely drink before continuing. “And I’ve done okay for myself. My friends would point out that I’m on a little winning streak but I’m not sure that matters. I guess it's cool. It took just as long for me to end up with a televised entrance. You know, someone asking me - how do you want to come out? I imagine that’s small potatoes to someone like you.”    She didn't do this to be biting or sarcastic. Watching Eli Goode over the last few days had revealed some worrying trends.    “I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot. Look at your resume, Eli. Rookie of the year. Captured nearly every single championship this place has to offer. Part of a super group led by undeniable legend Jack Michaels. And you seem like a real sweet guy. My heart goes out to you. Over the last few months, you've made a lot of promises to help Kyra Johnson. All while on your new crusade to capture yet another championship. So I have to imagine that it is disconcerting that you once more have to embark on a new challenge without conquering the last. Late last year, you said 2020 would be all about you. I think it would be safe to assume that it hasn’t been. I’m not here to talk about your personal life as much as it is on display lately. But this Paragon? I’d say that’s been dissolved. And since your tag team title reign ended, you’ve been chasing that championship glory you so desire - yet to no avail.”    Raising her pointer finger as if to finally put an exclamation on this little piece of exposition, she remarked, “That’s not to say it won’t happen again. It just seems like that this is the only thing that really defines you. Even what was supposed to be your most endearing moment, your only way to heal Kyra was for you to become champion.”    Adrienne stopped. She understood there was possibly more to it but she wasn’t here to discuss Eli Goode’s fragile masculinity.    “Now to be fair, I’ve never been the champion of anything. Closest I’ve been is 3rd place in my middle school’s spelling bee. So maybe I just don’t get it. I just know what I’ve seen out of you. Like for one, it seems like you’ve adopted this underdog status. What kind of underdog goes and tells Zephyr Quinn of all people that she doesn’t deserve to win because your turn at being UltraViolent champion was too short? As if it was a toy that belonged to you. And also, what kind of aspiring champion talks about a title and says that it means nothing?”    Nathaniel Grant had been an easy target, sure. But to disparage a champion just because the perceived prestige of the championship he held wasn’t to Eli’s standard really bothered Adrienne.    “I get why you say these things. I truly do. You speak with this undercurrent of arrogance because that’s what Jack Michaels did. You’ve spent your entire career in Carnage Wrestling trying to live up to his image. Trying your best to become the next Jack instead of the first Eli Goode.” Stirring her drink a bit, she let that settle in. One week, Eli spoke like he was the creme of the crop. The next, he was screaming about missed opportunities. Picking up that thread, she smiled as she spoke, “In nearly every encounter you’ve gone on about, you’ve decided that you’re the arbiter of one’s value to this company. Makes me wonder how you size me up. I’m sure we’ll share the normal niceties. Cuz here’s what I know. You represent a huge opportunity to me.”    With her confidence swelling, she felt a little braver in her words - or maybe it was a good buzz, she wasn’t sure. This certainly wasn’t her second drink of the day.    “I’ve heard my peers. They expect greatness from me. I don’t know about that. I’ve never been great at anything. I only asked that if you can hear the sound of my voice, listen to me just for a moment. If you’ve been standing in the shadows for a long time, step out with me. And if you believe in me - even just a little bit, then join me.”    With that invitation extended, she shifted one last time to Eli Goode.    “Eli, you’ve always proclaimed yourself to be the future of this business but Paragon is long past. I’m not here to make such grand claims. But I’m not going to be your foothold back to what makes you whole. The nature of the business is … sometimes unfair. Somebody has to lose, and I’d rather it be you. I’m here to pass you by and establish that Adrienne Levi is just as Goode as any of you.”        Opening her eyes, she was treated with a close up view of an empty Coors Light can half hidden in the weeds. Her body was racked with pain as if she fell out of the sky. Pushing up from the dirt, she tried to get a sense of her bearings. Still in her winter clothing, she’d quickly become aware of the sweltering heat of a summer afternoon in Florida. Brushing her hair out of her face, she looked around. Deposited on the side of I-75 but there was no traffic buzzing past her. The world seemed empty, even frozen in place.    Looking forward, she saw the sign. Literally, a sign. A green one affixed to steel rails planted into the ground that said in white letters, “Thank you for visiting Florida!”