#3 color led face mask online

[vinziel]

Concept for my own TDAU oc

May I present to you my own TDAU oc. Vinzie The Offensive Magician! (I can't draw for shit, so for now I'll just explain his design, most details in his design represent something, I'll make an official drawing of his design probably very later on) Now they're a troll with Bluish skin and darker blue hair, their blue hair is mostly covered by his magician hat! And you guessed it they wear the typical black and red magician clothing! They have bruises on their arms and a black eye on their face, with noticeable tear streaks on his cheeks. The part of their hair that isn't covered by his hat is messy and clearly hasn't been combed. Heavy eyebags. He posts on all social media platforms you can think of. Under the name of @offensive_magician_official display name being "Vinziel" his real name (no this isn't a self insert. I just used my own name because of how unique it is). He is very active on his social medias and constantly gets into dramas (on purpose of course) purposefully causing discourse.

Lore Time!! He's non-binary using He/They pronouns and is gay! Now, his parents were very absent when he was a kid, and full on abandoned him in his teens, he was treated like a ghost, no one would notice him, everyone would walk past him. Once he got on steady footing and had a sustainable job, he dated the one and only John Dory! Now John Dory was only dating Vinz to experiment if he's gay or not but it didn't even feel like Vinz was a partner to him since he was pretty much so focused on Brozone, they don't hang out or talk much and if they did John only talks about Brozone, they ended things on a sour note (Mostly on Vinz's side, John didn't feel much after the breakup), now this lead Vinz on a downward slope, no one paid attention to them, not even his ex-partner. Unlike John though their strive for fame and atteu is Self-destructive and not destructive to others.

This led Vinz to do offensive comedy using magic tricks. He'd offend EVERYONE, leftist, rightist, conservatives, the gays, the old and the young, the communist, the capitalist. Nothing was off limits for them to offend. He didn't care about the death threats, he didn't care about the harassment and assault he'd experience in the streets because someone recognized him, ATTENTION IS ATTENTION in their books. The only person keeping him from getting killed was Bruce who was in good terms with them, since whenever John would leave Vinz alone to do Brozone stuff and basically forget he's even there, Bruce would be there to keep him company. Basically he's the reason he isn't completely insane. In real life he's actually very nice and caring, though he is mentally unstable. His online personality is the one where he is offensive.(though that won't last long since his online personality will eventually consume his actual one but for now let's imagine it hasn't). For his relationships Bruce is the only person he's actually close with, and one of the only people to know him personally. (fun fact he once appeared on Satin and Chenille's show, which only lasted 3 minutes before he got kicked out due to the amount of offensive jokes he was making about the twins). In terms of love life they are single, and probably shouldn't even be in a relationship with how unstable he is. He's very good at masking what he feels which is why so many people hate him because they think he's really serious about what he says. He does have some defenders online saying "it's just a joke" or "y'all are snowflakes" the people who defend them are people who think "Joke about everything or joke about nothing" mentality. His offensiveness doesn't stop at jokes by the way. He'd actually do stuff that makes people hate him even more.

Now explaining my choices in his design. Now why a magician you may ask and not a jester or a clown. Well no explanation I just wanted them to be a magician. Their color schemes in their hat and suit are Black and Red. Red represents passion, they're passionate about what they do, he loves the attention, Black means mastery, he's able to offend anyone and anything. The tear streaks on his cheeks represent the endless crying he does off camera, the messy hair explains his messy life of being offensive to gain attention. The bruises represent the assaults and harassment he experiences on a daily basis(yes the way he offends people is JUST that bad) and sometimes it represents his own destructiveness to himself. The blue skin and hair represent his pathetic and sad life. The eyebags represent his lack of sleep thinking of new and unique offensive jokes (this guy makes the most creative offensive joke, he sometimes reuses them but it's mostly new and very creative to the point sometimes people would be more shocked than offended, when a chinese president would die he'd make a joke like "Looks like the dog had rabies").

Anyways hoped you enjoyed my little yapping session of my OC. Will probably add more lore if I think of more.

@hostilemuppet hope you enjoy :>

[bevvydraws]

The King of LBTwt

I’m so sorry it is almost 3 am and this is probably so bad. It isn’t proofread but I had to get this idea out there. 

Social Media AU Ladrien where Marinette is a VTuber It started off as a joke--mostly. One evening while mindlessly scrolling through her twitter, Marinette stumbled across something interesting someone she followed reblogged. It was a clip of a streamer, who was using a virtual avatar in place of where a face cam would be. Finding this odd, and a little funny, Marinette looked into it a little more. It turned out that this was something that was becoming more and more popular for video game streamers. There were a variety of different characters, with a bunch of unique characteristics. These characters were placeholders for the actual streamers, giving them the anonymity they wanted while giving viewers a face to match the voice to. Marinette had to admit it was a genius concept. 

So of course Marinette did the logical thing, she decided to mess around and create a virtual avatar for herself instead of working on any of the many assignments she had for her university courses. She wasn’t planning on streaming, it was just a fun side project to put her limited art skills to use. Using google and whatever free programs she could get her hands on, Marinette designed what would later be known as the first version of her new persona: Ladybug. 

Ladybug’s cartoon appearance matched up with Marinette’s slightly. Their hair color was the same, with Ladybug’s hair placed in two buns on the top of her head, with little red ribbons sticking out from beneath them. Her eyes were a little more blue, and the proportions were a lot more cartoony. Marinette modeled a mask over her eyes, just a simple spotted mask. She was inspired by one of the many other avatars she’d seen, and figured giving her own character a “schtick” would make designing her more fun--hence the name. 

The truth was, Marinette never intended to stream. She was just going to let the avatar files collect metaphorical dust in the corner of her computer storage, something to run into ever so often and smile fondly at. But, the more Marinette thought about it, the more it felt like an injustice. She spent so long on it, she wanted to be able to use Ladybug at least once. So, while on break between semesters, she decided that streaming ever so often wouldn’t be a big deal. It’s not like she’d have a following, or would have to worry about disturbing anyone. Thanks to the generous compensation she received from Jagged Stone for any and all “fashion emergencies”, she had more than enough money to live comfortably in a small apartment not far from her university.  So what was the harm in streaming her playing some Mecha Strike Online every once in a while? Apparently none. 

In fact, Marinette gained a following rather quickly. While she wasn’t one of the top streamers--not by a long shot--she had a little over a thousand people on her streams some nights. It didn’t matter what she was playing, whether it were Mecha Strike or Stardew Valley, people enjoyed her commentary and sarcasm. Before she knew it, she had to make separate social media accounts to avoid people pretending to be her. 

Marinette didn’t expect to enjoy streaming so much. She made sure to mention often that she was just a casual streamer, and that she wasn’t planning on making this her full time career--her passion was in designing after all--and even made a point to donate a majority of any money she made from streaming to charities. It was a good way to relax, though. And the community was nice enough.

In particular, Marinette enjoyed observing the twitter community. A group of people who enjoyed her content called themselves “LBTwt”. They clipped her streams, made fanart of her avatar, and would randomly tag her in memes. Some people sent her encouragement, and some would simply clown on her in a lighthearted manner. Marinette was amazed by the community, and interacted with them ever so often to show her appreciation. 

There was one user in particular though who seemed to be popping up the most. A twitter user who used the handle “@buggaboy” and had dubbed himself “King of LBTwt”. He tweeted at her more than anyone, commented under all of her posts, and even sent things to her DMs. While Marinette avoided her DMs like the plague, she couldn’t help but laugh at his other interactions with her. He never said things like “thanks bestie” like many others took to doing. Instead, he borderline waxes poetic about the clip of her reading out his “Ladybug my beloved” Super Chat during a YouTube stream.  His tweets were never creepy though, just admiration and respect in a dorky and overly grandeur way.

Marinette enjoyed his antics, and one day found herself scrolling through his Twitter feed. Part of it felt a little egotistical, but she figured he wanted her to see it anyway, considering he tagged her in most of his posts. What posts weren’t dedicated to her were dedicated to his black cat. It was this black cat that led to Marinette’s life taking a wild turn for the second time. 

Because there was only one person who was dorky enough to name their black cat Plagg. And only one person who owned the expansive anime figurine collection in the photo she was staring at on her phone, the familiar black cat pawing at a Naruto figure that she distinctly remembers saving up for as a birthday present. 

The King of LBTwt was none other than Adrien Agreste.

[kekoma]

— konoha as your boyfriend.

sigh... can’t resist him for long. tsk tsk. hope you enjoy

waiting for konoha world domination.

PATIENTLY waiting because how could you not fall in love with this man?

anyways, it’s about that time for boyfriend konoha to make his debut here.

won’t get too deep with the crush phase but let’s talk about it for a second.

aki is the kind of guy who’s bold when it comes to crushes, or you in this case. 

doesn’t believe in giving mixed signals since he knows what he wants and clearly it’s you.

also isn’t the type who starts acting funny/avoids you or struggle with trying to befriend you (if you two had been strangers and konoha had one of those ‘love at first sight’ moments.)

yet in this route, you two are actually good friends and he found out had a crush on you when thoughts of you kept clouding his mind along with how he no other person could keep his interest romantically except you.

didn’t rush himself on telling you how he felt towards you. rather, he decided to let things flow just in case his mind and heart were playing a trick on him.

when konoha is ready then he’ll most likely dropped the biggest hits that he wants you.

definitely made more time for you whenever you asked to hang out, didn’t hesitate to reject others and make it known to them that you had his full attention either, and always complimented you more as well.

he finally asked you out when going out to watch fireworks together.

the confession wasn’t tooth rotting sweet yet it wasn’t dry as the desert either. konoha had planned his words perfectly and told you exactly how he felt towards you before asking “will you be mine?”

of course that night led to you two being together now~

which brings us to how the relationship is like.

for starters, i firmly believe akinori is the kind of boyfriend who wears hair ties/scrunches on his wrist for you.

he never knows when you might ask or text him about needing one so he keeps it on him just in case.

doesn’t care if some dudes get on him for it either. same with friends.

in aki’s mind at least he thinks what he does is normal and deems himself as a good boyfriend for it.

most definitely likes getting his nails done with you or by you.

if you mention going to the nail salon, best believe your boyfriend is tagging along and getting his done.

although the first few times he went with, aki went for clear nail polish because he wasn’t ready for color yet.

only started going for it for when you jokingly said you two should get matching nail colors and he was like “yeah. sounds good with me.”

and didn’t mind it. actually fell in love with the concept.

as for home, if you’re bored and just want to play pretend nail tech then aki is already sitting at your little set up ready.

“make my nails look extra pretty, princess. i want to show them off later and brag about how you did them.”

“of course~ since you said that, i’ll add a design on them. my initials.”

“sounds better than doing plain. think i can get a heart too?”

“mhm!”

i FIRMLY believe he’s also the kind of boyfriend who lets you use his face to do makeup looks you saw online.

although he may complain sometimes, deep down he actually loves it since he gets to stare at you up close and find amusement with how focus you are about making sure the look comes out just like the picture.

“close your eyes aki. please”

“then i can’t see you.”

“you’ll see when i’m done. now close your eyes unless you want eyeliner in them.”

“fine fine.”

vvv  supportive and uplifting. konoha loves and i mean LOVES the idea of being there for you, helping you out whenever he can as well.

the relationship is filled with jokes. mainly a lot of inside jokes that outsiders find it so odd— even going as far to question what some mean, but ofc none of you talk about it.

konoha wasn’t into face care/didn’t think much of it before he met you.

so if you’re someone who LOVES face care or generally taking care of your skin then you definitely changed his mind.

dude will indulge in your little spa nights at home. asking you what each products does for his skin and what some do to yours (assuming you two have different skin types).

will definitely take pictures of moments like those and make them his lock screen because he finds its cute even those the face mask on you both looks hella weird.

loves LOVES spoiling you. 

whether it’ll be with actual gifts, physical affections (which is limited) or his words— he’ll spoil you without hesitation.

konoha enjoys the concept of making it known he’s truly in love with you and doesn’t plan on stopping either.

also loves when you spoil him too.

something about you doing it makes his heart and mind do about 2937748 backflips and laps around the track.

don’t know if this will make sense, but aki still likes to woo you over as if you’re still in the beginning stage of dating when you two aren’t anymore.

suppose this can be labeled as him just being extremely affectionate which i strongly agree that he is but it’s only around you.

it’s been hinted at during the crush part, but i’ll make it known now— he’s extremely loyal to you.

ever since aki decided to commit himself to you. 

which is rare due to the fact that commit to him is something that shouldn’t be handed to just anyone. even in previous relationships, he never really gave much of it since he’ll either notice things about that partner that were hidden (by that partner), he just isn’t into them anymore due to lost of feeling or things seeming boring.

so any thoughts of konoha cheating or looking at anyone else is impossible. his heart belongs to you and only you <3

something to quickly add.. arguments with him are extremely rare.

aki isn’t into conflict so he’ll do everything in his power to avoid.

however, if it still occurs then he’ll end up speaking his mind without filtering himself. now that can either put out the fire or fuel it even more. truly depends on how you take it, but if it gets worst then apologizes will be issued in a means to fix it.

anyways— can’t convince me this man doesn’t binge watch those weird videos that are recommended to you on YouTube or any of your favorite shows and/or movies on Netflix with you.

sticking by that statement because it’s true.

now let’s quickly talk about nicknames, pda, and dates.

starting with nicknames, i’ve mentioned one but aki main nicknames for you: princess, my love, gorgeous, juliet (after romeo and juliet. it started off as a joke to call each other that but now it stays), and peach.

pda with konoha isn’t much.

in public and private, it’s just the basic. private may be a little more ahead depending on how aki is feeling, but it’s not much.

not because he doesn’t like your touch since he does yet physical affection just isn’t something that gets his interest most of the time.

so don’t take it personally when he doesn’t want to do much, but i’m sure if you beg a little then he’ll give in.

with that out the way— time to talk about dates.

dates with him range from almost anything and everything.

konoha is someone that is adventurous and likes change once in awhile so of course that’s going to incorporate itself within dates.

although do except picture to be taken while on those dates. aki finds it heartwarming to capture those moments together and he can always look back at them if you are far each other. 

can’t think of much so i’ll call this the end.

overall: a relationship with konoha is enjoyable. things are always changing within the relationship so it never turns boring.

you’re the luckiest person ever to date this cutie <3

[colorlatina]

The impact of COVID-19 and the Vaccine in Colorado

By: Estrella Guerrero

The COVID-19 pandemic began in December 2019. In March of 2020, the world shut down as this new virus began to spread rapidly. The beginning of the pandemic was full of panic, fear, and worry. Countries closed restaurants, bars and nightclubs, hair and nail salons, schools and universities, and even borders. For those who were lucky enough, their bosses moved them to work remotely though many people found themselves unemployed. Quarantine pods, online learning, zoom events, and socially distanced events were the norm for a bit of time. As time passed we went from mask mandates to vaccine mandates to no mandates here in the United States, all while seeing one of the highest death rates in any developed country.

As of May 2022, the United States has had 1 million people die from COVID-19 according to the CDC. According to the APM Research Lab, 160,588 Latinos have lost their lives due to the coronavirus. This research has also found that “Indigenous, Latino, Pacific Islander, and Black Americans have higher mortality rates than white or Asian Americans once data is adjusted to account for age”. In Colorado alone, Latino/Hispanic individuals account for 3,213 of the 12,516 deaths. All of these numbers are disheartening and how the Latinx community, and other communities of color, have been impacted by this pandemic go far beyond these statistics.

As a Latina-led organization, COLOR saw the need to help support our Latinx community by understanding what was going on with the COVID-19 pandemic, educating about vaccinations, and providing resources for our community. We were intentional about making sure that our community had the right information to keep their families safe from the virus. 

This pandemic has highlighted the inequities that the Latinx community and other communities of color have always faced. The Latinx community and other communities of color have known about and experienced the inequity in the healthcare system for decades which is why the work we have done is vital to pushing for equitable and culturally competent care for all. We worked in conjunction with 9health365 and the Center for African American Health to provide necessary information on vaccinations and access to vaccinations for our communities.

Since July of 2021, we have held bilingual Facebook lives to discuss myths about the COVID-19 vaccines and how it is important for youth to get vaccinated. We interviewed 3 doctors, including Representative Caraveo, and were able to get youth from our communities involved as well to highlight their voices and experiences with COVID-19. We have utilized digital organizing to dispel misinformation, educate on the vaccines and new variants, and spread the word about the many vaccination clinics that were taking place across the state. We were also able to host a vaccine clinic in conjunction with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and their mobile vaccine bus program. At this clinic, we successfully vaccinated 22 individuals!

As we continue to move forward in this post-pandemic world, it is important to reflect on how the lack of access to healthcare negatively impacts the Latinx population and other people of color. This not only includes a lack of access to a primary care doctor or regular check-ups, but a lack of access to necessary vaccines and a lack of access to reproductive care. During the traumatic events of the last two and a half years, politicians and institutions have focused on enacting more restrictive legislation on policing people’s bodies and limiting access to abortion and other reproductive care during a time when millions of people were dying across the globe.

If there are any takeaways from this pandemic: 

The healthcare system in the United States is not set up to provide care to those who need it, but to those who can pay for it.

Latinx Communities have suffered unimaginable losses from COVID-19 but remain one of the least vaccinated communities.

Access to accurate and understandable information on public health crisis are mainly in English, leaving Spanish speakers and other non-English speakers at a disadvantage to make informed decisions about their health.

As we move forward we need to push for access to healthcare and necessary information to help keep our communities safe and live healthy lives. 

[inkribbon796]

What a Beautiful Wedding Ch. 1: A Sense of Poise and Rationality

Summary: “What a beautiful wedding” says a bridesmaid to a waiter. “And, yes, but what a shame. What a shame . . . 

Nothing bad happens here, I promise.

A/N: The music swells, the curtain lifts. Ladies, gentlemen, and all configurations of being: the show has begun . . .

Titles here are from Panic! at the Disco’s “I Write Sins not Tragedies”.

Okay, so this one’s been a bear to write so this might be uploaded a couple chapters today and the rest over the next day or two.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Eric looked at himself in the mirror as Roman set the final touches on his hair. His dark hair had small braids with tiny beads designed to catch the sunlight. His suit was an off-white color and his wrists were decorated with intricate bangles that kept his nerves from activating his powers and setting things on fire.

Despite the suits and dresses and other formal attire all the heroes were still in their masks. Secrecy was still important and they knew the press would be nearby. The only exception would be Eric, who got glasses enchanted, courtesy of the Host, to protect his identity from anyone who shouldn’t know it.

“And voila!” Roman announced and did a little excited jump, spinning the chair marginally and holding up a mirror so that Eric could see the back of his head.

“Awww, you look so cute,” Patton told him.

“R-eally?” Eric ducked his head nervously.

“Positively radiant, my dear,” Roman boasted, his red dress swishing as he twirled. “Not an eye will be able to look away from you.”

Eric’s eyes widened fearfully.

“Nice going Princey,” Virgil spoke up from across the room.

“They’ll look in a good way,” Roman promised. “They’ll see you and realize that you are the most beautiful man in the world.”

“B-ut that’s Illy,” Eric managed to force out.

Roman paused to think on that, “Well I won’t deny that he’s obnoxiously good looking but now you can give him a run for his money.”

Randall walked in, “How we lookin’[1]?”

Twisting around the chair, Roman grinned as he motioned to Eric. “Marvel at this masterpiece. I dare say Da Vinci nor Monet could have done better.”

“Very handsome,” Randall told Eric, both childhood friends smiling at each other. “Just came from checkin’ on the other groom. We’re just waiting fer a final sweep ‘a the area to make sure it’s alright.”[2]

“Alright,” Eric said.

On the other side of the building, Illinois was fiddling with his bow tie as he checked his hair and suit in the mirror.

“How’s it looking?” Illinois asked, his eyes moving to look at his adopted brother in the mirror.

“Nothing is amiss,” the Host told him.

“Marv still isn’t back,” Chase reminded. “I don’t like it. I haven’t heard a peep from him.”

“The Host spoke with Marvin, he is on his way back to the city with the Blade and the Angel of Death,” the Host took a seat. “While they will be late for the ceremony, Illinois and the attendants will find that they will arrive just in time.”

“Okay,” Illinois took a deep breath. He didn’t touch his lucky coin, he wanted today to be a good day. A perfect day.

He’d been trying to play his safe for months to hoard as much magic as possible. No adventures. No fights. Not even a card game with his siblings.

Because Eric deserved nice things. He deserved to be happy and safe.

After a while Dark checked his pocket watch, and Illinois walked out with him and the Host. The blind seer headed on ahead to wait with the other groomsmen.

Dark waited at one end of a long rug that led to a big outdoor gazebo with a dark wood roof. Chairs led up to the gazebo and had wooden structures protecting it from any accidental rain or glare from the sun. A matching rug was one that Randall would lead Eric down. The two grooms would meet in the middle and then walk up to the altar where Jackie, who had taken the online classes needed to officiate marriages.

The Entity paused, waiting for the signal from the organ that Dark could start walking. But he looked over at Illinois. The young man was looking around, his hand reaching into his pocket and resisted trying to pull out his lucky coin.

In the demon’s mind he thought of little Illinois, barely at chest level, with wide eyes that hungered for adventure but a body too small to take him there.

Dark had never liked thinking about how big Illinois had gotten. It reminded him that Illinois would walk out of his life and become his own person. It’s just . . . it had all been so wonderful while it lasted.

Illinois looked over at Dark and smiled. “Hey, 아빠[3].”

“Illinois,” Dark answered, trying to keep Damien quiet and invisible. Dark had to keep his hands to himself and his feelings out of the way. This was all for Illinois. He took a second to take a deep breath and schooled his features. “I’ll have your portion of the city ready for when you get back.”

“What?” Illinois asked, mostly in confusion.

But then the music began and Dark was offering his elbow. Illinois took it and promised himself that when he could pull Dark away again they’d talk. He didn’t like the tone Dark had taken when he’d said that.

Illinois and Dark stepped in time to the music and all too soon he saw Eric, his hands gripping onto Randall’s arm. He almost tripped when his eyes met Illinois’s.

Then all too soon, they were within arms reach. Illinois reached out to take Eric’s arm and they walked up. To Illinois, Eric looked like an angel he’d somehow snagged out of the sky and convinced to stay with him.

They walked down the aisle and Illinois kept the pace slow so that Eric wouldn’t have a single problem walking down the aisle. Dark and Randall followed them up.

Everything was going perfectly.

Illinois and Eric were looking at each other and Jackie opened his mouth to start the ceremony, when someone else walked down the aisle.

“I’m here!” Someone in a red tux announced. A smile as sharp as glass. “Shame on you, Damien, I almost missed the whole thing.”

Everyone immediately looked at the Actor, Dark got in front of Illinois as the young man was trying to push Eric towards Jackie.

“Get out,” Dark snarled in a furious growl.

“You’d done your job, step aside,” Actor snapped out a dark mass of aura and batted Dark to the side, the Entity slamming into the organ and let out a pained cough.

“아빠!”[3] Illinois called out. Yancy, who was closer, immediately raced to Dark’s side but the Entity shoved him away from both him and the Actor.

“I will admit,” Marc smiled as he waltzed down the aisle, “I didn’t recognize you at first. That’s my bad. But I did try and talk to you, and it’s quite an oversight not to personally invite me.”

Dark pushed himself back up to a kneeling position, his ringing shrill and aura coiling around.

“I didn’t invite you because you’re a piece of shit and you just attacked my dad, so fuck off,” Illinois snarled. He started trying to move over to Dark but the Actor slid into his path.

“Not possible,” Actor smiled, gesturing to himself. “Daddy’s here now and we don’t need . . .”

Actor glared back at Dark, “. . . to be worried about extraneous characters.”

“Get the hell out of here, I don’t want you anywhere near my family,” Illinois snarled.

“Oh, junior,” Marc smiled. “I’m trying to help you. Think of it: father and son. We’d take the world by storm.”

Illinois felt fury, thinking off all the foster homes and awful situations he’d been in, “Even if you were, you can fuck right the fuck off!”

Behind the Actor, Ranboo was trying to inch closer to Dark. He’d been sitting with the rest of the heroes. But he was trying to quietly summon up a portal to get Dark away from the Actor but when he inched too close the Actor spun around and slammed his aura into the young teen, knocking him back.

“If I wanted to take on the peanut gallery, I would have called you up,” Actor snapped.

“Enderwalk!” Virgil called out and raced over to him as the teen slammed against the wall of the gazebo and let out a grunt of pain. Immediately the room seemed to snap out of whatever haze they were in and moved as Marc moved to attack Ranboo again. Tubbo was already the closest.

Ranboo braced for the attack to hit but in the nick of time, there was a shattering of glass and Techno emerged from one of the eye portals. Shield and axe in hand he deflected the shot and blew a hole in the roof of the gazebo.

“I’m gonna have to stop you right there,” Techno smiled. “Come on, kid, I saw you using a weapon before, come on.”

“Boo,” Tubbo moved in as Phil and Marvin raced in.

“Anyone dead yet?” Marvin demanded.

“Bout time yeh showed up,”[4] Chase spat, pulled out his gun, a real one and aimed it at the Actor’s head.

Snarling in anger, the Actor exploded into black mist, making Chase miss his shot and nicked Illinois right in the face by accident.

Actor grabbed Dark and stabbed him with a dragged he pulled out of his black mist. “I don’t like being teased, Dames.”

With a slice, Dark screamed and the Actor pulled out a black day planner. “If you want something done right you should just do it yourself.”

Magic began to swirl around the Actor as bubbles began to form. They swelled in size and began to fill the room.

Bing began to visibly freak out and used his nanites to push Mini and Oliver away with his nanites, throwing them outside the gazebo just as a bubble expanded to snap up the rest of the androids.

In an instant the city rumbled and Dark . . .

. . . . . .

Dark woke up in bed.

He glared at the faintly glowing clock on the distant wall. It was barely a half-hour before he had to get up so there was no point in going back to sleep.

He smiled faintly when he heard Wilford snoring, the man splayed out to Dark’s left. The softer snores were from Chase who was cuddled up into Dark’s chest.

With a smile softening his features Dark decided: maybe he could sleep in a few more minutes.

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

Post A/N: . . . Okay I lied big time.

Accessibility Translations:

1. looking

2. Just came from checking on the other groom. We’re just waiting for a final sweep of the area to make sure it’s alright

3. Dad. Informal, read phonetically as: Appa.

4. About time you showed up

[frightfurtabby]

Himikiyo Week 2021 Day 5: Anniversary Party

// Cute and fluffy, make-up smearing kissies, slow dancing, and awards... enjoy~

Word count: 1434

Links

AO3- https://archiveofourown.org/works/34196977

Amino-  (coming soon)

I need to catch up on cross-posting to amino so I’ll be doing that too.

//

The anniversary party was an important occasion. All actors from the danganronpa franchise were coming together for this event. 10 years ago was the release of the first series starring Makoto Naegi as the protagonist, since then there have been 3 further series and a spin off that took place between the first 2, though it had aired afterward. And they were all gathered together.

There were already plans for another spin-off that was summer camp themed and would be finished later the next year. It was really big but sometimes there were years of waiting between new productions and that led to a lot being covered by tabloids and other media outlets. Korekiyo moved up to a small town in Aomori prefecture with Himiko to stay as quiet as possible, keeping in contact with certain people from among their castmates.

The couple were sitting together in a backstage private dressing room once again, Himiko taking time to brush Kiyo’s hair. Most of their outfits were already in place, a puffy purple dress for Himiko, her matching magic hat sat on the table in front of them.It was so pretty and only a little bit difficult to move around in at first before she was getting used to it. The anniversary celebrations included a dance in the ballroom and awards for the newest batch of fan popularity polls.

“Babe are you sure you want to go for that hat, I don’t know if it fits with the rest of what you’ve got going on.”

Kiyo was wearing a white button-up long sleeved blouse with a burgundy vest, a green coat over both and a long black skirt. Near Himiko’s hat was their own for this occasion, a black fedora which was what she was referring to in her comments..

“I personally think it looks nice.” Kiyo gave an exaggerated pout.

Touching up both their make-up was all the couple needed before they got to head out to the event proper. Kiyo hadn’t decided on lipstick before they had to go to avoid running late. They could do without that but not without eating, which they had to finish on the way out.

When she was finished brushing she helped gather their locks together and band it to make a ponytail.

She chuckled. “Of course you do, well since you insist. Here, have this one, I think this color will compliment everything nicely. Now come closer!” She grabs a nice dark blood red shade. Kiyo had used it plenty of times, including the year they dressed up as a vampire for Halloween, so it was a classic go-to.

Kiyo leaned in like she asked. Puckering their lips out to give her a more complete canvas for her to work with. However, before Himiko touched the tip of the lipstick onto their lips, Kiyo stopped for a moment.

“I wouldn’t want to smudge this so soon, so please give me a kiss?”

Himiko giggled. “Alright, okay. But first…” Her free hand extended and her pointer finger booped them right on the nose.

The former Ultimate Anthropologist feigned shock. “What did I deserve that for?”

“For being cute, ya silly goose.”

They were gearing up for a follow up joke but they were pulled in by the collar and smooched. They leaned into and savored it. Even if it did ruin the set-up, it was fine. Any time was a lovely time to smooch Himiko.

“Okay, now we can do it.” she chirped.

Kiyo re-assumed the proper position and reached out, gently caressing Himiko’s cheek. A deep look into her eyes. “Alright, go ahead.”

She reached up to hold them still with one hand and eased the lipstick close. Drawing it, focused as close as she can on the precision. Even though they had just kissed, she was tempted to ruin it again.

So she did.

They giggled as soon as she let them go. “God I’m so lucky wearing a mask is my trademark. I’m sure people would have a field day if they actually saw how smudged you always end up making this.”

“Yeah well, I’m lucky to have you.” She said, making cute faces in their direction.

Kiyo pulled their mask up and put the fedora on, taking Himiko’s hand as a way to get up out of the chair.

They turned and exited the door. Upon entering the hallway they met up with Shuichi and Rantaro, spending time catching up. Talking about how the cats were doing, how busy it was lately, more recent gigs they’d lent their talents to, that kind of thing.

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

Upon entering the ballroom, the couple noticed there were danganronpa themed decorations all over. A big banned reading “Happy 10th Anniversary'' went along the rafters. It was certainly doing its job of seeming like a mix between prom and a high school reunion.

At least this one was full of people both of them liked better than most people who’d been at either of their actual proms from back in the day. Even with personal problems here and there it was still more tolerable than that.

A slow waltz tune echoes around the ballroom. All the couples were paired up, most having stuck together pretty much the whole time up to this point regardless, but the Junko was making a big deal up on stage about how  “If you’re not already, couple up and dance!”

Kiyo’s hand was around the back of Himiko’s head. They took time to pet her and look into her eyes as they performed slowly just like they had practiced. It felt nice and warm. Both could close their eyes for a bit and had a good amount of space to nuzzle up.

“I love you dear.”

“I love you too.”

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

A few dance tracks later, Junko Enoshima got up and did a little bit of MC’ing. “And now everyone, having a good time? Well, it’s time to announce the first batch of winners from the polls! And here to read those names is someone we all know and love. The mysterious…”

She started getting a head count of all the danganronpa alumni, dragging it on for comedic effect. “The mysterious 40-somethingth student that was lying hidden somewhere in this very building… Mukuro Ikusaba!”

The crowd of students clapped, Himiko and Kiyo included. As Mukuro took time to further introduce the concept, showing off the envelopes for good measure, the lovers had a small conversation.

“Do you think we’ll win anything this year?”

“I hope we do. I’m not sure though, since competition is very stiff in all categories.”

“It’d be really cute if we won the couples one” she smiled, holding their arm close. “We may not have won it yet, but there's always a chance.”

“I’ve seen a little bit of buzz online telling fans to vote for us. So we might pull it off.”

It came time, the third category: the cutest off-screen couple. The options were always more open, as there were very few canonical on-screen romances in the show. Mukuro cut open this envelope, like she had done the previous two.

The MC cleared her throat. “Ahem. The winners are… Shinguuji Korekiyo and Yumeno Himiko”

The V3 cast members hooted and hollered. The other 2 main series had just picked up 1 win each and usually SDR2 would sweep these anniversary award contests. Picking up a surprise win would hopefully be a sign.

Escorted by several classmates like they just scored the winning points in a sport together, Himiko and Kiyo went up, and had to make up a speech off the cuff. That’s how much of a last second blindside actually pulling it off was.

Himiko took her spot close to Kiyo’s side and they both stood in front of the mic. Kiyo gently taps it and clears their throat.

“Thank you all, I’m… surprised. I thought for sure it would be another year of us being passed up.” they said

She added “The fans really pulled through!” She raised her award and held it up to clink it with Kiyo’s. “I’m not sure what else to even say.”

“We are grateful for the nomination, and thank everyone who cast a vote.” Asked if they had anything more to say, Kiyo finished with “As difficult as some fans can be, it's always good to feel appreciated.”

Everyone went back down, further winners were to be announced. Neither cared much, but would support friends who could get it. For now all they wanted was to cuddle up together on the bleachers. The rest of the night was for relaxing.

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Berry Blast

Berry Blast Fandom: My Hero Academia Pairing: TodoMomo Summary: TodoMomo Positivity Week Day 3 Prompt Fill: Direct partner piece for my previous day fill [here] but can be read as a stand alone. After agreeing to an anniversary picnic, Momo begins stressing about what she should bring along. She isn’t exactly the most domestic of women, after all. Thankfully, she has a little bit of help of her own to get things sorted out. Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more.

When Shoto had first suggested to Momo that they spend their first anniversary having a little picnic together, she’d been delighted. The idea of the two of them settling in for a homemade lunch together was something straight out of one of the shojo mangas Mina and Tooru had gotten her hooked on! And to think that Shoto had insisted on preparing all the food himself? Well, that had her swooning all over again. After all, what could possibly be sweeter than a boyfriend preparing a humble lunch for his girlfriend?

And then the thought struck her; shouldn’t she bring something as well?

Drinks seemed simple enough, so she made a note in the back of her mind to pick some up on her way. That, however, seemed far too simple. And impersonal. She wanted to do something just as sincere and thoughtful as what Shoto was doing for her! Then, her mind jumped over to the idea of sweets. They were the most frequently offered gift when a young lady was interested in a young man. That thought then led her to the conclusion of dessert. Why, she could surely bake something to bring along! A homemade dessert would be a perfect partner to a homemade picnic lunch!

And so, she got to work!... And very quickly hit a few roadblocks.

Her initial thought was to make something like a strawberry shortcake. She remembered that Shoto enjoyed that strawberries were a mix of sweet and tart. He liked sweet things on occasion, but he had expressed that too much tended to give him an upset stomach. She had picked up the ingredients but then read another article online that expressed that the one-year mark was something that warranted going that extra little bit to make it even more spectacular, that often times this anniversary could make or break a relationship.

So she cast that idea aside and decided to try something different.

Upon looking into things more, she selected macarons, as they could be various flavors and colors, meaning she could customize them as she wanted. She encountered trouble with separating the egg whites and then with consistency issues. She scrapped that and then moved on to making chocolate souffles. She tried two separate batches but couldn’t get them to rise properly, regardless of what she tried. Momo changed gears at that point and decided to pick a treat that was a testament to her partner; baked Alaska! She had figured that he could be able to safely set the treat on fire once they were actually ready for it. However, when she tried to bake in the ice cream, it completely melted. And that wasn’t even covering the problems she encountered trying to prepare the meringue for the dish!

So, then she decided to try a lemon meringue pie instead. That, she reasoned, would also be a bit more Shoto’s style, as it was a better blend of sweetness and tartness. She had heard that pies could be incredibly tricky to an untrained hand, but she wasn’t worried. After all, it couldn’t be half as hard as fighting villains or training under Aizawa-Sensei! She had done those things with the greatest of ease so she could rise to this occasion!

Or so she’d thought when she started. Instead, she ended up hunched over the counter, on the verge of frustrated tears, unable to miss the whispers of the kitchen staff just outside the kitchen proper.

“Should we be concerned?”

“That’s, what, the fourth attempt she’s made?”

“Well, at least this time she didn’t set anything on fire?”

“No, instead she just managed to under cook it to the point it’s more liquid than anything else. Like, it is as runny and drippy as my son’s nose gets when he’s got a cold,”

“Oh, hush! The young miss is trying her best!”

She squeezed her eyes shut tighter, taking a deep breath to calm herself and try to block out the commentary. Yes, she didn’t have a lot of experience with baking, but it couldn’t be that hard! Sato-Kun at school baked all the time and never had nearly as much trouble as all this! He made treats like these for their peers all the time! That was many more people than she was aiming for! So… Why? Why couldn’t she get this right?

She jumped when there was a gentle hand patting at her head, followed by a familiar voice asking, “Now, what’s all this, Momochi?”

Momo pushed herself up and looked at the older man beside her in shock. “Father… I thought you and Mother were going to be away for four days,” she said in lieu of a proper greeting.

He chuckled, shifting to lean more heavily on the cane in his other hand. “Ah, well, you know how your mother can be. She tends to push projects along to a more streamlined process,” he said before reaching out and brushing a thumb under her eye to wipe away the tears threatening to spill. “Now, what’s got you so distressed?”

She felt heat creep up along her cheeks. “I-I was… Well, uh, you see-!”

“Honestly, Momo,” Another voice chimed in, “what is all of this fuss about? And this mess! If you wanted to have some kind of exotic snack you should have asked one of the chefs. We hired them for a reason.”

Momo averted her gaze to her hands, fingers fiddling with the edge of the messy apron she was adorning. Of course Mother had opinions about this. “I was… Trying to prepare something on my own,” she mumbled.

“What for?” she asked with a raised brow.

“My boyfriend and I are having our one year anniversary tomorrow,” she explained, her fidgeting getting worse as she spoke, “So I wanted to make something myself to share with him.”

Mother’s face screwed up in confusion, her head tilting slightly. “Boyfriend?” 

“Yes, dear! Shoto-Kun, remember?” Father said, already moving to and fro in the kitchen as best as he could with the cane. He was rummaging through one of the pantries in search of something but perked back up as he closed the door. “Well, I suppose you wouldn’t. We only know of him from Momochi’s stories and the sports festival footage. We really should work to fix that. If you two are committed enough to be together for a year, it only makes sense we have a dinner at some point to meet him properly.” He nodded to himself at that before opening another drawer and plucking out the matryoshka doll-inspired measuring cups he’d bought shortly after Momo’s Quirk had manifested.

Back then, before Father fell ill, Momo remembered spending afternoons in the kitchen with him while he prepared all manner of snacks for her to choose from. Those measuring cups had been selected specifically to be used for her treats and her treats alone.

“Ah, that’s right… Endeavor-Sama’s boy,” Mother said, clearly remembering at least one conversation they’d had about it before. She then scowled as she watched Father continued rummaging through the cabinets and drawers. “Umeo… What are you doing? You are supposed to be resting.”

“And I’ll rest after helping Momo with this, Mikan,” he said with a small smile as he set the measuring cups down on the counter in front of Momo. He turned to face her with a bright smile on his face. “Our daughter will only get to celebrate her first year anniversary with her boyfriend once, you know.”

Some of the harshness in Mother’s expression dwindled at that, some of her sharper edges dulling. Father always seemed to have a way about drawing that expression from her. “... Very well. But I am going to have someone here to monitor that you do not overdo it,”

“Of course, of course! Now, let’s see… I know I left the recipe book around here somewhere,” he grumbled, moving to open another drawer. 

Mother shook her head, a small smile turned up on her lips as Father released a satisfied cry and held the book up appraisingly. Her gaze shifted back to her only daughter, maintaining that same delicacy that Father had brought out. “And, Momo?” She nodded tentatively at being addressed. “Congratulations on reaching such a significant milestone in your relationship.” With that, Mother squared her shoulders and walked back out of the kitchen, pausing briefly to nudge one of the eavesdropping chefs in to monitor things.

“Thank you, Mother,” she called after her. When she turned back around, Father had replaced the cook book she’d been using with his own and was flipping pages. “Ah, Father! I’m going to be doing this on my own!”

“Oh, my apologies! I promise I’m not trying to step on your toes or take charge; just getting the section pulled up for you, Momochi,” he said before carefully moving to a chair the assisting chef hurriedly dragged over. Sometimes she was astounded at how a man so ill could still be so spry.

She instead turned her attention to which section in his recipe book he’d opened to, tilting her head slightly. “Hmm? These are… So simple,”

“Simple, yes, but always a crowd pleaser,” he chuckled.

“But… I wanted to do something… bigger, I suppose? These are just… incredibly basic,” she said, unable to mask the disappointment in her tone.

“There’s nothing wrong with something simpler, dear,” he said, motioning her to approach him. When she was close enough, he took her hands and gave a small squeeze, smiling widely up at her. “Love isn’t always about grand, sweeping gestures or flashy gifts. Sometimes, the most significant shows of love are in the simple, in the basics.” There was something in his smile as he glanced from her to the entryway where Mother had left through. The gleam in his eyes was one of pure adoration, she knew, and couldn’t help but feel a small smile turn up on her own lips as he turned back to face her. Of all the things Momo knew in this world, the love between her parents was the most comforting to her. “When you’re young and inexperienced, love always seems like something that’ll solve everything, make every day good. That’s what movies and books and everything else tells you, after all. And… That’s only true to some extent. Sometimes, Momo, love is about comfort and familiarity. After all, when you love someone, you know them as well as yourself. Sometimes the best shows of love are in remembering little things, like how they take their coffee.”

She blinked before squeezing his hands in return gently. “Shoto-Kun likes strawberries, so… I want to make something with those in them,”

“Ah, I think I know something that’ll be perfect for you then. I believe it’s on page 53,”

She did as he said, lighting up at the recipe she found, before scurrying over the the fridge to make sure she had all the necessary ingredients to get started.

……………………………………………………………..

Momo let out a small, contented sigh as she took a small sip from her lemonade. “Thank you so much for the lovely lunch, Shoto-Kun,” she hummed happily, placing her empty bento in his waiting hands.

“To be honest,” he said, a faint blush to his cheeks as he started putting their things away, “it wasn’t all me. I had help from Fuyumi-Nee and Nezumi-San. I wanted to make sure the food was actually… Well, edible.”

“I’m sure it would have been fine, regardless,” she argued politely.

He flashed her one of his signature dead-pan stares. “You have too much faith in me, Momo,”

She giggled a bit before turning to rummage through her own bag of goodies. “Well, if we’re being honest… Father helped me with the cookies. Or, rather, Father helped me decide what to make and then assured I followed the proper process to make them,” she said as she pulled out the tupperware container and peeled the lead off. She held it towards him, her heart fluttering nervously in her chest. “Here, please try one.”

“Thank you,” he said, taking one and looking it over. She saw how his eyes lit up when he noticed the strawberry chunks sticking out. The recipe wasn’t anything revolutionary - just a simple strawberry shortcake cookie with cream cheese filling - but she hoped that the care she’d taken in their preparation would make up for that. For as much as Father had reassured her about the gesture not needing to be extravagant, she still couldn’t completely quell her nervousness. She watched as he took a bite, eyes widening as he chewed, before tossing the rest of the cookie into his mouth eagerly. “These are delicious. Really delicious.”

“You like them?”

“Very much, yes. The combination of strawberries and cream cheese is just sweet enough,” he said while grabbing to take out two more cookies, taking a bite out of one the second the words left his mouth. He swallowed his bite and smiled at her. “Thank you for preparing these, Momo.”

“My pleasure, Shoto-Kun,” she hummed, plucking a cookie out for herself and resting her head against his shoulder. As she took a bite, she sent a silent thanks to Father for both the recipe and his advice.

[nippon-com]

The yōkai Amabie was among 10 finalists for Jiyū Kokuminsha’s 2020 “Words of the Year.” In the annual event, the publisher selects the top words and phrases  encapsulating the zeitgeist of the year.

The creature didn’t win top honors, though, which instead went to san mitsu (3密), the “three Cs” to avoid during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are the to 10 words.

愛の不時着／第4次韓流ブーム — Ai no fujichaku/Dai-yoji Kanryū būmu. South Korea’s hit Netflix drama Sarangui bulsichak (Crash Landing on You) told the story of a cross-border love affair between members of the southern and northern elite. Under its Japanese title, Ai no fujichaku, it was seen as part of a “fourth Korean wave” to hit the country’s shores.

あつ森 — Atsumori. Launched in March 2020, shortly before Japan declared a pandemic state of emergency calling on residents to stay indoors, Nintendo’s smash simulation game Atsumare: Dōbutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing: New Horizons) offered a way to pass the time that was enthusiastically taken up by many.

アベノマスク — Abenomasuku. Face mask shortages in the early stages of the pandemic prompted Prime Minister Abe Shinzō to institute a policy distributing millions of cloth masks to households across Japan. Nicknamed “Abenomasks” after his Abenomics economic policies, the face coverings came under fire, however, for being too small.

アマビエ — Amabie. One unexpected result of the COVID-19 outbreak was a revival in popularity for the yōkai (supernatural spirit) Amabie, which legend claims first emerged from the sea in the nineteenth century. Its purported efficacy against disease led to its image appearing on many goods, and it even formed the model for wagashi sweets.

オンライン◯◯ — Onrain—. Zoom and other services provided venues for “online” activities that were previously normally face to face, including medical checks, lessons, work meetings, family visits, and drinking parties.

鬼滅の刃 — Kimetsu no yaiba. The comic series Demon Slayer by Gotōge Koyoharu has come to be a social phenomenon in Japan, with fans of all ages mimicking the catch phrases of characters and tuning in to watch the animated television spinoff. In October, an anime movie based on the work shattered Japanese box office records, earning over ¥10 billion in the first 10 days after its release.

GoToキャンペーン — GoTo kyanpēn. The government rolled out its controversial “GoTo campaigns” in a bid to boost the country’s service industry, which has been hit hard by the pandemic. The programs provide subsidies of varying amounts for travel, eating out, shopping, and attending events, but they have drawn criticism due to cases of abuse and health concerns over spreading the coronavirus.

3密（三つの密） — San mitsu (mittsu no mitsu). The World Health Organization has recently adopted the strategy of avoiding the “three Cs” to prevent the spread of COVID-19, borrowing a page from the Japanese three mitsu playbook of steering clear of confined and enclosed spaces (mippei), crowded places (misshū), and close-contact settings (missetsu).

ソロキャンプ — Soro kyanpu. “Solo camping” was one popular way for people to maintain that distance while enjoying the great outdoors. Camping had a growing allure for nature-lovers before the pandemic kicked in, with the comedian Hiroshi launching a popular YouTube channel detailing his outdoor exploits and “glamping,” glamorous camping with comfortable lodgings and high-end cuisine, also attracting big spenders to Japan’s wilder locations.

フワちゃん — Fuwa-chan. The stage name taken by Fuwa Haruka for her YouTube exploits became a highly recognized moniker across all media this year. Usually clad in neon colors and a sports bra, Fuwa-chan is an energetic celeb who has successfully made the leap from her video channel to television shows ranging from comedy to infotainment.

[enliwish]

3 color LED face mask

[unicorn-cloud]

Thank you so much for the tag @cheesybadgers !! 🥺❤️

1. What colour are your eyes? A mix of green and Brown!!

2. What is your Zodiac sign? Cancer

3. What little thing tells you someone is good? Since I'm currently working in retail I'd say it's the way they're interacting with retail workers

4. Do you have a reoccurring dream? I constantly dream of being in school again 😭 I left college two years ago but I still dream of sitting in a classroom almost every night

5. What is the most interesting class you have taken? I have a degree in design and the most interesting class definitely was when we learned everything about editing a video or movie

6. How often do you daydream? Every waking minute? I couldn't even tell you a specific amount

7. Name/Nickname? Jasmin and my ex called me Jas so I guess that counts as a nickname bc I've never had one before

8. Height? 5'3

9. Languages? I'm fluent in German and English. I learned French in school but can't remember anything. Recently I started learning Spanish (which I'm by now able to understand in a conversation) and Russian (I only started a few days ago so I'm only slowly learning the alphabet, however I know a few words)

10. Nationality? German

11. Favourite season? Autumn!!!

12. Favourite color? Yellow

13. Favourite animals? Orcas and chicken

14. Tea, coffee or hot chocolate? Coffee

15. Are you a dog or a cat person? Never thought I'd say this but I'm a cat person. I love both but since I got Cecily I realized I really like cats

16. How many blankets do you sleep with? One

17. A random fact about you? I really like to drive around late at night (like around midnight) because the streets are deserted so there's not too much traffic outside but all the lights outside make everything look really cool. I'm a photographer at heart and would love to make a photo series out of pictures of storefronts at night because you will see the coolest LED lights or deserted shops and they appear so different from how they actually are during the day

18. Three ships?

Albert Mason/Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption)

Walt Breslin/ Sal Orozco (Narcos: Mexico)

Javi Peña/ Steve Murphy (Narcos)

19. Last Song? Технология by Molchat Dorma

20. Last movie? Hitting the Apex

21. Currently reading? Fanfiction

22. Currently watching? Dead Mountain: the Dyatlov Pass Incident

23. Currently craving? Doing a face mask and taking a hot bath. I'm sitting next to an open window and I'm freezing 🥶

24. Last thing I googled? 'Shop Cider' which is an online clothing store

25. Favourit musician/artist? My Spotify would probably tell you it's Phil Collins, Måneskin and Selena Quintanilla.... and yes I know that is so all over the place 😂

26. Current song stuck in my head? It's that damn Berries and Cream song from Tik Tok...

27. Lucky number? 4

28. Currently wearing? Adventure time pyjama bottoms and a tank top

29. Dream job? Lawyer for human rights

30. Ocean side or mountain? Mountain!!

31. Dream Trip? Latin America, Ireland, London or New York

32. Do you play an instrument? No

33. Current favorite song? I wanna be your slave from Måneskin

34. Describe yourself as an aesthetic? 2015 Zoella, the girl from next door with cute makeup and autumn outfits who loves all things autumn

Oof that was a lot..

I'm tagging everyone who sees this and wants to do it as well 🤗

[crackedoutgiraffe]

The Stars in Your Eyes

THIS IS PART 2 OF TO THE MOON AND BACK

Part 2: Chapter 1 Part 2: Chapter 2

A/N: I’m thinking of starting a one-shot “series” based off of songs, send me a message with any songs you want to see!

Warnings: Fluff

Word Count: 4,898

9/30/2015

A string of murders across the country led Hotch to tell Rossi and Morgan to fly out to Seattle to investigate. The victims had peculiar face paint when they were found.

Reid was at his desk reading books insanely fast when you both noticed Hotch and Garcia enter the bullpen. He gave you a look telling you to follow him. You both stood from your desks and made your way to the conference room.

“Is it the same unsub?” you asked as you and Reid rushed in.

Rossi was looking over some files when you entered, “yeah.”

“Two murders on two coasts in two days,” Morgan flipped the pages in front of him. “This guy is on a mission and he’s not going to rest until he completes it.

Hotch entered on the tail-end of Morgan’s thought, “neither will we.”

“But we’re still down two profilers,” Garcia looked around the room with a sour look on her face. JJ was on maternity leave and Kate quit.

“Our six brains against his one,” Rossi pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Everyone take a few minutes to review the case and we'll meet back in 20 minutes,” Hotch grabbed one of the files from the table and left. The rest of you followed in his footsteps, grabbing files and leaving the room.

Reid went to sit at his desk and you sat on the floor next to it. For some reason, you always worked better on the floor than at a desk. The twenty minutes flew by and you all returned to the conference room.

“We know for a fact that victim number one was bound and gagged,” Morgan read a page of the file, “but it doesn’t look like number two was.”

“Windows in both residences were tampered with,” Reid noted.

“So he knows how to get in and out undetected,” you finished his thought for him.

Garcia piped up, “ok, so that’s impressive because aluminum foil is super crinkly.” The team looked at each other with different looks of confusion. “I’m sorry, I’m not a profiler, I’m trying my best.”

“No, it’s a fair point,” Rossi leaned forward in his chair. “He snuck up on a tweaker who probably hadn't slept in a couple of days.”

“M.O. said this guy is good at hunting,” you leaned back in your chair.

Hotch flipped through the pages with a confused look on his face, “Cause of death?”

“Cardiac arrest, but Dr. Mertz in the crime lab can’t pin down how,” Morgan sighed and rested his face in his hands.

“He might hide it under the face paint,” you held your hand out to Reid under the table. “What we’re assuming is a ritual might be a forensic countermeasure,” Reid interlocked his fingers with yours.

“What do we know about the face paint?” Rossi asked.

“Traditional greasepaint used by clowns,” Reid like to talk with his hands so he had to let go of yours, “but, applied to resemble a Pulcinella.”

Garcia pulled her phone out, “ok, I totally know what that is, but I’m going to google it in case someone doesn’t.”

“Sorry,” Reid leaned forward. “The clown archetype that we recognize today actually dates back to a 16th-century stage tradition called commedia dell’arte, where actors wore masks to resemble their characters. The Pulcinella was a trickster character, usually without a voice. He used a horn to make funny noises.”

“Maybe the victims tricked him, and he’s remaking them in death how e saw them in life,” Rossi added.

“So this is a vendetta by the unsub and not a compulsion,” Hotch’s phone started to ring as he finished his sentence.

“It’s gonna make this guy really hard to profile,” you sighed.

Hotch picked up his phone, “Alright, Dave, keep working on victimology. Morgan, stay on the M.O. Reid and Y/N, dig deeper into the ritual. I’ll be right back.” He stood from the table and left the room. You figured he had to talk to some of the applicants to replace Kate.

The group of you left the room. Morgan headed to the crime lab. You grabbed a map from down the hall for Reid to work on. When you wheeled it back into t bullpen Rossi and Reid were already hard at work.

“Thank you,” Reid gave you a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing a marker. Rossi stood up and opened the file in his hand, “well this doesn’t clear up much. Vic number one was a divorced dad who got custody of his kids.”

“And two was the local drug supplier,” Reid paced in front of the whiteboard.

“What connects these guys?” You sat on Reid’s desk.

Rossi sighed, “nothing.”

“And we would never have made the connection if it weren’t for the face paint,” Reid looked incredibly confused. “Which begs the question, why do it at all?”

“To taunt us, feel superior,” you added.

“It’s obviously a message,” Spence started to rummage around his desk. “My assumption is has something to do with the mouth.” He picked up the book that was next to you and flipped to a seemingly random page. “Look at this,” he showed Rossi a picture from the book, “the colors of the Pulcinella are oddly inverted. Traditionally the character has a black face and a white jaw, he’s painting it the other way around.”

“You said that this character was the precursor to today’s clown because he couldn’t speak, right?” you hopped off the desk and stood next to him.

“Yeah that’s right,” he glanced at you.

“So he was also the first mime, too,” you pointed at a few of the pictures of the board.

Reid turned to look at you, “very much so, which means he himself might have an injury to the jaw.”

Morgan came into the room and joined the three of you, “our unsub can’t eat solid food.”

“How do you know?” you turned to him with a look of confusion.

“Dr. Mertz found a nutritional supplement in the stomachs of the victims,” he pointed to the board, “what have you guys figured out?”

“Y/N, can you get Hotch and Garcia, I think I know what’s happening,” Reid grabbed a few papers and books from his desk and went to the conference room.

You did as he asked and got Hotch and Garcia to go to the conference room. When they got there Reid was standing at the front of the room while Morgan and Rossi were sitting.

“What is it, Reid?” Hotch sat down in the chair next to Reid.

“The unsub has a feeding port in his stomach,” he said such a gross sentence very nonchalantly.

“He has a feeding port in his stomach?” Garcia looked disgusted.

“The nutritional supplement that Dr. Mertz found in both victims would be ideal for someone who couldn’t eat normally,” he was very cute when he talked with his hands. “So if the unsub sustained an injury to the jaw, it would also suggest that he is unable to speak.”

“Hence the Pulcinella mask,” Rossi leaned back in his chair. “It’s his way of communicating.”

Garcia was listening very intently, “what is he trying to say?”

“Well let’s work our way back to that based on what we know,” Morgan picked up the file in front of him. “We know this guy travels thousands of miles in two days. So he probably doesn’t sleep. He’s able to sneak into a suburban house or a drug den undetected. He overwhelms his victims silently and then injects them, and then as they lay there dying over the course of an hour, he simply sits over them and leaves them a highly symbolic message, but it’s a precise message. His victims are seizing up right in front of him, but this guy does not miss a brushstroke. This is a man who’s been around death before. It doesn’t faze him. Who else would leave this type of message?”

“Drug cartels,” Reid’s face lit up. “Cutting the tongues out of snitches and the hands off of thieves.”

“The mafia,” Rossi leaned back, “sleeping with the fishes and all that.”

“Oh my god,” you picked up your file, “he’s a hitman,” the team shot you confused looks. “Think about it only a contract killer could be this good.”

Morgan nodded, “his message isn’t for us, it’s for his customers.” With this final revelation, everyone sighed.

There was a knock at the door behind you. You turned around to see Anderson standing with a file in his hand, “Sir, they discovered a new body.”

“Thank you, Anderson,” Hotch followed Anderson out of the room.

You leaned back in your chair, “do you guys want to go get lunch?” Everyone agreed except for Garcia who had to help dig up for information on the newest victim.

Once Garcia left you all quickly decided on a restaurant and piled into your car. You got to the restaurant and enjoyed an incredibly normal meal for your insane life. Rossi paid and you all made your way back to the BAU. As you pulled in Rossi got a call from Hotch saying that we are ready to give the profile. The four of you made your way upstairs and to the bullpen. Hotch got you caught up on the new information. The group of prospective agents was called in and you all prepared to deliver the profile.

“The unsub that we're looking for is a contract killer who is doubling back to kill his former customers,” Morgan started. “This man is highly skilled and well-trained. Under no circumstances should he be engaged without back-up.”

“So is this a case of organized crime tying up loose ends?” one of the agents asked.

“Organized crime's got nothing to do with this, at least not in the traditional sense,” Rossi warned

You could see the gears turning in Reid’s head, “in 2013, the Bureau took down the Silk Road network. Our initial assumption was that it was an encrypted online market for illegal drugs, which it was, but upon further inspection, we were stunned at the breadth of goods and services being traded online. Weapons, child porn, even hitmen.”

“And the payment scheme was escrow based, in which the buyer would put down half as a deposit and the other half when the seller delivered,” you clarified. “We've now confirmed that all 3 victims hired the unsub over the past year through a similar escrow system.”

“So why is he killing his old clients?” the same recruit asked.

“Hitmen

don't leave a message unless you pay them to,” Rossi always had an answer. “The exception is to leave a warning for customers or competitors.”

“This unsub suffered some sort of injury to his jaw or voice, most likely as a result of something these customers did,” Reid said. “The Pulcinella mask is his statement on revenge and justice-- betray the oath between customer and contractor and you pay the price.”

“Now, normally a man with this kind of defect would attract attention,” Morgan started. “The fact that he hasn't indicates that he has deep pockets and a network of resources at his disposal.”

“Share this profile with your local divisions and with law enforcement. Search for escrow payments to match the unsub to his clients. One of those clients will be his next target. Thank you,” Hotch finished. With that, all of the starry-eyed recruits fled from the bullpen.

Morgan and Garcia fled the room as well, leaving you and Reid to fend for your selves. The two of you sat at your desks for an hour without saying a word. You eventually got up from your desk and went to sit by him. You sat on the floor and rested your head on his lap. He used one hand to flip through the pages of his book and the other to pet your hair. You felt your eyes starting to close when Morgan and Garcia frantically ran into the room.

“We found the next victim,” Morgan held up a piece of paper. Hotch and Rossi came down from their offices, you and Reid both stood up and went to meet them.

“Name and location?” Hotch said as the five of you rushed to the elevator.

Garcia waved her phone at you, “already sent.”

The doors of the elevator closed on a smiling Garcia. You all quickly jumped into your SUV’s and drove to the beat-up garage in Baltimore. Hotch told you that there wasn’t going to be much time to get ready hen you got there, so you had to get your vests on now. Reid and Morgan put theirs on while you kept your eyes on the road. When they were done, Reid helped you squeeze into yours while keeping at least one hand on the wheel.

You pulled into a parking lot with ten cop cars and two SWAT units. Morgan quickly sought out the SWAT team captain to coordinate your entry “how do you want to do this captain?” You all shook the captain’s hand.

“We’ll breach and clear,” he pointed to the building behind him. “When it’s locked down, the site is yours. Sound good?”

You all nodded in agreement. The captain started to walk back toward his team and you all followed, drawing your weapons. The SWAT team threw the doors to the garage open and worked there way inside, “Police!” one of them yelled.

“Don’t shoot, do not shoot,” a voice called out from behind a car.

The captain found the car and raised his weapon, “come out with your hands up!”

“That’s gonna be real hard, real hard,” the voice yelled. “Look!”

You were the first to go around the car to see what was happening, “Morgan, get everyone out of here,” you holstered your gun and looked back at Morgan with a worried look on your face.

“What is it?” Reid furrowed his brow and moved closer to you. “Grenade!” he shouted when he finally saw what you were staring at.

The SWAT team started to yell at him to drop it but he yelled that he couldn’t.

“Put your weapons down!” Reid lowered his gun and approached him, “you mean that literally, you literally can’t drop it.”

“Yeah,” his temper was short.

“What’d he use? What’d he use?” Morgan repeated with more ferocity each time.

The man nodded his head toward the cart next to him, “over there.”

“It’s dried and set,” Reid was holding the man’s hands in his own, “he glued over the pin-hole.”

“Do you have any acetone?” you knelt down at his side to examine it yourself.

“That won’t work, that won’t work,” the victim kept repeating this to Reid over and over.

Morgan picked up the bottle the man gestured to, “Y/N, he’s right. It’s an industrial acrylic. It holds car parts together.” The SWAT team was leaving to set up a perimeter but you four were going to stay.

“Look, you gotta do something, ok?” the man kept pushing his hands closer to you.

You tried your best to stay as calm as possible, “we’re going to do everything we can.” Reid was frantically looking around for a solution.

“My hand is cramping, just do something, all right?” the man yelled at you this time.

“Y/N, four cars,” Reid was still looking around the room.

“Each car has a battery, right?” you stood up and looked at him. “Each battery has an electrolyte solution of 62% water, 38% sulfuric acid.”

“Y/N, that won’t work,” Morgan sighed.

“Why not?” Rossi was definitely confused at this point.

“Because the acrylic will still stay bonded to the metal,” Morgan grabbed the man’s hands to help keep them still.

“Absolutely true, but it will also create a saponification effect on his flesh,” Reid explained. “The grenade will literally slide out of his hand like a wet bar of soap.”

“Of course, there will be an intense burning sensation on the skin, and the smell will be horrendous,” you pointed out.

“You can't--you're not burning my hands! You're not gonna do it!” he shouted \.

Stay still!” Morgan shouted back

“Hey, listen, pal. We have two geniuses working to save you so just shut up,” Rossi said sternly.

Reid ran to find a turkey baster and quickly got some of the solution from the batteries. You, Morgan, and Rossi all put on gloves to protect your hands.

“Sit down,” Morgan snapped at the man.

“This is gonna hurt, but you'll survive. Is everybody ready?” Reid came to meet you with the solution.

“Yeah,” you were the one tasked with grabbing the grenade as it slid out of his hands. ���Just watch your aim. All right, my hand's on the lever.” Reid started to dispense the solution on his hands. It was difficult to listen to the man screaming, but you knew it was for the best. After a while, the man’s hands detached from the grenade and it slid right into your hands, “I’ve got it,” you shouted.

Morgan wrapped his hands in a towel and tried to soak up the acid, “Are we safe Rossi?”

Rossi examined the miniature bomb in your hands, “yeah the lever’s st-” he paused, then you heard it. The click that it was armed. “Run!” Rossi shouted.

Your instincts took over, you threw the grenade as far as you could and high tailed it out of there. Right as you ran through the door you heard the explosion. The five of you ducked behind a police car and covered your heads.

“You guys ok? Anyone hurt?” Reid asked as everything settled down. “You ok?” he asked while wrapping you in a hug.

“I’m fine,” your breathing was heavy but that you were fine.

Rossi grabbed the man you just saved from being blown up and shoved him in the back of a police car. The rest of you hopped into your SUV and headed back to Quantico. Morgan grabbed the ‘victim’ and dragged him to an interrogation room.

Before you went to your desk, you took a trip to the bathroom to clean yourself up a bit. You were splashing some of the cold water onto your skin when you saw Reid walk in.

“Are you okay?” he had worry in his eyes and on his face.

You turned around and leaned against the sink, “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into a tight hug.

“I’m not,” you sobbed into his shoulder. “I don’t want to live without you.”

“You’ll never have to,” he placed a soft kiss on the top of your head. The two of you stayed like that for well over an hour. Morgan texted you to come to the bullpen right away. You cleaned up your tears, grabbed Reid’s hand, and made your exit.

“Ok, so, a week ago, this guy stumbles into the Atlantic City E.R.,  having been shot in the jaw,” Garcia started as you walked into the bullpen. “Can't give them his name 'cause of the whole shot in the mouth thing. But his fingerprints lit up the Rome police database like a Christmas tree.” “Italian,” Rossi interjected. “That explains the pulcinella influence.”

“Yeah. They were able to get a name-- Giuseppe Montolo, but by the time Jersey P.D. got there, Montolo had been patched up and made his escape,” Garcia finished.

“And now he's on some type of payback gig,” Morgan started. “He has no idea who double-crossed him, so now he's killing every customer that he suspects might have done it.”

“I tried to use Al's username and password to flush out other clients, but they don’t call it the Darknet for nothing,” Garcia seemed distraught that she couldn’t anything.

“Then we let it go,” you chimed. “We're not going to catch him that way.”

“What other way is there?” Garcia asked.

“Montolo changed his M.O. drastically with the last victim,” Hotch pointed out. “He went from up close and personal to collateral damage. Al blows himself up or we kill him. Either way, it's a win-win.”

“If he made that dramatic a shift, it was a mistake,” Reid noted. “That's how we catch him.”

“All right, then let's do this old school,” Rossi stood from his seat. “Morgan, you took Al’s confession. Walk us through it like you're the unsub.”

“I got my victim on the ground, and I have the syringe in my hand,” Morgan started to walk around the room. “I have total control over him. This is my moment. I'm gonna make him pay for what he did. But Al said he got a text. I don't like what I see. Now I have to change my plan. What was on that text?”

“Someone tipped him off,” you shook your head. “He wouldn't deviate that much otherwise.”

“But that would mean that,” Garcia paused.

Hotch nodded, “we have a mole.”

“There's a lot of new faces around here want to join the BAU,” Rossi looked around the room at the people hanging around.

“I don't think it's a federal agent,” Reid narrowed his eyebrows. “I think it's someone in local law enforcement.”

“Based on what?” you turned to face him.

“The clock,” Reid pointed to a clock hanging on the wall across from him. “According to Al, the unsub left 5 minutes before we showed up. That's a narrow window. Too narrow for him to wait around for an embolism, but he had to figure out a way to deal with his last victim. Montolo changed his M.O. at the last moment because he learned about us at the last moment.”

“So the last on to hear the cavalry was coming is the Judas,” Rossi nodded. “That means a local cop.”

“Or SWAT. You said Wilson pulled his men off the scene?” Hotch asked.

“He said he wanted to box the unsub in,” Rossi reminded. “But maybe he really wanted to ensure he got out.”

“We profiled that the unsub would have support and resources,” you pointed out. “An ally in SWAT would give him both.”

Morgan sighed, “we go after a captain, we need more than a profile, we need proof.”

“The security perimeter they set up, they would have recorded every license plate-- Garcia,” Hotch turned to the perky blonde.

She rushed over to the laptop she had set-up, “yes, sir. Ok. Cross-referencing last name Wilson. Uh, ok. I got a Ford Taurus. It is registered to Betty Wilson, wife of Captain Phil Wilson.”

“Quite a plan these 3 have,” you scoffed. “He waved his own wife through the checkpoint. And she secured the hit man's escape.”

“Montolo has them both working under duress,” Morgan shook his head. “Wilson has to be a customer.”

“Which means he's also a target,” Hotch sighed. “Dave, you get to the wife’s house.”

Rossi quickly got up and headed for the elevator. Within 20 minutes he called saying that Montolo had taken Phil. Hotch sent Reid and Morgan to drive around until we can get them an address. Garcia ran to grab some equipment that Hotch needed to call Phil.

“You ready?” Hotch asked Garcia, who was setting up the phone call.

She connected aa wire and started to type on her computer, “Almost. Setting up caller I.D. Spoofing and... Dialing.”

Hotch turned to you and handed you the phone, “ok, all you have to say is, ‘It's me. Can you talk?’ And I'll take it from there.”

You held the phone to your ear and tried to change your voice a little, “It’s me, can you talk.”

“Yeah,” you could hear the shakiness in his voice.

You handed the phone to Hotch, “not on speaker,” you whispered.

“Captain, this is Aaron Hotchner with the FBI. We're going to get you out of this. Just drive normally and follow my prompts. Can you talk? Yes, it's fine, or not right now. Did you enter the address in the map apps on your phone? We're getting the address from your phone, sir. My team is going to beat you there. You're gonna drive him straight to us. Sir, you are the last errand. He's going to kill you.” Hotch shortly set the phone down. You all waited around and held your breath waiting for a call from Morgan. Rossi had called Hotch and left his phone on so we could hear his conversation with the wife.

“3 years ago, I had two miscarriages, back to back, just like that,” you could hear a crying woman. My O.B. prescribed painkillers, and after a while... My...dealer wanted me to do things. He wouldn't leave me alone. That's when I read about Silk Road. I could buy the drugs anonymously, and... And more than that. I kept it all a secret until he showed up at our door. Then I didn't have a choice. When I told Phil... He said he still loved me. God, I'm so sorry.”

“You get all that?” Rossi asked.

“Yeah,” Hotch answered. “Relay that to Morgan and Reid. As soon as Montolo lands, he's gonna kill Wilson. There'll be no time to intercept or talk him down.” As Hotch was talking, you noticed he was staring at one of the new recruits.

Shortly after Rossi hung up, the phone started to ring in the bullpen, “oh, dear, Captain Wilson is calling us, he’s calling home,” Garcia said as she saw the caller ID.

“I can try to fake it,” you stuttered to Hotch.

“All right, everyone quiet,” Hotch announced. “Stay off your phones. No one makes a sound. Lewis, you're up,” a pretty black woman started to approach the desk you had set-up at.

“H-hello?” She picked up the phone. “What is it? Is everything ok?”

“Hotch,” you heard Morgan’s voice through your earpiece. “He just landed.”

“Phil?” She continued. “Just do what you need to do and get home, ok? Sweetie, I can hear it in your voice. What is it?”

“Morgan, do you have a shot?” Hotch asked.

“Do you have a visual?” you assumed Morgan asked one of their SWAT members. “Hotch, this is negative. Wilson's in the way.”

“Honey, talk to me, baby,” the new agent was really good. “Tell me where your head is at. I know. I'm so, so sorry about all of it, but just keep your head down and we'll get through this. Ok? Do you hear me, baby? Just keep your head down.” You saw both Hotch and the new agent pull the phone away from their faces. The new agent set the phone back on the receiver.

“What happened?” you asked.

Hotch set his headphones down, “someone fired.” You hated this part of the job. You weren’t able to know who was shot and who was shooting, for all you knew Reid could have been laying a puddle of his own blood.

You waited in agony for a few minutes before Garcia’s phone started to ring, “It's Reid,” she answered the phone. Reid, what happened? What happened? What happened?”

We got both of them,” you heard Reid over the phone and let out a long sigh of relief. “Alive.”

“Yes!” Garcia practically screamed.

“Good work,” Hotch smiling was a nice sight to see. “We'll see you back here.”

“Look, I just want to say, even if I don't get the position that this was the best job interview ever,” the new agent was smiling from ear to ear.

“Penelope Garcia,” Garcia stretched her hand out to the new agent. “You're marvelous. She's marvelous.”

“I’m Dr. Y/N Reid,” you went to shake her hand.

“Reid?” she furrowed her brow. “Are you and that other agent siblings?”

“We’re married actually,” you gave her a warm smile.

“Agent Lewis,” Hotch interrupted. “I believe I asked you to wait and that was about 36 hours ago.”

“It was completely worth it,” Agent Lewis was still smiling.

“Maybe we could have that sit-down now?” Hotch asked.

“Yes, 2 a.m. is my jam,” she started to walk toward Hotch’s office. You turned around and started to pack your stuff up. You hadn’t even realized it was that late.

“Sir?” Garcia stopped him.

Hotch turned around to face Garcia, “Yes.”

“Do I have to organize the other applicants to follow her?” Garcia whispered.

Hotch smiled, “no, you can tell them the position's been filled.”

You liked agent Lewis and smiled at Hotch’s answer. The two of them went to his office and closed the door. Garcia grabbed her equipment and headed back to her office.

The bullpen was quiet, which is an odd sight. You laid your head down on your desk and closed your eyes. You made a promise with yourself that you wouldn’t fall asleep. Unfortunately, you were woken up by Reid who was crouching by your side and playing with your hair.

“Let’s go home,” he smiled at you when he saw your eyes open.

You yawned, “please.” Standing from your seat you grabbed your car keys from your pocket.

Reid grabbed the keys from your hand as you got to the elevator, “I’m driving,” he smirked. You pouted at his chivalry.

When you got to the car you snuggled into your seatbelt to try and fall asleep again, “I love you,” you whispered as you fell asleep. Before you were knocked out you heard a small scoff and an ‘I love you too.’

[ddaengyoonmin]

Chapter 3

Pairing: Jungkook x reader, Taehyung x reader, eventual Ot7 x reader in later chapters

Genre: fluff (not really in this chapter), angst, uhh maybe smut eventually??

Theme: Based kinda on sword art online a lot of similar ideas and themes kinda combining the idea of them trapped in the game, but the world is closer to ALFheim online

Word count : 1.9k

Warnings: Swearing?..I swear a lot it can’t be contained. Mentions of death, Panic attacks,

a/n : I realize in this chapter I’m taking a lot from the plot of SAO, I feel like I have to explain it more than I’d like to, most people probably already know what happens in SAO ( I did try to make some changes) but for the sake of people that may not know, and the characters and their personal feelings and reactions to what happens I’m gonna go into detail about it all.  I swear I’m gonna deviate a bit in later chapters and make it my own.  I just gotta set the scene for all of this and it’s taking longer than I wanted lmao, its my first fic okay, of course I got in over my head lmaooo

next -> Chapter 4

 ------------------------------------

“I’ll show you the way” he said with a grin.  But something seemed off about that grin, there was worry hidden behind it.  You didn't like this at all..

Kookie had taken your hand and led you to the town square that the emergency notice had instructed everyone meet at. It was a quiet walk that took about 30 long, worrisome minutes.  Neither of you exchanging many words besides an “It’ll be okay” from Kookie a few times when he’d glance at your nervous face.

When you arrived there were thousands of others filing in.  The golden colored stone courtyard in the middle of the town was more than big enough to space everyone, yet you found your anxiety growing bigger and bigger as more people flooded through the walkways leading into the town.

     You had been fine when it was just you and Kookie, you’d started to think maybe you really did like being around people.  This crowd was not to your liking though, it only heightened all the panic you were already starting to feel.

Maybe it was that fear, or maybe it was the fear that you had no idea why you couldn't log out of this game, but something pushed you to grab Kookie’s arm and hold it tight.

He didn’t seem to mind, he didn’t look at you though. His eyes scanning the crowd of other worried faces, turning his head to try and listen in to others’ conversations”

“I tried to contact support but there's no button for it!” A large fairy with wolf ears and gray wings complained

“I’m sure my mom will just turn the thing off soon and i’ll snap out of it! Dammit! they told me not to be on past 8”  a small red winged fairy whined.

“This is so stupid, you’d think with all the money I spent on this they’d have fixed this all by now” someone Kookie couldn’t quite see sounded out from behind you both.

Kookie sighed and puts a hand over one of your hands that gripped his arm.  Finally looking at you he tried to assure another “It’ll be okay” and that one was the most insincere sounding one yet.

His own fear starting to break the calm and relaxed composure he was trying to maintain for your sake. You wished you could maintain your own calm and relaxed facade. You’ve had to be brave before for many things and you’d always handled it pretty well.  

But this, felt different.  The whole aura here was off in a way that made you feel slightly sick to your stomach and if it weren’t for the fact that this is where you’d met your new friend Kookie, the first friend you’ve had in years...you feel that you would wish you’d never even opened the box for this damn game.

A loud noise resembling a gong interrupted your train of thought.  Causing gasps and many jumps and various noises from the crowd of thousands.

A bolt of lightning slowly shot through the now somewhat darkened ,red sky and the crowd shifted its attention to that direction.

A dark smoke started to creep from all over and assemble into a figure in the spot where everyone was focused.  The figure had to be about 100 feet tall, hovering in the sky above the square.  It was only a silhouette, but you could distinctly make out that it had the head of a wolf and the body of a human, with a long flowing cloak that sat on its shoulders, extending far past its feet.

Your grip on Kookie’s arm tightened even more at the appearance of this mysterious floating wolf in the sky.

“Good evening” Its voice boomed out “I am Fenrir, head game maker.  And ruler in this world,” it paused only briefly, “I suppose you are all wondering why the log out button seems to have disappeared from your menu screen.  I can assure you it is not a glitch, it is completely intentional”

A series of shocked noises rumbled over the crowd as they all took in the information that was just stated.  You looked over at Kookie with wide eyes.  He was focused intensely on the floating figure, brow furrowed and anger clear on his face.

“To explain further, this is how I designed the game.  None of you can log out and if anyone from the real world attempts to remove or disconnect your headsets the high density microwave transceivers that have made this world feel like a reality” another erie pause, “Will fry your brain stem and end your reality here and in real life.  You will die.”

The crowd erupts into even louder discussions and irritated banter with one another.  You hear someone not to far from where you and Kookie stand yell out “Yeah fucking right man, I call bullshit freaky floating wolf man”

As if he heard that cry, or maybe it was the cries of many similar outbursts that had followed that he had heard, he spoke again, “If you don’t believe me, I’d like to inform you that though I put out a warning on public broadcast, some player’s families also doubted my message and tried to remove their loved one’s headsets.  I’d like to inform you all that this new game I’ve created contained 12,000 players when I removed your option to leave, now it only contains 11,856.  144 players have been eliminated from the game...and from real life”

As he spoke that last sentence he waved a hand and the horrific proof appeared all over the sky.  On at least 10 different screens floating in the sky were news broadcasts from all over the world.  Stating exactly what he had said. Images and videos of families sobbing, and of people being interviewed in front of the office of the game creators of the full dive technology. Headlines reading:

“144 Dead in tragic gaming incident, 11,856 players still trapped in the game”

“Families grieve the loss of loved ones in horrific gaming incident, head game maker and CEO of new full dive technology missing”

“Faerie Realm traps 12,000 players in a deadly game”

You tore your eyes away, tears formed and your body started to shake.  Your hands slipped from Kookie’s arm and traveled to your face holding your cheeks in horror.  

Kookie was frozen staring at the screens, perhaps searching to see if he knew anyone who had died?

The screens disappeared and the dark figure spoke loudly again.  You tried to focus your attention back on him but the ringing that had started in your ears made it difficult.  You missed the majority of what he said, but managed to collect yourself only slightly enough to make out the last part.

“To put it more simply, you will now feel pain.  And if you die here in the game, you die in real life, good luck to you all” Then the smokey figure evaporated.

You fell to your knees, hands on the stone floor of the courtyard, unable to contain your panic anymore.   Tears fell in intense streams down your face as your body shook in a way it never had before.  While struggling to catch your breath, two arms wrapped around you and pulled you up, Kookie held you tightly and close to his chest.  “Shh..sh”  he whispered while stroking your hair.  In any other situation this intimate moment would feel totally inappropriate considering you'd only just met this man today.  But you welcomed his touch as it really did seem to calm you down from the sheer panic you felt.

He took you by the shoulders and brought you where you could see his face.  He was trying to mask it, and he definitely had been doing a decent job at it, but he was just as terrified as you were.

“We need to find my roommate” he said in a soft voice suddenly, “my...friend...my best friend...he should be here too...we came in together but decided to do our own thing...he's gotta be...no one would’ve been in our house to take off his headset so...he's gotta be...here…” His cracking voice let on to the panic he was feeling.

Your heart broke for him, you could tell his thoughts were racing faster than he could sanely handle, as he wondered if his friend could be among the already dead.

“Of course” you nod “go find him”

“I don’t think it’s best for me leave you alone, lets stick together okay?” he said, not really giving you an option as he grabbed your hand and franticly started dragging you through the crowd, looking over every face he passed by.

He came to a dead stop and yelled in pure overwhelming relief “TAEHYUNG!”

A seemingly tall, attractive man about your age with mint green hair, and shimmering emerald wings sticking out from his back was sat on a bench about 10 feet away, eyes glazed over and un-moving with his hands in his lap.

Kookie rushed over to the man and kneeled down to his level, “Hey man, holy shit, I was so worried,” The green haired man, Taehyung, you assumed, snapped out of his trance with a small shake of his head and stared at Kookie.  “Jungkook...what...what the fuck is happening?” his face forming into an expression of terror.  

Kookie, well...actually Jungkook as you’d just learned, embraced Taehyung in a quick hug and pulled him up off the bench.

“We gotta make some kind of a game plan dude, the game maker said the only way out of here alive was to beat the game, so shits probably about to get pretty crazy.  When you complete a quest, boss challenge, or defeat a animal that’s on the list of required tasks to clear each level it disappears for good, and once all of them on each floor are taken out you can move on to the next level.  100 levels may take a long time to beat.  Our best chance is to move quick.  It’s going to be tough with people going around trying to snag all the best and easy loot and experience points once they realize that getting as strong as possible, as quick as possible, is the best strategy to stay alive” he rambled,

Taehyung nodded at Jungkook’s words but Jungkook could tell he didn’t fully understand what was being implied.

“I think we need to leave. Now. The longer we just stay camped out here wondering what’s going on like everyone else is right now, the less of a chance we have to be the ones to get the best chance of survival”  

It clicks for Taehyung, his voice wavers

“Kook...Wouldn’t that...be kind of a dick move? Snagging up all of the best stuff before anyone else can get to it? If that’s the best way to survive shouldn’t we let everyone know?”

Jungkook shook his head sternly, “No. I only care about us making it out of here at this point.” he nodded his head towards you and then to Taehyung.

Did he really just say he didn’t care if anyone else died?

You studied Jungkook for a second, his mannerisms were changed from the charming, friendly, smiling man who showed you around the forest earlier today, he was stiffer and more rigid in his stance.  You couldn’t even see panic on his face anymore, instead there was a strong look of determination.  

You weren’t sure if you liked this Jungkook you were seeing now, but you couldn’t fully blame him for the drastic switch, people can change when they are thrown into survival mode, and this...was now life and death.

[casiestewart]

Get to Know High Beauty, Sativa Seed Skincare

I recently went to the launch of High Beauty, a line of skincare made with Cannabis sativa seed oil you can now find at Hudson’s Bay in Canada. I’ve been using the products for a week now and my skin feels soft and radiant.

I was so impressed with the products and beautiful packaging, I wanted to learn more about the brand. I’m really interested in new products that contain anything derived from hemp for cannabis.

I reached out to the founder to get a bit of a backstory and learn more about the company. Scroll down for my interview!

High is formulated to deliver Cannabis Sativa seed oil in combination with certified organic plant oils, high-potency antioxidants and pure plant essential oils for healthy, beautiful skin. The products feel soft on your skin and my current favorites are the Peeling Mask and high eye-Q eye gel. Although, they are all nice and pair well together.

Interview with High Beauty Founder, Melissa Jochim

How was the company started? Background in beauty? Cannabis?

When I was in college, I wanted the fly the space shuttle, but my life unfolded and I learned that was not my path. My love of chemistry in college led me into the world of beauty and formulations. I learned with Robert Tisserand – the father of aromatherapy, and from there I worked with many other brands, always on the organic, natural and cruelty-free side. I worked for Alba Botanica Avalon, Beauty Without Cruelty and I was the founding formulator for Juice Beauty. 

High is the culmination of my 30-year career formulating and developing brands in the world of beauty. I have worked with Cannabis sativa seed oil in my formulas for many years. High is the first brand where I’ve made it the key skincare ingredient because it has so many benefits, from helping calm inflammation to an unrivaled essential fatty acid and antioxidant profile. As the legal landscape changed in US and Canadian regarding the Cannabis plant, I knew the market was ready for High. 

I love that High female-founded – any comment on why this works well?

Passion. I believe passion is intrinsically a female energy. Don’t get me wrong, there are truly passionate men in this world too! I am living my passion. 

Another point, many women want to help other women, we create a tribe and realize we are much more together than we can achieve individually. I a better version of myself when I am mentoring young women and empower them to realize their passion and see them grow into their full potential. 

I met your BFF at the launch event – what’s it like working together?

This goes back to my tribe and how we achieve so much more together. I actually work with all of my best friends! These are women I trust wholeheartedly and know have my back. They are also invested in High and together we toast daily all we do and the possibilities ahead of us.  

I really love the Peeling Mask. How often can you use it?

We recommend that you start by using the mask once a week. Depending on how sensitive your skin is you can increase it to up to 3 times per week. You can also use it in specific areas where you may be more prone to dry skin, for example, if you get dry along your jawline you can just use it in that spot instead of on your entire face. It is also excellent for blemish-prone skin. The peeling mask is also great for other dry spots on your body, such as your cuticles, elbows, and feet.

The packaging is beautiful. Encountered any barriers to having the leaf on the packaging?

Yes, we have had some dialogue on the cannabis leaf on the packaging of our product being that we are made with Cannabis sativa seed oil. However, if you think about it, there would be no plant without the seed. Without the seed there wouldn’t be any leaves, flowers, stalks, etc. The colors of the leaves come from all of the different colors you can see in the plant – the pink is from the seed and the yellow, purples, and blues from the flower and of course the green from the leaves. There are hundreds, even thousands of ingredients that come from Cannabis. I believe they are all equally important for the multitude of benefits they provide. 

Anything else you want Canadians to know?!

High Beauty is your go-to skincare if you are seeking natural and organic formulations that are true to the whole plant chemistry of cannabis, so that you can be beautiful in the skin you are in at any age.

Trying the moisturizer for the first time with High founder Melissa Jochim

Thank you to Marta & the team at Trymus Group for connecting me with Melissa. Photo cred to Via Lu Law.

Check out highbeauty.com for more info and fins the products online or in Canada at The Bay.

Original article: Get to Know High Beauty, Sativa Seed Skincare

©2020 CASIE STEWART. All Rights Reserved.

from WordPress https://casiestewart.com/high-beauty-sativa-seed-skincare/

[tokupedia]

Costume Ideas for Halloween 2018: Super Sentai

We did Power Rangers, now it is time to focus on the eastern progenitor of that franchise to seek ideas for Halloween costumes.

Yakuu Sentai V-Leaguer  (MLB Team edition)

October isn’t just a time for tricks and treats, but it also signifies the end of baseball season here in the USA with the World Series games airing throughout the week leading to Halloween and sometimes goes until November. So my first choice for a costume idea goes out to you diehard sports fans.

In the 1980s, when Kagaku Sentai Dynaman was being planned out, it was originally going for a baseball theme and went by the name Yakuu Sentai V-Leaguer. Ultimately, this idea was scrapped by Toei as marketing dudes thought that totally gnarly and rad 1980s kids would think baseball was a lame concept and they needed something “cooler”. Remnants of this idea, such as the Dynaman having their helmets sculpted to look like they have baseball caps in them, are seen in the suit designs and the Dyna Rod sidearm looks somewhat like a baseball bat.

For this idea, there are many avenues to choose from. You can either do a full Dynaman suit with patches you bought online of your favorite team and emblems painted on the helmet, go for a budget “casual” approach and wear a team shirt, custom Dynaman helmet and baseball uniform pants and cleats. Or you can do a full custom V-Leaguer approach, with the team’s name proudly on your chest, adorned in the team’s colors and the number of one of your favorite players on the back (or make your own number with your name on it)! 

I think the most amusing one would be for Texas baseball fans, as they would have literal Texas Rangers cheering on their team! XD Also, for more amusement if you are at a game, hold up a sign while in costume that says #DigitalWatches, fans will get the joke.

The Original Battle Fever J

This concept art drawn by Shuuhou Itahashi and Yuuji Kaida, was created to pitch the concept of Battle Fever to Marvel Comics. The two emulated the art style of John Byrne’s era of X-Men comics, and it shows despite being great Bronze Age-style designs. These feel more in line with America’s superheroes than Super Sentai and thus changes were made along the way to make the look more appealing to a Japanese audience.

Some of these even look a little familiar to those of Marvel Fandom, Battle Kenya is channeling a bit of Black Panther, Miss America’s leotard is modeled after Captain America’s costume and Battle Japan has a bit of X-Men’s Sunfire in his look.

Now sadly, this is the only image of the original concept on the web right now, so improvisation is needed a bit when going into the costume design. But that actually works to your advantage, with only a base template, you are free to tweak the look however you want!  All you really need to keep in are the colors of the flags somewhere to keep the nationality theme. I imagine original Battle Kenya and Miss America will be the most popular of the bunch based on how popular their inspirations are thanks to the MCU.

Battle Cossack would have to be updated, since one, the Soviet Union no longer exists and thus dates it quite a bit and two, fur underpants mixed with spandex are a really weird combination (and probably very itchy). 

Maskman (Orignal Fiveman Prototype Concept Designs)

Maskman was a game changer in terms of helmet and costume design as well as venturing outside the storytelling realm of sci-fi and incorporating new mystical ideas into its elements, heralding a sneak peek at what Super Sentai would be in the coming decades. But for a brief period, Maskman was on the verge of being a throwback in design when it was known conceptually as Fiveman, which of course became the name of another Sentai team.

The original suit designs incorporated what came before, most notably Battle Fever J.  X1 Mask, the one-off sixth member of Maskman, is the only “living” remnant of what could have been.

You will need LED lights and circuitboards, cosplay costume material, a custom stencil for creating the black “5″ chest emblem out of the fabric and if you can, find 3D modeling software for aiding in creating the helmets. The female Ranger helmets have a bit of sculpted helmet “hair” kind of like AkibaYellow and Blue, though you can skip that part if you don’t want 100% accuracy to save time. You will also need material to create the costume belts and pouches.

Fake KyoryuRed

One of the pitfalls of being a Super Sentai fan is that a few members of the fandom are quick to gossip and sometimes resort to elaborate pranks to get attention, like most fandoms. One cruel tactic that was put up with is the fake designs of an upcoming Red Ranger. This has recently died down thanks to stronger connections to official sources, but still is a problem that persists as even Kyuranger got the Fake Red treatment last year. In 2013, a rumor spread that this image above was the Red Ranger of the then trademarked Kyoryuger. 

Despite being immediately debunked as fake, it isn’t a bad design, harkening back to Zyuranger with the dino themed helmets that in clearer images had a jagged “teeth” like pattern on the red parts sculpted above the mouthpiece. It also had Dekaranger-like suit patterns with the represented dino covering a portion of the bodysuit in black silhouette with white outlines, “fossil teeth” shoulder pads and a metallic segmented belt with a gun holster and sword holster. 

Commander Hilltop’s “Robocop” crazy outfit

In Episode 31 of LupPat, a Gangler tries to negotiate a plea deal with the police. In a comical attempt of Good Cop, Bad Cop the Patrangers make their boss wear....whatever this is, to make the Gangler uncomfortable (and reference Robocop). It is really bizarre and doesn’t work.

What you will need: a soup/spaghetti pot on your head, metal bowls on your shoulders, a black body suit, oven mitts, 2 grill spatulas, a toy gun, white and orange rain boots, large forks, a pot lid, grill grates or small baking cooling racks and a metal cookie sheet on your back. In other words, raid your kitchen for parts!

Devil Gun from JAKQ Dengekitai

A crook made out of guns, self explanatory. His head is a gun, his chest has 3 cannons, his arms have cannons and more guns are in his fingers, he is a gunstavaganza! You will need a lot of gunmetal gray paint and a lot of patience. If you examine closely, you can see where the eye holes are for the costume. 

Ways to make it really impressive is to replicate the firing effects for the head gun with liquid fog juice, lights and sound effects. Just be careful though, in these troubling times we live in, seeing and hearing guns can make people jittery.

Zeek Jeanne from the GoGo V movie

In an alternate universe, when GoGoV was adapted into Lightspeed Rescue, I like to believe Ms. Angela Fairweather got into the fight wearing this suit instead of PLEX creating a new Ranger from scratch. (*nudges Boom! Studios*) Though the Titanium Ranger is awesome, so it balances out.

Demon Hunter Zeek bestowed his powers to GoGoV ally Kyoko Hase to become Zeek Jeanne before she ultimately lost them to give GoGoV the power to destroy the movie’s villain. One thing I never understood is why the protective face visor just vanished when the suit equipped onto a female hero.

So you have options of face visor on or face visor off. Unlike most Ranger cosplays, your field of vision will be a little better than wearing a Ranger helmet given the large face visor if you do some minor alterations.

GekiBlack

(an unnamed Livedoor artist’s photoshop render of “Super GekiBlack”)

Rio, the main baddie of Gekiranger, eventually learned he was being manipulated by Long and allied with the GekiRangers. Jan dubbed him “GekiBlack” and his partner Mele as “GekiGreen” if they became friends later on. Sadly, it was not meant to be as Long turned into his dragon form and made bite-sized snacks out of both Rio and Mele.

Many fans often wonder what would have happened if Rio had lived and instead of reusing old monster suits, PLEX and Rainbow Zoukei crafted a brand new Gekiranger outfit for him. Most fans know the rules of conceiving such a notion: he must be black in color with gold accents in the suit, and his helmet must be sculpted to resemble a lion’s mane or have lions in it.

What You Need: A GekiRed base template of some kind, black and gold paint and costume cloth, Gekiranger symbol, concept sketches to plan out an idea of what to tweak. Rio’s Kaijin form can also be used as a template. The most difficult part would be choosing a morpher, either make a custom one or make a stylized version of the GekiChangers. For the Super Version, just emulate the base Super Gekirangers but with black and gold added to the white in the bodysuit or just do the ‘shop image above. 

If you have a special someone who wants to Ranger up too, you can be nice and make him/her a GekiGreen outfit and celebrate Halloween as two fated lovers!

[rosesisupposes]

The Status Quo

Part 5 of Breakin’ Free, a High School Musical Sanders Sides AU

Chapter Pairings: Prinxiety, Logicality (one-sided)

Chapter Warnings: Cliques, Roman Continues to Be Oblivious, Now Logan Is Too

word count: 3,411

Reader tags: @residentanchor @royally-anxious @bewarethegrammarpolice   @jemthebookworm@arandompasserby  @sparkly-rainbow-salt @astral-eclipse​ @thelowlysatsuma

<<4.What I’ve Been Looking For  | 6. Lunkheads>>

read on ao3

SCENE: Hallways of East High, the Next Day

“CALLBACKS?”

The entrance hall echoed with Dee Evans’ distressed screech. Cee stood with him, trying to calm him as they both studied the posted list in the entrance hall. The list had the expected handful of names for the singles roles, but for the first time in years, so did the leads.

“Callbacks for Arnold and Minnie, next Thursday, 3:30pm,” Cee read aloud. “Cee & Dee Evans, Virgil Montez & Roman Bolton.” He frowned in confusion.

“Is this some kind of joke? They didn't even audition!” Dee snapped.

“Maybe it’s a prank!” Cee said, eyes lighting up. “Maybe this is part of one of those online prank compilations! You have all those fans, maybe they’re just messing with you!”

“Excuse you, the Dee-Lights would never do this to me,” Dee said grumpily. “Just shut up, Cee!”

Behind them, the basketball team strolled in, led by Remy. Seeing the twins looking frustrated, Remy was ready to mock their distress without a second’s thought.

“What’s wrong, princess,” he drawled, looking over his sunglasses at the board in front of them. Then he read the names there, and his face fell.

“Whomst the fuck?”

He glared at Cee and Dee, as if this was their fault. Dee glared back with equal intensity as Cee nervously avoided eye contact with both of them. Remy turned on a heel and stormed off as his teammates stayed behind to stare, whispering among themselves.

SCENE: Lunchroom

Dee paced back and forth on the raised half of the lunchroom, still fuming. His brother and the rest of the drama club watched in varying degrees of nervousness, Joan’s the highest as they attempted to avoid the man’s notice.

“How dare that… Montez boy sign up! I've already picked out the colors for my dressing room!”

“And he hasn’t even asked our permission to join the drama club,” Cee said sympathetically.

“Someone’s gotta tell him the rules,” Dee muttered darkly.

“Exactly,” Cee said with a smile, then frowned. “Wait, what are the rules?”

Dee rolled his eyes at his twin and scowled down at the lunch room as a whole.

Below him, the basketball team and cheerleaders were chatting and tossing around Remy’s ball as they ate. Energy for the upcoming game was high without bordering on stress - they still had a whole week, after all. Even the current lack of their team captain didn’t bring them down.

Patton Baylor was with the team today, smiling near the center of the group and making sure everyone was heard. At a lull in the conversation, he spoke out to them all.

“You all know how much I love our squad, right?”

“Of course, Pat,” a cheerleader said with an adoring smile.

“And I love basketball too -- when I’m on a roll-”

“It’s nothing but net!” a teammate exclaimed with a whoop.

Patton grinned. “And that’s why I want to confess something to you all.”

The entire group turned to listen excitedly, and not a few students at other tables as well.

“Uh, Pat, are you sure that’s a good idea, don’t forget Valentine’s Day freshman year…” Remy said, sipping from a huge container of iced tea.

“What happened?” an underclassman asked.

“He publicly came out as pansexual and there was a literal stampede as everyone who’d thought they weren’t his type raced to get him a card or candy. The teachers had to step in as traffic control. I was almost killed in the rush, swear to god.”

Pat waved a hand. “No, nothing like that, Rem! It’s just -- well, if Roman is going to be a singer, I want to confess, too.” He took a deep breath, and smiled around the small circle of athletes. “I bake!”

“Excuse me, what?”

“I love to bake! Strudel, scones, cookies - even apple pandowdy!”

Rem snorted. “First of all, no, Ro is not singing, there was clearly a mistake. Secondly, why?”

“I just like it! Someday, I hope to make the perfect crème brûlée…”

Teammates whispered to each other nervously. One freshman finally said, “But Patton - you’re a basketball player. Are you leaving us?”

“What? Of course not! I just also like baking!” Patton said. His bright smile was starting to falter, and he had started to nervously run a hand through his mop of bouncy curls.

“Pat, babes, let me give you some advice, okay?” Remy said, drawing the taller man in close. “Don’t mess around, okay? The championship game is coming up, and we need every player focused. Just stick to the stuff you know, hun. It causes less problems.”

Patton nodded his understanding, but sank into silence as talk resumed, a mask of concern replacing his perpetual smile.

He barely listened to his teammates as lunch continued, which is how he noticed the disturbance happening at the next table over.

The science club members were busily working on assignments and extra reading when they were interrupted by one of the shorter members.

“Guys, I have a secret as well.”

“You do? Well, please share, Terrence!” a student across from him said, leaning in to listen.

“You all know how much I enjoy the natural sciences, particularly ornithology, but to be quite frank, my passion is hip hop, and dancing. And I’m good at it, too. I can pop and lock with the best of them.”

“Is that even legal?” another student asked, looking disgusted.

“It’s just dancing. But it’s just so much fun that sometimes I’ll practice instead of homework!”

“Terrence, that’s ridiculous. You’re on the decathlon team - you know we don’t have any time to spare on non-intellectual pursuits. If you want to be a good team member, you’ll focus on your work, not some ridiculous dancing. We can’t disrupt our current team balance if we want to advance - we need to maintain the status quo.”

Terrence sat, dejectedly. But he looked up and made eye contact with Patton. They shared a half-smile of understanding, then both left their tables. They found an empty table in the middle of the lunchroom, and started to chat about their ‘different’ interests.

Another voice sounded from across the room. A tall student at the skater table was catching his friends’ attention. “Fam, I got this need that I cannot deny, and I wanna come clean.”

“Speak you mind, my man!”

“I play the cello!”

“Awesome! What’s a cello?” asked another skater, staring in confusion.

The tall student mimed the instrument and bow.

“A saw?”

“No, my dude, it’s like a giant violin,” he responded, smiling.

“What? That’s not rad at all. You don’t have to wear a costume, do you?”

“Tux and tie, man!”

Another friend snorted in disgust. “I thought you wanted to be cool, Jamahl. That ain’t it.”

“But, I can still jam on it, it’s fun-”

“It’s a simple rule, dude. Pick your one thing and stick with it. You can’t pop an ollie and play a friggin’ cello.”

Jamahl turned away from the group, and caught Terrence and Patton’s eyes. He looked at the skater table in disappointment, and walked away, joining the smaller group.

Rumbles continued across the lunchroom. In every clique, there were people breaking away, sparked on by hearing others’ confessions. More and more people came to join Patton’s new table. A science club member bumped into a history buff and they recognized each other’s Doctor Who pins. A drama club girl trying to convince her friend to return to the table saw a band geek’s Hamilton t-shirt. The more people left their tables, the more they began to mix, until the groups were beginning to dissolve entirely.

Dee watched from above, fuming. “This is not what I meant by sharing the rules! I don’t understand. Something is...” he pursed his lips, searching for the correct word.

“Something’s not right!” Cee offered.

“Shut up, Cee. Something is wrong.”

The rumbles of mixed conversations below him were raising to a peak when Dee suddenly shouted through the room, “Everybody quiet!”

Virgil Montez had just entered the lunch room, Logan McKessie at his side. Called to attention by Dee’s shout, every student saw them and stared.

Virgil paled, seeing hundreds of faces turned in his direction. “Um, Logan, why is everybody staring at us?”

Logan looked around, adjusting his glasses. “Oh, they are not staring at us.” Virgil started to calm down when Logan continued, “They are just staring at you.”

He blanched with fear, trying to look for an escape route through the crowd. “Because of the callbacks? I can’t have people staring at me, Lo. I really, really can’t.”

Talk suddenly resumed at an even higher volume, parts of groups mixing while others tried to hold their members back, arguing loudly. Virgil edged through the crowd with Logan behind him, looking for a quiet corner where he could disappear. He clutched his lunch tray close to his chest, hoping he’d be able to eat his cheesy fries in peace somehow.

Logan stared at the crowds in confusion. Where was all this… mixing coming from? Were those science club team members talking to basketball players and skateboarders? With a start, he saw his science club protegé Terrence chatting happily with Patton Baylor. He hadn’t realized that the school sweetheart had ever even noticed people on the science team. Or, perhaps he’d been hoping he wouldn’t notice them. Somehow, the prospect of actually talking to the tall, friendly man was rather terrifying. 

That is illogical, Logan, he is just a person. He offers no physical danger, he is just tall. The only thing about him that could cause harm is how his smile could probably make someone die from happiness.

Wait, what?

Logan shook his head to clear it of such odd thoughts, and in doing so noticed Dee Evans descending the stairs, staring directly at Virgil.

He attempted to get the shorter man’s attention, but as he tapped his shoulder, Virgil’s foot hit a patched of spilled milk and he slipped. His lunch tray went flying, airborne cheesy fries turning into greasy projectiles, all falling directly on Dee Evan’s perfectly coordinated green outfit.

Every student who saw the collision went silent, and the rest of the room followed suit as Dee began to scream.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, are you okay?” Virgil sputtered out, blushing a deep red that showed even on his golden-brown skin. Logan pulled him away as Dee began to hyperventilate and the teachers on lunch duty hurried over.

One was Ms. Darbus. “What is going on here?” she demanded, looking from Dee to Virgil.

Dee glanced at Virgil for the split second it took to make a decision. “Look at this!” he cried, his face the picture of dignified affront. “That Montez boy just dumped his lunch on me - on purpose! It's all part of their plan to ruin our musical. And those basketball robots are obviously behind it! Why do you think Roman auditioned?” He sniffed delicately, getting choked up. “After all the hard work you've put into this show. It just doesn't seem right.”

As he spoke, Roman walked into the lunchroom, eyes going wide at the scene in front of him. He sidled over to Remy and gestured to the the pandemonium and the sniffling Dee.

“Hey, Rem, what’s up?”

“What's up? Oh, let's see…ummm...” Remy said sarcastically, gesturing with his tea for effect. “Your new boyfriend or whatever is attacking our resident YouTube Princess, you missed free-period workout yesterday to audition for some heinous musical, and now suddenly people are... confessing.”

Roman turned slightly red. “Boyfriend? I don’t have a- wait, confessing? What?”

Patton was walking by, heading towards the exit, when Remy grabbed him and pushed him in from of Roman.

“Exhibit A. This bitch is baking. Cream boolay or some shit.”

“Oh, what’s that?” Roman asked

“Crème brûlée!” Patton said, practically vibrating with excitement. “Oh, it's a creamy custard-like filling with a caramelized surface. It's really satisfy-”

“Shut UP, Pat!” Remy groaned.

Patton went silent, dejected, and walked away, looking like he was trying to hide in plain sight. For a six-foot-seven basketball player, it was nigh impossible, but Jamahl and the skaters caught him and struck up a conversation.

Remy gestured angrily at the group. “You see what’s happening? Our team is coming apart because of this dumb singing thing. The drama geeks, the brainiacs, they all think they can talk to us. Look, the skater dudes are… mingling.”

Roman stared at his best friend. “Is that… bad?”

“Suddenly people are thinking that they can do other stuff. Stuff that is not their stuff. They've got you thinking about show tunes, when we've got a playoff game next week!” Remy said, exasperated. “The team needs you, Ro. You’re the captain. Without you, we have no leader. You know you’re my bro, but you need to decide where your focus is gonna be, and I hope you decide fast.”

He pushed his sunglasses back over his eyes and left the lunchroom, leaving Roman alone.

In the corner, Virgil was sitting with Logan, trying his best to hide from Dee and the rest of the drama club.

“Is Dee going to hunt me down? I did apologize and it was clearly an accident, right?”

“Virgil, I have not gone out of my way to learn more about the Evans twins, but I have been in their class since we were children. And no one has ever beaten Dee out for a role he had set his mind to, not since kindergarten.”

Virgil gulped. “I’m not trying to beat anyone out! We didn't even audition, we were just... singing.”

“I do not know that you will be able to convince him of that.” Logan responded, adjusting his glasses. “He is an admittedly talented actor, one who can happily and easily play characters of any gender. And he is incredibly ambitious. If he could convince Ms. Darbus to let him play both Romeo and Juliet, even Cee would be pushed out.”

“He’s welcome to it. This audition thing, it just happened. But… I actually liked it, a lot,” Virgil said, a small smile spreading across his face. “Logan, do you ever feel like there's this whole other person inside of you just looking for a way to come out?”

Logan stared back. “No.”

Virgil grimaced and looked down, embarrassed, before Logan continued. “You see, I have already come out, several years ago.”

Virgil looked up again, making eye contact with a straight-faced Logan. “Mr. McKessie, was that a joke?”

“Of course not. Jokes are for non-serious people. I, however, am very serious. See, I wear a necktie.”

Virgil snorted as they both walked out of the lunchroom. He was fairly certain he spotted the hint of an amused smirk on Logan’s face, too.

After their next class, he discovered a note stuck in his locker. A crude map of the school was drawn with a red arrow looping around it. It was signed with a smiley face, and a big red R.

SCENE: Rooftop Garden

Virgil climbed the stairs to the roof, only to find a huge trellis covered in green life. Shelves and pots of cacti and succulents surrounded him. Roman was waiting on a bench, grinning.

“Dang, basketboy. It’s like walking into the wilderness up here.”

“Not as wild as that cafeteria, right?”

“Oh god,” Virgil said, covering his face. “Don’t remind me. Not even a full week at a new school and I’ve already humiliated myself into the next century.”

“Nooo, don’t worry about it. They’ll forget with the next public breakup. It’ll be fine.”

Virgil sighed, trying to relax. “So what is this place? Your secret hideout?”

“Yeah, basically,” Roman said with a grin, admiring the view. “Thanks to a couple key members of the science club, the team has no idea it exists.”

Virgil felt a weight in his stomach again. “You really have the school wired, don’t you? Seems like everyone wants to be your friend, or do you favors, or be with- be around you.”

Luckily, it seemed Roman hadn’t noticed his slip of the tongue, caught his own contemplation. “Oh yeah, I’m everyone’s Prince Charming. Right up until we lose.”

“Is it hard, being the coach’s son?”

“He makes me practice harder, which isn’t always a bad thing. I just don't know what he's gonna say when he finds out about the singing.”

Virgil grimaced. “You worried?”

“It’s just…” Roman started, then stopped and sighed.

“We don’t have to talk about it-” Virgil began, but Roman shook his head.

“No, I want to talk about it. I never really can, not with the team. The thing is, my parents’ friends are always saying ‘Your son is The Basketball Guy. You must be so… proud.’” His lips twisted in a wry smile. “I am proud of the team and how well we work together. They’re my best friends, and they trust me to lead them. But sometimes, I don’t want to be ‘the basketball guy,’ I just want to be a guy, you know?”

Virgil nodded, then realized Roman was staring off into the distance and couldn’t see him. “I do know. But I saw you talking with Joan the other day, the way you treated them. Do your friends even know that version of you?”

“To the team, I’m the captain, and the playmaker,” Roman responded quietly. “That’s what they need me to be.”

“Then they don’t really know you, do they?” Virgil asked. “I mean it when I say I get it. At every school before this one, I’ve been the weird gloomy science boy. At least, until some asshole outed me and I became the weird gloomy bisexual science boy. I’ve actually had a fresh start here - I’ve been just me, whoever that is.”

“Still a little gloomy, or at least emo,” Roman said, pointing to Virgil’s purple hair with a lopsided grin.

“Guilty as charged, princey-boy,” Virgil retorted. “The weirdest thing is that yesterday, in auditions… while singing with you, I just felt like a boy.”

“You even look like one, too,” Roman said, faking shock. Virgil stuck his tongue out at him.

They both sat, surrounded by plants and silence, staring over the desert landscape that surrounded the school. Virgil finally broke the comfortable silence.

“You know, it’s funny, being surrounded by plants, I can’t help thinking about being a little kid again. When I was in kindergarten, I actually got married to my friends.”

“Friends, plural?”

“Oh yeah. A girl and boy, at the same time. The ceremony was under the willow tree and we all had flower crowns. It was very moving. I mean, the flower crowns were actually just handles of clovers we’d pulled out of the grass and dropped on each other’s hair, but still.”

Roman laughed. “Well now I feel lame. The most exciting thing that happened to me in kindergarten was Remy moving across town. He finally moved next door and I got to see him every day instead of just most days. Little did I know I could have been in marital bliss all these years.”

“Unfortunately, that was right before my mom’s ex left, and we moved for the first time. I’ve been in so many schools over the years since then. But you know the one thing I really miss? The first couple of moves, I’d meet a new kid, and they’d know nothing about me, but ten seconds later we’d be playing like we’d been friends for life. Once you get older, everyone’s more cut off, and not as willing to talk to the new kid. That’s how I became this anxious emo mess,” he said, with a gesture to all of himself. “But New Year’s, and yesterday… singing with you feels like being in kindergarten again. It’s just easy.”

Roman looked over. Virgil was smiling, his face more open and lit up than he’d ever seen him. His golden-brown cheeks were practically glowing.

“I never thought about it before you - singing, I mean,” Roman found his eyes slipping down and getting caught on the boy’s full lips and pulled his glance away, hoping his blush would go unnoticed. “But um. I’ve also liked it. The singing.”

Virgil looked over. “Roman, do you want to actually do this? The callbacks?”

Roman thought a moment, then met the other boy’s eyes. A grin spread across his face. “Just call me the weird callback boy, My Chemically-Inclined Romance.”