#Charlie got cut out and so did Cleo

[z0mbgender]

Bro it’s them it’s the them holy shit it’s THEM

[xbadgerbearx]

your people will have our help

word count: 2.1k

Can’t Sleep: [1] … [3]

Of course you had to jump out of the aircraft into the cold water. What a perfect way to start the mission. Your team swam for a bit before wading through the shore as you approached the beach.

"Congratulations, Bloodsport."

"How'd you do it, Waller? There's no soldiers out here on patrol at all."

The beach was completely empty. There were no disturbances and more importantly, no enemies anywhere to be found. It was... peaceful.

"Let's just say they were distracted."

You only walked on the sand a couple feet before a large explosion erupted.

"Control, we have a disturbance south of here," Bloodsport reported after you jumped in surprise.

"It's just a diversion, Bloodsport."

Bloodsport seemed to weigh his options before speaking, "All right, we cut through the jungle to get to Valle Del Mar."

"Don't they have blockades at the city limits?" Peacemaker interjected.

"That's the word."

"How we getting in? Especially with Charlie the Tuna here," Peacemaker said while looking back at King Shark.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"You're the leader. You're supposed to be decisive."

"And I've decided you should eat a big bag of dicks, how's that?"

"You're being facetious, but if this whole beach was completely covered in dicks and somebody said I had to eat every dick until the beach was clean for liberty, I would say no problemo."

"Why would someone put penises all over the beach?" Ratcatcher II asked.

"Who knows why madmen do what they do."

"Chris, this is the second time you've made a comment like this today. Is there something you want to tell us?" You joked.

"Well, you know what I think?" Bloodsport started. "I think liberty is just your excuse to do whatever you want. Whether that's to eat a beach full of dicks or killin' folk."

"Oh, yeah? At least I don't kill men for money like you."

"Oh, here we go," Bloodsport sighed as he turned to face Peacemaker.

"There's something wrong with your skin," Ratcatcher II called out as she pointed to Polka Dot Man. You turned to see his face covered in bulging colorful... polka dots.

"It's just a rash."

"Oh, my- Abner, are you okay? You don't look so good," you said worriedly as you reached your hand out to touch him. You were interrupted by another loud explosion off in the distance.

"Never mind that, we need to continue forward."

You made it quite the distance before Bloodsport dropped his bag onto the ground. The entire time walking you watched Abner with both curiosity and worry.

"Alright, we'll camp here, and tomorrow we'll go straight through the city to get to La Gatita Amable by nightfall."

Everyone was laying out their sleeping equipment, in this case sleeping bags, as you figured out where you should lay yours.

"Why don't you lay over here, (L/n)? I could keep you warm," Chris offered with a laugh.

"Fuck no," you replied with the same humorous energy. "I'd rather you not roll over on me like you did last time."

"Last time?" Abner piped up timidly.

"It's nothing like that," you assured while rolling your eyes. "Me, Chris, and some of our other teammates at the time had to huddle up for warmth after Waller sent us on a mission somewhere in Siberia."

"Oh," Abner said, kind of relieved.

"I'll just put mine here," you placed your bag next to Abner's and DuBois. "It's near the fire."

You changed into your sleep clothes. Well, to be honest you just took off your shirt and slept in your tank top, but it was close enough. It wasn't long before you drifted off, however, you awoke some time later to some shuffling sounds and a quiet groan. Peeking under your lashes, you find yourself facing toward DuBois who was resting on his elbow, alert. You quietly sat up and turned to see what DuBois was looking at. A colorful light show was dancing on the leaves and tall grass. Almost as quickly as it happened, Abner appeared. He looked a little out of it, but quickly dawned a look of shock as he was caught doing... what exactly?

You got up to make sure your favorite awkward man was doing okay before you were cut off by a loud bang! Instinctively, you disappeared. Literally. DuBois kept shooting Nanaue until he was backed up against a tree.

"How deep of a sleeper are you?" DuBois asked Cleo, to which she responded sleepily, "I was having the most wonderful dream."

"If it was you about to be eaten by King Shark, then you're psychic," Chris said.

"I don't believe he would do that. He has very kind eyes."

Sebastian was saying what you could only guess was that Nanaue was, in fact, going to eat her.

"Hungry," Nanaue whined.

"You bastard!"

Rats from every direction emerged from the darkness as Cleo held up her glowing device. DuBois was looking rather uncomfortable.

"All right, calm down with the rats!" he yelled.

"What?"

"I have a thing with rats."

"You have a thing with rats?"

"Yes."

"And you're on a team with someone who controls them?" your disembodied voice asked.

He whipped around trying to find you before yelling, "What the fuck?"

As if suddenly remembering that you cannot be seen, you revealed yourself behind Abner whom you were using as a shield. As cute as he thought it was that you were using him as protection, it did startle him that you just appeared randomly behind him.

"Partnering up with someone with rats is not something I asked for!"

Peacemaker started laughing.

"What are you laughing at me for, man? Why the fuck are you in your underwear?"

You looked over and sure enough, Chris was in nothing but his underwear.

"Woah!" you yelled while burying your face into Abner's back. "Chris, put on some pants for fucks sake!"

"Tighty-whities? Really?"

"Now that's just racist."

"No, it's not racist! They're tighty-whities!"

"You didn't tell me you had a fear of rats, DuBois," Waller said over the comms.

"I'm an assassin! Why would I share my liabilities?" This was promptly followed by an uncharacteristicly girly scream.

"Aww, he's offering you a pretty leaf to show you he means no harm," Cleo cooed.

"Why the fuck would I want a leaf?"

DuBois was getting increasingly more freaked out while Chris started laughing again.

"Just get the rats out of here!"

Cleo turned off her device and all the rats scurried back into the jungle.

Peacemaker turned to DuBois and asked, "Hey, we gonna kill Megalodouche now, or what?"

"Nanaue's the strongest member of your team. You need him to get into Jotunheim."

"Yeah, well we can't function as a team if we gotta watch our back from one of our own eatin' our bollocks," Bloodsport replied.

"Nanaue," Cleo started as she kneeled down to his height. "Would you eat your friends?"

"I no friends."

"You have no friends? Well, if you did, would you eat them?"

Chris answered with a "yes" before he was shot a look from Ratcatcher II.

"No?"

"Then can we be your friends?"

Chris scoffed, "Come on, he's obviously lying."

"If I die 'cause I gambled on love, it will be a worthy death."

DuBois shook his head, "You are a little idiot."

So much for a full rest. It was nearly morning by the time the shark incident was resolved, so you decided to just pack up and dress yourself.

"Task Force X, you have an additional mission directive. We've located Colonel Rick Flag. He's been taken by the enemy."

"Rick Flag?" DuBois asked while your team made your way through the jungle.

"I know, you both served on special forces in Qurac that took down Avral Kaddam. Flag was the one who initially recommended you."

"You had other operatives in Corto Maltese and didn't tell us?"

"There was no tactical advantage, now there is. I've uploaded the location on your MTS. Terminate his captors with extreme prejudice. Kill anyone you see. These are dangerous people. Recover Flag before moving on to the city."

You eventually made it to a decent sized camp before DuBois MTS started beeping.

"That's where they're holding Flag."

"Nothing like a bloodbath to start the day."

"I thought they called you Peacemaker," Ratcatcher II questioned.

"I cherish peace with all my heart. I don't care how many men, women, and children I need to kill to get it."

Ratcatcher II turned to Polka Dot Man before whispering, "I thought you were the crazy one," which was swiftly answered by you lightly shoving her shoulder.

"I am."

"All right," Bloodsport said, getting everyone's attention. "Let's get it."

You and Nanaue crept behind a man who gave his cup to his buddy.

"Gracias," you heard the man say. Soon after, King Shark picked the man up and ate him as he started screaming. He dropped what looked to be a communication device. Nanaue smacked his mouth as the comms device went off.

"Cualquier cosa?"

As your nearby teammates looked in somewhat fear as to what to do, you picked up the dead soldier's comms and said "Nada, Señora" while perfectly mimicking his voice. Your team carried on.

You hastily turned yourself invisible as you scouted for Rick Flag. It took a couple of minutes but you managed to find the only white guy there. You assumed he was Rick since he was injured, but were they... laughing?

"Bloodsport," you whispered into your comms. "I found Rick Flag. He was laughing?" You sounded unsure.

"Most likely drugged," Peacemaker said. "Where's he located?"

"Northmost tent, past the watchtower." Right after you said that you saw a bunch of colorful polka dots disintegrate the watchtower.

"On our way."

You could hear some of your team's conversation as they approached your location. You made yourself visible again.

"I'm sorry it's so... flamboyant."

"It looks cool," you heard Cleo say.

"I don't like to kill people, but if I pretend it's my mom, it's easy."

"TMI, mate," said DuBois.

More laughter could be heard inside the tent as Bloodsport ripped open the tent curtain. An uncomfortable silence settled.

"DuBois?"

"Hey, Flag."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Bloodsport looked around confused. "Waller told us that you were... uh... are you drinking tea?"

Flag gestured to his female companion sitting across the table from him, "This is Sol Soria, she's the leader of the freedom fighters, the resistance trying to take down the current government. They-they saved my life."

"Oh. Wow."

Everyone put down their weapons.

"Why did my people not alert me of your arrival?"

You awkwardly hide yourself behind Abner again.

"We didn't see any people," Bloodsport swiftly lied.

"Yeah, I didn't see anybody on the way..." Peacemaker continued.

"There's no one out there."

"They were gone when we got here."

"I turned them into my mother in my head and killed them."

Everyone turned to look at Polka Dot Man. You just sighed and smacked his shoulder. To make matters worse, King Shark hacked up... was that a finger with a wedding ring? Sebastian squeaked out an audible "Uh oh."

Soria promptly lunged off the table and made her way outside. You and your team awkwardly stood amongst the destruction you caused while Flag and Soria looked in pain.

"Typical Americans. Just run in, guns blazing."

"I know, this is messed up. These guys, they're..."

Rick looked behind him to see Peacemaker and Bloodsport getting into a stupid cat fight, while Ratcatcher II was rubbing her face ashamed, and you and Polka Dot Man were looking off into the jungle having your own conversation and not even paying attention.

"They're fucking idiots, but right now our objectives aligh with yours. If Jotunheim contains the technology our intelligence says it does, then it could be used on the people of Corto Maltese as well as Americans. That's why we need your help to get into the city so we can stop 'em."

Soria just stared past Flag and asked, "Is that rat waving at me?"

Sure enough, Rick turned back around to see Sebastian waving at them. Cleo was messing with her hands, Chris and DuBois were looking around while tapping their feet, and you were admiring Abner's polka dots on his costume as he was awkwardly trying to accept your compliments.

"It appears it is."

"Why?"

"I'm gonna guess because it's friendly."

Soria thought for a moment, weighing her options, before speaking again.

"Luna and Suarez murdered my entire family. I'd make a deal with the devil to stop them." As if it physically pained her to say, she continued. "Your people will have our help getting to Vall Del Mar to apprehend this Gaius Grieves."

[frombeyondtheblackhole]

Hermit DSMP Swap AU: Part 9

Foolish flinched. Qackity’s shouting stopped abruptly. It was warmer (Las Nevadas was surprisingly cold). Foolish slowly opened his eyes. An open grave stood at his feet. His heart jumped into his throat and he stumbled backwards, falling on his back. He stared dumbfounded as a bee flew out from the grave and landed on his knee for a moment before flying away. Quackity was nowhere to be seen. 

His breathing slowed and he looked around. He was in a graveyard next to a church. Was he dead? Was this limbo? What had happened? He wasn’t supposed to die… but he had died before. But if he had died just now he still should have had his third life, he should have respawned… maybe he had. Maybe he was still alive… That made more sense. No, wait, he still had all of his stuff, if he had died his inventory should have been empty… Foolish held his head in his hands and stared at the ground.

“You ok there, friend?” 

Foolish’s head snapped up. A man with neon green hair stood on the other side of the stone wall surrounding the graveyard. Foolish quickly picked himself up and brushed himself off. “Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine… um- this may seem like an odd question, but, am I dead?”

The man laughed, “I don’t know, are you? I mean, I assume you're not dead, cause I’m not dead, unless you’re un-dead, if you know what I mean.” 

Foolish let out a deep breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “Alright, I’m alive, i'm not dead,” He muttered, staring at the sky.

“You sure you’re fine?” The man asked again, putting air quotes around the ‘fine’. “Cause, you don’t seem fine…” 

Foolish shook his head “No, really, don’t worry about me, I was just a bit disoriented, that’s all.”

The man pursed his lips and raised a brow “You asked me if you were dead… not if you had died. Which means you knew there was a chance you might get stuck in a respawn glitch. Have you been messing with server magic?” 

“You make that sound like a bad thing.” Foolish scowled and crossed his arms looking down at the man. He wasn’t in his twenty-three foot form but even in this form he stood almost a foot taller than the other man.  

The man shook his head “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just dangerous. I mean, I would be a bit of a hypocrite if I condemned people for messing with server magic.”

Foolish didn’t look impressed. “It’s only dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.” 

“I mean, I guess.” The man said rubbing the back of his neck as he contemplated Foolish’s words “But no one is stupid enough to mess around long enough to get the practice...” He trailed off as he looked up to see Foolish looking at him with an incredulous look, “Oh.” 

Foolish finally relented and his expression softened, “Maybe you're right, I mean, my name is Foolish after all,”

The man chuckled, “Maybe we're both a bit crazy. I’m Joe, Joe Hills. Nice to meet you,” He said, climbing over the low stone wall and reaching out his hand. Foolish smiled and shook it. Joe had a firm grip.

“So you said you have experience with server magic, what can you do?” Foolish asked as the two of them walked out of the graveyard and over to the church. This church was much nicer than church prime. As a builder Foolish could appreciate the detail put into the architecture.   

Joe shrugged as he sat down on the steps and leaned back on his elbows looking up at the sky, “I can see better in the dark If I want to. Honestly, I don’t really mess with it much anymore.” 

“Why not?” Foolish asked, leaning against the wall. 

Joe shrugged but Foolish noticed his grip tighten into a ball. “It wasn’t worth it. A friend of mine got hurt and almost didn’t respawn. Actually, she should be around here somewhere, I wonder where she went?” 

---

Cleo stood on a concrete road getting yelled at by an angry man with a scar through his left eye and a blue beanie.

 “Who the fuck are you? What the fuck did you do to Foolish? Where is Foolish.” 

“Aaa, Foolish is a Zombie!” another man wearing glasses and green suspenders yelled. 

Cleo staggered backwards and summoned a sword from her inventory, “Who am I, what about who are you?”   

“You better tell me, right fucking now, what the hell you did to Foolish or I’ll-”

“You’ll do what? Don’t try me, I’ll put this sword through your skull I will,” Cleo bluffed. 

The man with the scar summoned an axe.  “Charlie, go get Purpled, tell him we have an intruder in Las Nevadas.” 

The man in green, presumably Charlie, looked at him perplexed “But, Quackity from Las Nevadas, why are we attacking Zombie Foolish?” 

“Damn it Charlie, Just get Purpl-” 

Cleo didn’t let him finish. A yell ripped from her lungs as she charged him, sword swinging. Quackity startled and blocked with the shaft of his axe. He shoved her off and she staggered back. Cleo dug her heels in swinging the sword like a club. There was a burst of pain, or more like cold (Pain felt different ever since the undeath) as his axe cut into her shoulder. But he was bleeding too. His axe returned to his inventory as he clutched his arm and staggered back. Cleo gripped her sword tighter, breathing hard, her eyes locked on him. 

She felt the impact and another burst of cold as an arrow hit her in the chest. Her head snapped up, there was a kid in purple firing arrows from a crossbow as he ran towards them. He was wearing full netheriet.

Cleo turned and ran.

“Stop her, she fucking did something to Foolish!” Quackity shouted. She didn’t stop running as arrows landed about her feet. Down the road through a tunnel and past a stone fortress. Cleo scrambled off the road, over a hill. She could hear them still behind her. Dodging through the hills she was able to shake them by looping back around behind them as they continued on. 

Once they were gone she slowed down. She touched a hand to her shoulder. It was throbbing with a dull ache and it felt cold, a deep cold like ice in her veins. She looked down. The arrow was still in her chest. She needed to do something about that. 

She was back at the fortress. Cleo slid down the hill, climbing behind the wall and slumped against the stone. She gritted her teeth and pulled the arrow from her chest with a grunt, dropping it in the grass. A golden apple appeared in her hand and she took a bite, the juice tingling in her mouth as the regen and absorption began to take effect. 

The throbbing eased a little and the wounds began to close. She looked up and froze. An enderman stared back at her with mismatched eyes. No wait, not an enderman, at least not quite. Half of his face was white. 

“Hey Tubbo, I think I found out what Quackity was shouting about.” The half-enderman kid called over his shoulder. 

Cleo staggered to her feet, her sword out. “I won't hesitate to-” 

The half-enderman backed up and raised his empty hands “Oh no, we're not with Quackity,” He explained. 

Cleo scowled but lowered her sword. “Well isn’t that lovely, someone who doesn’t want to stab me.”  

He looked alarmed, “Oh, I wouldn’t do that- I mean, I definitely don’t want to do that.” Now that she got a better look at him he looked kind of young, he was tall but in the lanky teenager kind of way. He looked to be 18 or 19, maybe 17. His suit probably made him look older.  

“Oh hey, so what was Big Q so mad about?” Another kid said as he came around the building. He stopped short when he saw Cleo. “Oh…” He was much shorter than the ender-kid. Two horns curled up out of his brown hair and almost every inch of exposed skin was covered in burn scars. Cleo let her sword return to her inventory. 

“Big man, why is there a funny looking zombie in our base?” the goat kid said 

Cleo bristled, “I’m still a person, thank you.”

The goat kid looked back at Cleo  “Ooooh- oops.”

“Now look what you’ve done, you’ve gone and insulted her.”

“I didn’t meeean to, how was I supposed to know?” The goat kid wined. 

The two bickered like a married couple. Cleo coughed “Um- would either of you two be able to explain what is going on,”

“Haven’t got a fucking clue,” The goat kid chirped, a little to cheerfully. 

Cleo pursed her lips, “Well, could you at least tell me where I am?” 

“Um… The road between Las Nevadas and Spawn. Or do you mean here-here. This is our cookie shop.”  The ender-kid explained.

Cleo blinked.

“I think she means the server big man,” The goat kid said, “This is the Dream SMP.”

Cleo blinked again. So not Hermitcraft. Shit. 

---

The goat kid introduced himself as Tubbo and the ender-kid as Ranboo. Cleo explained what had happened, which made Tubbo laugh. It turned out that the cookie outpost and Las Nevadas were in conflict and Tubbo liked the idea of doing something that would, in his words “Piss off Big Q.” 

Cleo tried to return to Hermitcraft but was met with an error message. Tubbo and Ranboo offered to let her stay in Snowchester till she figured things out. They had no idea how she got there but they didn’t seem too concerned about it.

Snowchester was surprisingly far away from what the kids were calling a cookie shop. To Cleo it looked suspiciously like a military outpost but who was she to judge? 

Snowchester was a quaint little walled in town, overlooked by a massive mansion worthy of any Hermitcraft base. There was a tower, docs, and a little wheat field mixed in with little log and stone houses.  The air was crisp and cold, light snow fell around them landing on her hair and bare arms. Untouched snow coated the steps to most of the houses and closely shuttered windows looked back at her. The ocean lapped against the shore and the sound of a boat bumping against the pier carried up through the town. A single seagull landed on a stone wall. It looked at Cleo and cawed.  

Ranboo and Tubbo lead Cleo around a strangely industrial building on a hill in the middle of the town with “Danger, keep out” signs on the doors. 

“So what’s in there,” Cleo asked, nodding towards the industrial building. 

Ranboo raised his brows and looked at Tubbo. Tubbo pursed his lips “Oh nothing much, that’s just where we do equipment testing. You’re not allowed in there,” he added. There was finality to his tone. Cleo wondered what he was hiding and if it was worth snooping around to find out, but there was a dark conviction in the way that the kid with too many scars said it. The way the ender-kid hovered at his side anxiously watching everything. Maybe she should be careful not to make more enemies.  

They lead her to a little house behind the industrial building. “This used to be Foolish’s but he moved out so you can stay here for now,” Tubbo explained opening the door and letting them inside. 

“Foolish… the guy who Quackity thinks I kidnaped? You’re giving me his house?” Cleo scoffed looking around. A square table and chairs stood off to one side, a counter with a furnace and cabinets lined the back wall and a cactus in a pot sat by the front door.    

“Well, it’s not really his house anymore, he hasn’t lived here for months,” Tubbo shrugged. 

Cleo sighed, “So long as he won’t mind. Goodness this whole situation is a mess.” 

Ranboo gave her a sympathetic smile.  

“Welp,” Tubbo clapped his hands. “We’ll let you get settled in. Just don’t go snooping around in people’s homes, we are pretty private people here.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Cleo said absently, still looking around the room.

Tubbo and Ranboo left, closing the door behind them. 

There was a silence and then Cleo jumped at the sound of someone drinking milk. She spun around summoning her sword, freezing as the invisibility melted away to reveal Etho standing in the corner. 

“Finally, I thought they were never going to leave,” Etho muttered.

“Etho! What are you doing here?” Cleo bristled. 

Etho looked sheepishly off to the side as he rubbed the back of his head. “We’ll, I might have been following you. If you mean here on this server, we don’t really know. Oh yeah, TFC’s here too. We’ve been stuck on this server for about two weeks now. Least, I’ve been, TFC showed up about a week ago.”

“So wait, You're telling me you have been stuck on this server for two weeks?”

Etho nodded “Yup. Come on let's get out of here before they come back. We can talk at my secret base.” 

Cleo pulled away “Wait, wait. Why? Why were you sneaking around? Why are we avoiding those kids? I would like a good reason before I turn down their hospitality.”

“This server isn’t what it seems to be. It’s seriously glitched out. Haven’t you noticed how many scars everyone has here, how many hybrids there are.” 

Now that Cleo thought about it, even the ender-kid, Ranboo, had scars that looked like tears running down his face. Scars only happened when there was a glitch during respawn so they were pretty rare, the fact that three of the five people she had seen so far had obvious scars was concerning, especially with how bad the scars on that Tubbo kid were. On top of that, Quackity looked like he might be some kind of bird hybrid, with small golden wings, while Tubbo was a goat and Cleo had no idea what Ranboo really was. Hybrids were the result of pretty strong server glitches, and from what Etho was saying those guys weren’t the only ones. 

“So the server is glitchy, that doesn't make them bad people,”  

“There are places on this server that have been blown up all the way down to bedrock. Those kids who seemed so nice, they have nukes in that building right outside. There is a prison that everyone here is terrified of, seemingly for good reason. The Warden that guards it almost killed me while chasing me and TFC away, and said something about hunting us down and killing us till we were completely dead.”  

Cleo blanched “Completely dead… like, they have a way of reliably preventing respawning here.” She remembered what it felt like being stuck in the void unable to respawn. For Joe it had only been a couple of minutes, for her it had felt like hours.

“I don’t know,” Etho shrugged. “I just think it would be best if we all kept a low profile till we can find a way out of here.” 

“I… I trust you, Etho. But I don’t want to leave without letting those kids know that I won’t be staying here. They seem like nice kids, I’d rather not just disappear on them.” 

Etho hesitated, then nodded “Alright, Just be careful, and take this,” He said handing her two invis pots. “You can find me in the sewers under their shopping district, there is a community center in the middle of a lake, the entrance to the tunnels is underneath it.”

Cleo took the potions and smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry, I got this. I’ll be fiiine.”

“Ok,” Etho nodded and pulled his facemask down. He drank an invis potion before leaving the building.

Cleo sighed. Perma-death hum, would that even work on her? Seeing as she already kinda died before. She didn’t want to have to find out.

[darklingduke]

Inspired by @/capri-suns-and-gushers and this post about how sys-meds shouldn’t get to write the narrative about endogenic/parogenic/tulpamancy/spiritual/etc systems on this platform. 

We wanted to use this as our official coming-out-as-a-system (on this blog at least) post, as well as answering some things. 

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask! Don’t send us syscourse or hate, please. (Long post, so it’s cut)

1. What kind of system are you?

We use several different terms to describe our system type, depending on how we’re feeling that day, who’s fronting, or who we’re talking to. We use endogenic, MaDD/paragenic, araisagenic, soul-bonding, and gateway.

Most of us are in here due to maladaptive daydreaming and escapism from the “core”, as well as projecting onto characters or having comfort characters. 

There are a few subsystems in here, though. One of our Remuses is a traumagenic OSDD system, Zak is a traumagenic DID system, Cadence has unknown origins, and Cleo is a paragenic system. 

2. How many of you are there?

Currently around 80 or so, counting subsystem member. But our numbers are constantly fluctuating when someone decides to leave or come back or walk-in. The highest amount we have ever had was around 120. 

3. How long have you known about your plurality?

Our “core” learned the first time about aer plurality in... I wanna say... 2018? Ae came out to someone as a system and it didn’t go well, so ae decided to forget all about it and procrastinated everything. We’ve been out as a system since December of 2019 now, though. 

4. Had you heard of DID/OSDD/DDNOS before you became plural/discovered your plurality?

Kind of? Someone at work approached us back in 2018 (see answer to 3) and whispered “hey. guess what. i’ve got multiple personality disorder. i’m not kyle.” then walked away. Star (”core”) went home that night and researched it and that’s how ae realized ae were plural. 

5. Do you have a wonderland/innerworld? If so, what do you call it, and what are some things that you and your system members do there?

We do, but it’s very difficult to see, due to the body’s aphantasia. Very few people are actually able to see it. It’s more along the lines of us “asking” the brain what it looks like and guessing things until the brain is like “yeah that’s right.” 

We call it our innerworld, or our headspace. 

A lot of people like hanging out in the living room (our “control room”, playing video games on one of the tv’s in here, or hanging out in the pond outside.

6. What do you call your system members?

Headmates. We’re not against the term “alters” but we don’t tend to use it too much. 

7. If you’re plural and don’t use the word “system” to describe you&, what word do you use?

We use the word “system” but we’ve been considering using different terms, just aren’t sure what terms there are to use lol.

8. What are some of the best things about being plural?

Probably getting to hang out with comfort characters. We are all aware that they aren’t their source, but they have many personality traits in common with their source, so it’s a source of comfort to get to hang out with and be friends with them. 

9. What are some not-so-great things about being plural?

The occasional blurriness we get when we realize we don’t know who we are/who’s fronting, and we have to try to figure out who we are. 

10. Do you have a spiritual or psychological view of your plurality?

We think it’s more of a spiritual view, because a lot of us, if not all of us, view it more as that person’s spirit coming to our headspace from a different dimension and hanging out here. 

11. Do you ever experience “switching” or “possession” or any sort of change in who controls the body? If so, what do you call it, how easy/difficult is it, and what is it like? Were you always able to do this, or did you have to learn how over time?

We do experience switching, but it feels different sometimes than others. Sometimes it feels as though whoever is fronting is more along the lines of Star (”core”) being in front and someone else backseat driving, or vice versa. 

We call it switching. It’s usually pretty easy. Sometimes we do it without even trying to or noticing. We’ll be sitting here playing a game or watching Tv and then all of a sudden realize we aren’t who was fronting before. Sometimes we have to focus on “handing over controls” in innerspace and there’s meatspace blurriness while that’s going on before it snaps into full control and the blurriness/dissociation goes away. it doesn’t normally take very long. A minute at most. 

We have been able to do it since actively being plural in 2019 (see answer 3)

12. How do you and your system mates relate to each other? (Are you friends, family, romantically involved, caretakers, etc)

All of the above. There are some people who were born in the system, and their family is in here. There are some people who are dating, who were related before coming here, who adopted each other in here as family, etc. It’s more of a whole world in here than anything. People have different relationships with each other. 

13. Have you come out to anybody in real life/in a singlet space about your plurality? How did it go?

We came out to our partner system’s dad (well they came out to him for us, but we gave them permission to do so), and he completely ignored the situation. And then we came out to the body’s mom, and she ignored us and told us she didn’t think we were safe with our partner system since they came out publically as a system. 

14. What kinds of forms and appearances do your system members take on?

We have some people in here who are human, we have some cat-people, demons, vampires, sirens, ghosts, and other monsters/creatures. We don’t all look like how people look like in this world, though. We don’t look how most people would say is “life like”. It’s more along the lines of video game animation or a more realistic version of pixar animation. 

15. What are you and your system members interested in?

Current interests are: Minecraft, Sanders Sides, Grey’s Anatomy, drawing, writing. Some people are interested in Don’t Starve Together. Some are interested in knitting and painting. Depends on the person. 

16. What is your life like in the meatworld?

Assuming meatworld is like... “real” world. Currently with quarantine, there’s not much to tell. We switch out every few hours if the body’s anxiety or depression gets too bad for us, we vibe with our partner system, and we pretend to be the core around the partner system’s dad (whom we live with).

17. What are your music tastes? Movies? Favorite Colors? Animals? List any other favorites as well. 

Ummm.... lol.... it really depends on the person. We have a playlist on spotify for each person. We don’t have much variety in favorite movies/shows, though. Most of us like animated movies or comedy or romcoms, or stereotypically straight movies (think Hallmark romance movie, or general romcoms, or raunchy comedy).

18. Does your system have a host/original? If so, what do you call them? Explain what role they play in your system. 

We have Star. Ae are the “original” person in here. We call aem the “core” when need be, but we usually just call aem Star lol. Ae are just another person in here, ae don’t really play too much of a “role”. Ae just decides what name the body goes by on default and ae have the final say on haircuts and tattoos/piercings and stuff. 

19. Do any system members have notable relationships outside of the system?

Yes! We have a partner system, @systemofthelostsouls . 

Star is dating Omen, Dee, Animosity, Logan, Regulus, and Story.  Virgil is dating Dee, Regulus, and Ceto. Remus is dating Omen, Dee, Logan, Emile and Story.  Roman is dating Emile and Logan.  Bee is dating Logan, Omen, Nyx, and Dee.  Charlie is dating Omen and Dee.  Denki is dating Jirou. Shinsou is dating Jirou. Kyle is dating Kay and has sort of a thing with Kenny and Stan.

And I’m decently sure there are more, but I can’t remember. I’m pretty new here, myself.

20. If you haven’t been plural for your entire life/haven’t known about your plurality until later in life: what was life like before plurality compared to life now. 

According to Star, life before plurality was a lot more... stable. Now if we want to finish a writing project, Star either has to backseat write, let someone else write for aem, or it takes weeks. We’ve been working on one chapter of a fanfiction for a week now. Before, Star was able to finish a chapter in a day or two. 

21. If you chose to become plural: why? What has changed since then?

We’re not actually sure if Star chose to become plural or not. Sometimes it feels like ae did (which fucks up with our imposter syndrome lmfao), sometimes it feels like Star chose to be plural and invited people here out of loneliness and wanting to fit in with our friend group at the time, but usually it just feels like people chose to come here, rather than the other way around. 

22. Is there anything you’d like to say to the plural community at large?

Don’t gatekeep, please. Let endogenic systems use the words “system” and “switching” if it’s what works for them. They aren’t hurting anyone. 

And please don’t fakeclaim. You don’t know what’s going on in someone’s head. You aren’t in there. 

23. Is there anything you’d like to say to any singlets reading this post?

Thank you for reading such a long thing. If any of this confuses you, or you’d like to learn more, our inbox is always open. But be warned, if you send us hate or something, we’re more likely to just delete your ask than answer it. 

Thank you all for reading! -Cyra

[huntertales]

Part Four: Let It Go. (Pac-Man Fever S08E20)

Episode Summary: Concerned about the physical toll the second trial took on the reader, the boys force her to take a break from hunting until she heals up. So, when the geektastic hacker Charlie Bradbury stumbles upon a case and finds the trio, she talks her way into letting Dean teach her how to be a hunter-in-training. While happy to see “her highness”, the reader and the boys feels Charlie is hiding a secret that could get her killed. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Word Count: 1,543. (This is a pathetic update whoops lol)

Previous Part | Supernatural Rewrite Masterlist

You enjoyed seeing Charlie on the unexpected visit to Kansas that turned out to be for a different reason than you first expected. And while these past few days were stressful and full of twists you never expected to endure, at the end of it all, things turned out okay for everyone. You and the boys treated Charlie to a room in the bunker for her to stay in for the night before she headed off tomorrow morning. You tried to cheer Charlie up from the hard dose of reality she had to face with her mother by telling her stories of your past. Embarrassing memories she couldn't read in those God awful "Supernatural" books. It was enough to bring a smile to her face while she was able to kick up her feet and enjoy a few beers with the boys. 

The next morning you hoped you were sending off Charlie off on her own with more a clearer conscious from the things she did with one less weight on her shoulders. You made your way up the steps to the ground level and followed behind while Sam carried Charlie's bags for her and Dean walked in sync with you. 

“So, thanks for saving our bacon.” Charlie said to the younger Winchester. If it wasn’t for him and taking down that second djinn you had no idea was there, all of you might not be alive. Sam merely chuckled to himself and reassured her that it was nothing. "And you," You saw her index finger point itself in your direction. "You know it was stupid what you did." 

"I know, I know." You said, shrugging your shoulders at your actions that were probably stupid from someone in your condition. You were already pushing your body in limits that you probably shouldn’t. "I'm never going to hear the end of it from the boys. Dream root doesn't have much effect on the body. I'll be okay, Charlie." 

"Of course you're gonna be okay. Those books portray you as, like, one tough customer. If anyone can get through these trials, Y/N, it's you. Most importantly, you're gonna be a great mom." Charlie said. You felt your lips stretch into a small smile at her kind words. You mumbled a thank you. "Also, I better get a call when baby Y/L/N-Winchester is born." 

"Oh, you will. And it's just baby Winchester. One day their father will formally propose to me and we'll get married. Right?" You linked arms with Dean and looked up at him, wondering what his response was going to be at the mention of the possibility of wedding bells in the future. He found himself smiling in the kind of way that was genuine, even with excitement  at the thought of being able to keep the promise he made to you. "First thing's first. I'd like to complete the trials and then have the baby. We'll see what the future holds when everything calms down. Maybe you can even stop by sooner..."

"Yeah. You really should come back and dig through our archives." Sam gave a suggestion to Charlie he knew she couldn’t refuse. "You are definitely a Woman of Letters." 

“I like the sound of that.” She said, breaking out into a smile at her new title.

Charlie reached up to her tippy toes to wrap her arms around Sam's body when he bent down to give her a hug as his final goodbye towards her before making his way back into the bunker. You broke out into yet another smile when it was your turn to say goodbye. You stretched your arms and pulled her into a tight hug, mumbling that you were going to miss her. And how everything was going to be okay. She heard those words a lot in her life, but coming from you that sounded like the truth. You pulled away from her and waved goodbye before heading back into the bunker. As you made your way to the stairs, you found yourself momentarily stopping when you had that feeling again. The fluttering in your stomach that made you realize the baby was moving. It was trying to kick, maybe even punch. You chuckled to yourself and made your way down the stairs and back into the bunker, leaving Dean to say his goodbyes in private. 

“Well, thanks for stopping by, Charlie. Always wanted to get ‘Tron’ed.” Dean said. “What’s next for you?” 

“Gonna go by the hospital. Got to let go, right?” Charlie felt her happiness dwindle slightly at the mention of her plans that she had to do in order to fully move on with her life. And that was to share her final moments with her mother before letting her be at peace. Charlie kicked a rock with the heel of her foot before looking back up at Dean, knowing he harbored two people that he would do anything for. And even been on the brink of death a few times. “What about you? You gonna let it go?” 

“Never.” Dean admitted to her, the ends of his lips stretching into a smirk. 

“That’s Y/N and my boys.” Charlie muttered underneath her breath. She fell silent for a moment, not sure what else she could say that would be perfect for her goodbye to Dean. She stared down at the ground for a second before looking back up at him, deciding on something she couldn't resist saying to him. "I love you." 

“I know.” Dean responded back in the way that only seemed fitting.

Dean remembered what he said about Charlie when he first met her a few years ago, back when she risked her life to help them. She was like a sister he never wanted. And she was that. She was like his little sister, the annoying nerd that he'd do anything for. He kissed the top of her head before pulling away, letting her do that needed to be done. As he watched her walk away back to her two door obnoxiously yellow colored car, he found himself feeling more...optimistic in a way. Charlie always had that effect on him. He could be at his rock bottom and she'd still talk him up like he could do anything. She was a little ray of sunshine. 

He made his way back into the bunker in search of his little brother first. Sam was sitting in the library, of course, with his nose buried in some books while doing research. When he saw Dean coming forward, the first thought in his mind was that he was about to get ripped a new one for letting you come along to the hunt when Dean specifically told him not to. Instead, Sam was taken by surprise when his brother pulled him into a hug. the brotherly kind that needed to be shared every so often. Just to remind one another that much as one another could bicker and be a pain in the ass, at the end of it all, they loved one another. And only wanted the best.

Dean found you in the kitchen busying yourself with making breakfast that consisted of something that looked a little bit strange. You mindlessly licked the tip of your thumb to clean off the substance to your meal, not realizing your boyfriend was heading your way until it was too late. Your expression fell slightly at the sight of him. You knew once you and him were alone he was going to lecture you about the stupid things you had done. And thinking more about it, he was right. But it wasn't in your nature to sit on the sidelines. 

“Okay, look, before you go off, just let me say this—you were right. I should’ve laid low. And I sure shouldn't have dragged Sam into this mess. I know. But I couldn’t help myself. Charlie was in danger.” You said, telling him the reasons why you were against his orders. “I promise I’ll take it easy from here on out—”

You were about to finish saying the words that he would have loved to hear just a few days ago to reassure his mind. Instead you found yourself cut off by the feeling of his lips on yours, pulling you into a kiss that took the breath out of your lungs. Your eyelids slowly fluttered shut to enjoy the feeling that Dean could give you with a simple little kiss. You weren't sure what you did to get this reaction out from him. When he pulled away, you found yourself staring up at him, curious to what made him suddenly feel like being affectionate today. 

“What do you say we find our prophet?” Dean asked you. 

You smiled at the question you answered with a simple nod of the head. You wanted nothing more in this world than to get Kevin back and make him finish translating the tablet. You wanted to only get these damn trials over with, but you wanted to start enjoying life again. The way you were fighting for. You grabbed your breakfast and headed into the library with Dean, you and the boys cracking down on finding your prophet boy to bring him back home. 

[Next Part]

Rewrite Taglist:

@deansquirreljerkwinchester // @everything-i-tried-was-taken // @starswirlblitz // @albot-e // @supernaturalismydrug // @we-are-band-sexuals // @angiewinchestercas // @kaylinfayezink  // @owhatshername1 // @kgbrenner  // @cleo-is-my-doggy // @eeyore1988 // @dakota-dream // @lilylovelyxo // @timetravelingginger // @holahellohialoha //   @quicksilver123456 // @natashacamillas //@lexi-anastasia //@kaylinfayezink //  @deanwnchstr @albot-eh // @rashinyx2002 // @shellybeans //  @icantfindacreativeurl //  @becs-bunker // @oreosatmidnight // @bands-and-shietz // @fabulousmustachesonapolarbear // @clarewinchester // @releasethekracko // @alex-zeppelin // @mega-mrs-dean-winchester // @theskytraveler // @notmoose94 //@assassinofmasyaf // @caswinchester2000 // @savannah-m-99 // @sunlight-dean // @strayrosesbloom // @that-slytherin-over-there // @1000roughdrafts // @its-medeanwinchester // @simplyhemmings

Message me if you would like to be added!

[afantasticbeastwriter]

Artwork || Newt Scamander x Reader

Genre: Fluff. Word Count: 2,710 Prompt: “I was wondering if you could do a newt x reader in which the reader wants to do an illustrated version of his book, and he asks her why not do a book of her own, and she says she really loves his works because she has a farm and loves these creatures so much? Just all Nerdy and happy because she is his fan?” A/N: Thank you charlie-charlotte for requesting this :) As always, I took my own little spin on this, so I hope you enjoy where it went! Be sure to let me know. Also, if you read this and enjoy it, feel free to request something of your own! I’m always looking for more requests. Enjoy!

When you were little, your mom bought you picture books.

These books were your escape to the outside world, a vision of the wonders of what life outside of the farmland you called home could look like. Large bodies of water, heroic castles, bustling villages – they all intrigued you. They sparked your wildest dreams to come alive, so much so that you requested a new book from your aunt every year for your birthday. Even when you grew into your teen years, you still requested them.

As you matured, you found yourself wanting to do more than fantasize about the world. Coming from a farming family where travel was not financially possible, the only other step you could take was to recreate the world yourself right at home. Drawing was even more of an escape for you. You started off by drawing the horizon, coloring in the beautiful backdrop of a sky that came with each passing sunset. By the time you hit age sixteen, you could nearly recreate the marvelous meshing of the clouds and rays of sun in the way a photograph could. At eighteen, you could do the same for the barnyard animals. Your favorite subject was the family of horses your family owned. Of them, your favorite was a Palomino named Dashing. His flowing locks and golden skin never ceased to challenge you in your skills.

It was not until age twenty that you found your first real challenge, however. Out of nowhere, snapping like the crack of a whip, a man appeared nearby your barn. You were sitting alone by the barn door cleaning out some buckets when you heard it, and the noise immediately sent you hiding behind it. Peering out, you watched this man – clearly disheveled – wipe off his coat, set down his briefcase, and gaze around his surroundings. He caught sight of you moments later. Though a great drawer, you could hardly hide to save your life. Knowing very well where farm tools such as axes rested, you watched the man approach the barn with bated breath. He gave you a gentle smile when he got close.

“Hello.” His voice sounds like he could not harm a fly, but you remain on edge. “Would you…would you mind telling me where this is?”

Raising a brow, you looked the man over. “You show up here and don’t know where you are? Pardon my asking, but not many people just show up here for pleasure, sir.”

“I’m a traveler,” he replied. “I seem to have gotten lost. Am I anywhere near London, perhaps?”

You shook your head. “You’re a far bit away, I’m afraid. Welcome to Scotland.”

“Scotland.” He looked down at the ground – at what, you hardly could tell. What you could tell, however, was that his hair was quite long compared to the other guys in your family’s hair, and that you found it rather dashing. He certainly was a foreigner, for no man you knew looked like that.

“Would you, um, have a place I could stay for a night?” He paused. “I’m quite tired, you see, and traveling at night is not exactly preferable.”

“You’re not going to steal our stuff and rob our farm blind, are you?”

The mere sound of the idea seemed to sicken the man. “Of course not, no. Would never do anything of the sort, I swear.”

Giving in, you sigh and move out from behind the barn door. “It’s not much, but you can rest in the barn. I’ll bring some linens so you don’t have to sleep only on hay. I know that can get uncomfortable, I’ve done it myself a few times myself.”

The man smiled. Again, he appeared more dashing than you thought possible, this time so much so it caught you a bit off guard. Ever the gentleman or too distracted to say, he did not point it out. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Turning your back on the stranger, you made your way out of the barn and out to your home. Though only a few yards away, it felt like an eternity to you to walk. Every moment not with the stranger was a moment he could be doing something bad, maybe stealing feed or tools, or planning on harming some of the animals. It also was a moment lost in figuring him out and getting to know more about him. After all, when else was a strange man going to just appear out of nowhere on your doorstep when your family was gone? This was a rare opportunity, and you were missing it to go grab bedsheets to get dirtied up in hay.

If you did not fear your family returning so soon, you would ask the man to stay inside with you. For courteous means only, of course.

After grabbing sufficient linens and taking a, albeit embarrassing but necessary, moment to fix your hair nicer, you ventured out to rejoin the man. By then, the sun was beginning to set and most of the animals were looking to bed down themselves. He seemed rather alert compared to them, rifling through something in his lap quite avidly. Unable to see just what, you inched closer to him and cleared your throat so as to not surprise him. His innocent gaze up at you at the sound proved your actions worked like a charm, that same dashing smile reappeared on his face. You moved to give him the same smile back, but then your eyes caught sight of exactly what was in his lap, and all bets went out the window. The linens fell from your arms as you lurched forward, reaching for the papers he held with a shrill “hey.” He held them away from you, quite perplexed at your sudden movements.

“I’m sorry, what are you exactly trying to do?”

“Grab those,” you grumbled, reaching again in vain. “Give them back now.”

He frowned. “They’re quite lovely, are you sure I cannot-”

“Yes,” you grumbled, “I am very sure. Give them to me now, or I will not hesitate to throw the linens back inside and make you sleep by the manure pile tonight.”

That was a chance he did not seem to wish to take. He handed back your papers to you compliantly and gentlemanly, and you snatched them as fast as you could away. You made quick work of throwing them onto your workbench, far from where he could grab them. His eyes glanced over to them, but he did not dare make a move their way, courteous of your wishes.

“We can probably set up a spot for you in the back so you’ll be less cold-”

“When did you learn to draw so well?”

You spun around. “I thought we were going to drop that.”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot help but inquire how you developed such an extraordinary talent,” he replied, shyly hiding behind his hair. “Have you had any professional training?”

Shaking your head, you tossed his linens to the floor. “No, I have not, and I taught myself, thank you. Now, leave it alon-”

Before you could finish your word, a large roar seeming to come from the man’s briefcase stunned you into silence. Eyes wide, you looked between it and him with a mix of shock and horror. He, however, sat with only a slight hint of worry, which only exaggerated your feelings. You did not know who this man was, but anyone who did not look flabbergasted and terrified when their briefcase roared did not exactly scream that he was someone safe. You took a step back, eyeing the barn door.

“What was that?”

“N-Nothing, really.”

“I wasn’t born yesterday,” you scoffed, “so you can cut that act. Tell me what that was or you can kiss your sleep space goodbye.”

Sighing, he looked over at his case with exasperation. It rumbled again, this time shaking a bit in a way no suitcase ever should. You watched as he went to it and opened it, releasing the noise into the barn around you both with a vengeance that startled the barn animals. He looked regrettable of that, but your thoughts quickly turned to the fact he proceeded to step down into his case. Among a sharp “What?” from you, he climbed down until he disappeared. Two minutes of you panicking internally passed before he reappeared. In his arms was a baby creature you never had seen before, not even in your picture books. It had the body of a lion. In place of its mane, however, was a puffy, sack-like pouch of skin with sharp points to it. You hardly knew what to make of it, or of the fact the man was cradling it in his arms like a small child.

“Wha-”

“They’re called Nundus.” He pet the squirming cub and shushed it. “The one you’ve been hearing is the mother. She’s been rather irritable since having her most recent litter.”

You sat, mouth agape. “N-Nun..what now?”

“This one is Cleo,” he said softly, scratching the critter behind its ears. It let out a mewl no louder than a kitten’s which, undoubtedly, was adorable. “He’s the smallest of the litter, you see. I’ve had to give him special attention ever since he came down with an illness at birth.”

“Illness?”

“He struggles to keep down his food.” Cleo let out a scratchy roar and pawed at the man’s coat. He gave a small smile before holding his paw down. “Nundus must have proper nutrition in order to develop. I was journeying to find a special herb just outside of London I’ve read up on that is supposed to ease digestion and soothe nausea. Seems as though I journeyed too far off course, though.”

“How…how did he fit in there?”

He followed your eyes to his case and frowned. “Have you heard of magic?”

You laughed. “Magic? Really? That’s your explanation?” Scoffing, you crossed your arms and raised an eyebrow at him. “Seriously, I’m not stupid. Shocked and confused out of my mind,” you added, “but far from stupid.”

“I know.” Meeting your eyes, he gestured for you to take the Nundu cub into your own arms. You looked even more taken back with this request, but he pressed on until you found the cub in your grasp, squirming and mewling just as it had been before with him. Just when the shock of that began to wane, the man pulled out what legitimately looked to be a wand. Shaking your head, you laughed again.

“Do you really know? Because I think you’re havin’ a laugh with that wand right there.”

But then, you realized he wasn’t. With a mumbled word, he pointed his wand and shot bright sparks from it toward your drawings. Right before your eyes, the animals you drew came alive and literally came off the page. A beautiful horse, a near copy of your favorite Palomino, stood proudly against the sheep and deer you saw on your walk earlier that day. It took your breath away. Cleo nearly fell from your arms as shock set in.

“My name is Newt Scamander,” he eased out, gentle, not wanting to scare you. “I was born a wizard and went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And, no, I am not joking, nor do I believe you are anything but incredibly competent. And that’s the truth.”

“They…they’re real,” you breathed. Newt chuckled.

“As real as Cleo and the rest of my creatures.”

“Rest? There’s more?“

Nodding, he took Cleo from your arms and opened his case. “You may see them if you so wish. Though I must accompany you, as they are quite animated today. All the traveling, you know.”

“Yeah,” you said. You really did not know, though. You hardly had left your barn home. Newt showing up was the most outside contact you had experienced in a long time. Part of you wondered if these creatures of his he spoke of really were magic, or if you were just that sheltered. Not even your internal monologue could stop you though from following down into his case.

The inside reminds you a lot of your office back inside your home. It’s wooden and cluttered with knick knacks as far as the eye can see, and if Newt was not there guiding you forward through it, you would have wondered if he was lying about the creatures. But then he brought you into a habitat with skies and grass and animals, and you are stunned silent. Everything he said was true. Everything he mentioned was true. Even Cleo seemed to have his place in the vast area, bounding over to a large rock. From on top of it appeared a larger, more fearful version of him. She did not growl like she had before, choosing to instead cuddle against her young cub and welcome him back. Newt smiled their way.

“So?”

You shook your head as a winged creature flew above your head squawking. “I feel like I’m dreaming.”

“You’re not.” Newt blushed under your gaze. “Believe me, you’re not.”

“You just carry these guys everywhere?”

He nodded. “Everywhere I can. I’m studying them, you see. I wrote a book about them, actually.”

“You have a book?” Blinking, you eagerly looked to him. “Can I see it?”

Appearing rather taken back, he gazed at you for a second before moving back toward his office space. When he returned from it, a small book was in his hand. He extended it to you shyly, his eyes hardly looking your way. You took it with a soft murmur of thanks and then rushed to the nearest seating spot to read.

It took you very little time to get into the book. It reminded you a lot of what you wished your picture books were – full of insight, imagery, and excitement for creatures. The way this man, Newt, seemed to capture everything about a creature, even a strange one, blew you away. He made creatures you hardly knew the first thing about sound as enticing as a puppy to meet. Not even five pages in, and you were smiling ear to ear.

“I bloody adore this.”

“You do?”

“Let’s just say I’ve read two paragraphs on a Demiguise and I desperately want to meet one,” you laughed. “I’m such a big fan of whatever this is. Do you have a copy I could have?” Newt’s eyes filled with wonder and delight before softening, shyness taking him over once more. Cocking your head to the side, you threw an inquisitive look he could not ignore his way.

“Y-Yes, um,” he fumbled, taking a moment to mentally force his next words out clearer. “Would…would you ever, and do not take this as pressure to do so, but…would you be interested in…well…”

“Would I be interested in what, Newt?”

“Drawing,” he said with a gulp. Without an immediate response back, he cleared his throat and peered at his feet. “For my book. I’m a pitiful artist, you see, and s-something about your drawings…you bring the creatures to life. My book needs that. M-My book needs you.”

Your eyes widened. “You’re talking about my work, right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s mental,” you breathed.

“It’s the truth,” he said. “Please, consider it. O-Or at least making a book of your own. You’ve such an extraordinary talent, it would be a shame for you to let it go to waste.”

With a sigh, you looked to his book and then back to him. He was so hopeful. Even though it scared you to think about your work being seen by others in the world, something told you that you would not be able to live with yourself if you let down Newt. Perhaps it was his eyes. They seemed to see so much in your work. More than you did, honestly. Who were you to doubt that?

“How about this,” you said, handing his book to him, “let’s get your bed set up, I’ll put the animals up for the night, and then…then you can tell me more about what magical animals I’ll be drawing for your next edition.”

Newt’s smile made all your nerves worth it.

“That would be lovely.”

“Let’s get to it then, stranger.”

[sidekickhq]

mw woc?

here’s a list with a wide variety in ages ! laverne cox, maggie q, lupita nyong’o, china anne mcclain, tessa thompson, gina rodriguez, emeraude toubia, hayley law, ashleigh murray, moon ga young, bae suzy, lee jieun, amber midthunder, devery jacobs, leigh anne pinnock, keke palmer, philippa soo, krystal jung, lalisa manoban, chloe bridges, becky g, ariela barer, naressa valdez, herizan guardiola, aja naomi king, constance wu, jessica henwick, candice patton, nathalie emmanuel, tinashe, oona chaplin, janel parrish, im jinah, karen fukuhara, aisha dee, iman meskini, jamie chung, diane guerrero, karla souza, sofia boutella, rosario dawson, zoe saldana, sarah shahi, halle berry, angela bassett, jameela jamil, meaghan tandy, meaghan rath, samira wiley, kelly gale, geraldine viswanathan, eva longoria, olivia munn, monica raymund, jhene aiko, kehlani, malese jow, khadijha red thunder, dana jeffrey, yara shahidi, jeon somi, paris berelc, cassie steele, summer bishil, gina torres, justine biticon, tati gabrielle, indya moore, kiana lede, auli’i cravalho, anna akana, simay barlas, mina el hammani, alia shawkat, beren saat, jenna talackova, alina serban, franciska farkas, luciane buchanan, cindy kimberly, brianne tju, cleo lazuli, arden cho, pom klementieff, kelsey chow, lyrica okano, dichen lachman, lucy liu, priyanka chopra, shraddha kapoor, alia bhatt, neelam gill, deepika padukone, elodie yung, indra varma, nana komatsu, kang seulgi, kim hyuna, jinsoul, nong poy, samantha harris, tanaya beatty, maika harper, hayley atwell, maria gabriela de faria, shyrley rodriguez, eiza gonzalez, aimee garcia, melissa fumero, aubrey plaza, nathalie kelley, cierra ramirez, gigi gorgeous, winnie harlow, kylie bunbury, taraji p henson, tracee ellis ross, maisie richardson sellers, jessica parker kennedy, janella monae, karidja toure, viola davis, antonia thomas, letitia wright, kerry washington, kat blaque, kehlani parrish, katima kojima, joan smalls, sonoya mizuno, amber liu, fan bingbing, kat graham, donna bae, lesley ann-brandt, chanel iman, ming-na wen, tina desai, hannah simone ! wanted connections are under the cut !

DEVYN XAVIER-LEHNSHERR, our COURTNEY EATON fc is looking for a BIRTH MOTHER connection who looks like PLAYER’S CHOICE who is 45+YEARS OLD. you CAN contact prior to applying at queenofillusionsx. (Devyn’s birth mom is a closeted mutant who was scared of having a child in case they grew to be one. When Dev was born with lilac eyes, there was no mistaking what she was, so her parents gave her up. Now she is at Paragon to make amends, but it is the one topic she gets angry at so she won’t be happy.)

DINAH PRYDE, our KIERSEY CLEMONS fc is, looking for a OLDER BROTHER (FULL OR HALF, CAN ALSO BE ADOPTED !! ) connection who looks like UTP (MUST BE AT LEAST HALF BLACK IF A SIBLING VIA KITTY OR FULL SIBLING) who is 24+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( not to be a cliche heaux but uh give me an overprotective older brother who dinah adores pls )

EMMA FROST, our KATIE CASSIDY fc is looking for her TRIPLETS WITH SCOTT SUMMERS / TWO BIOLOGICAL, ONE ADOPTIVE connection who look like DAYA, LIZA KOSHY, SAFIYA NYGAARD, SEBASTIAN DE SOUZA, HARRIS J, ANY HALF-INDIAN FC IF BIOLOGICAL / RHENZY FELIZ, HAYLEY LAW, ARIELA BARER, ANY FC OF COLOR IF ADOPTIVE who are 16-19 YEARS OLD, 22 OR 24+ YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( did u know that in an alternate universe scott & emma had five beautiful lil babies? bc they did. and with a tweak. that is what this wc is for. the frost-summers triplets would have prob had a psychic hive mind to rival the cuckoos if an attack hadn’t sent emma into early labour, resulting in one of them not surviving. the decision to adopt a baby in need of a loving home and complete the otherwise ruined trio? not an easy one to make, lets be real, but it was MADE, and the three have been raised as siblings from minute one. emma loves her babies. pls. give them to her. ) ( rohen frost-summers & open for two more ( bio ) )

ETIENNE BEAUBIER-JINADU, our ARIA SHAHGHASEMI fc is looking for a SIBLING connection who looks like NIKOHL BOOSHERI, TALA ASHE, YARA SHAHIDI, REECE KING, HAILEE STEINFELD, LALISA MANOBAN, MANNY MONTANA / PART IRANIAN IF BIO who is ANY AGE you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( the siblings were born in canada - their parents were good people but did the wrong things that got the siblings taken away from their parents. the two were together for awhile in foster care but were eventually separated into two different homes. etienne was eventually adopted into a loving family but it’s up to you what happened to the other sibling after they got separated! they were raised together. took care of each other. for awhile, all they knew was each other. they’re both mutants and their powers kind of reflect thanatos + hypnos, where tye is hypnos and the sibling has death-related powers like thanatos. the sibling can be half, full, adopted, fostered - whatever works. his url is svmnium if you wanna discuss things further! )

FABIAN TODD, our BOB MORLEY fc is looking for a BIO SIBLINGS ( 3 ) connection who looks like LIZA SOBERNO, JAMES REID, PARIS BERELC, KELSEY MERRITT, NICOLE ANDERSON, ASHLEY ARGOTA / ANY RELEVANT FC who is 18-25 you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( so they’re kids of mario falcone + his wife, though fabian doesn’t know it and doesn’t know they’re siblings because fabian was left in an alley not long after they’re birth. they probably won’t know that fabian is their sibling unless they became part of the crime amd mob part of their family,,, which would be really cool imo. )

NADIA KYLE, our ANA DE ARMAS fc is looking for a HALF SIBLING / CHILD OF TED GRANT & QUEEN HIPPOLYTA connection who looks like BLAKE JENNER, CASSADEE POPE, ODETTE ANNABLE / ANY HALF CUBAN, HALF WHITE FC who is YOUNGER or OLDER THAN 30. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( correct me if i’m wrong, but a child of ted “wildcat” grant and queen hippolyta of the amazons is… pretty hot, and i’d love to see them around the place ! this one is fun, because nadia has SUCH an appreciation for strong women as someone who was surrounded by them her whole life, and while this doesn’t mean she’s directly connected to wonderfam, it does mean she likes to think that she is, and probably cites herself as being “five percent wonder woman”. i’d like to think that while her relationship with thomas is more on the strained side - as he remembers her as her true self better than this version she’s become - there’s a chance she’s made more of an effort, here, out of sheer respect for their mother, and as such… means they could be MUCH closer, which is a dynamic that i’m here for. )

NADIA KYLE, our ANA DE ARMAS fc is looking for an OLDER HALF SIBLING / THOMAS BRONSON connection who looks like ANY FC AT LEAST HALF CUBAN who is 35+. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( where thomas really followed in ted’s footsteps… nadia really tried to become her mother, version 2, and that - i think - makes for a pretty interesting sibling dynamic. one is textbook good. the other… morally grey, at the best of times. i’m sure there’s love shared, but nadia didn’t really grow up around many males, either - especially not a lot who were older than her and related to her, so i imagine that she’s spent a great deal of time trying to outdo him. who’s to say she has? her relationship with thomas is probably about as strained as a sibling relationship she has could be, and i’m… so into it. )

NADIA KYLE, our ANA DE ARMAS fc is looking for her MOTHER / SELINA KYLE who looks like MELISSA FUMERO, JOANNA GARCIA / ANY CUBAN FC who is OLD ENOUGH. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( it may be a little cliche, all considered - but there’s a reason that nadia has become the person that she is today, and that reason… is selina. the love she has for her mother, and the idolization that she’s always felt towards her, is unmatched. nadia’s upbringing was unique in that it wasn’t just isolated to selina & ted. rather, it was a combined effort of selina, ted, holly, eiko - and everyone had a huge role, but no one really ever outshone her mother. she’s always wanted to emulate her, because in nadia’s eyes, there’s no one better - and while she’s made mistakes in coming down this road, and while she’s done things that even selina probably can’t be proud of… it’s all been in hopes of both… being half the woman that her mother is, and being someone that selina is proud of. )

NAOMI DANE-SUMMERS, our NAOMI SCOTT  fc is looking for a TWIN connection who looks like AVAN JOGIA, ALIA BHATT, GERALDINE VISWANATHAN, JESSSE RATH, KELLY GALE, SEBASTIAN DE SOUZA, LIZA KOSHY / ANY FACE CLAIM, who is 23 YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( these two have always been close and taken care of each other. naomi’s about 30 minutes older than this twin, she was born on dec 31st and they were born on january 1st. think wanda & pietro as kids. they really just understood each other and have been attached at the hip since they could remember. naomi’s very introverted so it would be nice if the twin was more of an extrovert - but personality and everything is up to you! only requirement is that if they have a mutant hair color that it’s not green - so pink, purple, blue, white, etc - all very cool! )

NAOMI DANE-SUMMERS, our NAOMI SCOTT fc is looking for a YOUNGER SIBLING connection who looks like HARRIS J, ALIA BHATT, KELLY GALE, GERALDINE VISWANATHAN, DAYA, CHARLI XCX / ANY FACE CLAIM who is 16-22. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( naomi has never been the best older sister, but she does try. it’s possible for them to not be close and be kind of awkward around each other since maybe they don’t know how to be around each other? but naomi loves her baby sibling, despite being bad at showing it. only requirement is that if they have a mutant hair color that it’s not green - so pink, purple, blue, white, etc - all very cool! )

NAOMI DANE-SUMMERS, our NAOMI SCOTT fc is looking for a OLDER HALF SIBLING ( VIA LORNA & MARCOS ) connection who looks like EIZA GONZALEZ, KARLA SOUZA, SEAN TEALE, CHLOE BRIDGES, DAVID LAMBERT, ASHTON MOIO, TYLER POSEY, PETER GADIOT, MICHAEL TREVINO / ANY FACE CLAIM who is 26+. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( naomi is quite close with marcos diaz so i definitely imagine these two having a sort of close-ish relationship. they’re not full siblings but that part has never been important in their family - they’ve always been siblings. only requirement is that if they have a mutant hair color that it’s not green - so pink, purple, blue, white, etc - all very cool! )

ROSARIO HILL, our MELISSA BARRERA fc, is looking for a YOUNGER HALF SIBLINGS / ADOPTED SIBLINGS ( 1 to 2 ) connection who looks like DIEGO TINOCO, TRINITY ANNE, EDEN ESTRADA, SOFIA REYES, CIERRA RAMRIEZ, ISSA LISH, DANNA PAOLA, ARIELA BARER, MANPREET MABRA, LAURA HARRIER, TRISTIN MAYS, LULU ANTARISKA, KEKE PALMER, TAZZY PHE, TINA TAMASHIRO, TOMMY MARTINEZ, MARLON LANGELAND / AT LEAST HALF MEXICAN IF BIO, ANY FACE IF ADOPTED who is UNDER 25 you DON’T have to contact prior to applying.

WINONA FALCONE, our SHAY MITCHELL fc is looking for a OLDER SIBLING connection who looks like UTP / ANY HALF FILIPINO FC who is 27+ YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( the oldest falcone ! mwahaha. so it’s this whole big thing that WINONA IS THE HEIR, but she wasn’t always. she has an older sibling who was disinherited from the family & cast out. a big ole family disgrace that none of them like to talk about. the reason behind this is up to you ! but it can range from being a MUTANT to a DEGENERATE to being SOFT to whatever. sofia is a pretty uptight gal. )

[dannycaing]

IF DREAMS WOULD COME TRUE

IF DREAMS WOULD COME TRUE by Danny Caing   Date Written:  April 10, 2019

CHAPTER 1  THE WORKING CLASS

Nicolas Weinberger was a multi-trillionaire.  He owns a business chain corporation from construction, buildings, and warehouses,  residential housing, oil, and mining, banking, and finance,  marketing, and real estate,  the military-industrial complex,  airlines,  and shipping industries,  resorts, and hotels, and so on.  He was worth 8 trillion USD.  But he was not satisfied with his life at the age of 32 years when he inherited the fortune from his father.

One day he decided to change his lifestyle to an ordinary working guy next door.   So he rented a house with a garden in the backyard.   He has no television,   telephone, and computer but he has a refrigerator and an oven with a stove. He lives in a town with a population of 832 and works in a local grocery store. He drives on a second-hand bronco car.  No one recognized him without his beard because he looks much younger.

The grocery store opens at 8 AM. While Nicolas was attending the store, a young lady came in to buy three gallons of ice cream and two boxes of assorted cookies.

NICOLAS:  Children's party?

CHARLOTTE:  No!  It's for my big brother, Charlie.

NICOLAS:  That's a lot of ice cream and cookies.

CHARLOTTE:  Yes! He is five times bigger than me.  Are you new around here?

NICOLAS: Just moved in last week.  I think I like this place. It's cool.  By the way,  my name is Nick.  Nick Berg.

CHARLOTTE:  I'm Charlotte.  I teach in Elementary School just a few blocks from here.

NICOLAS:  Oh,  so you are a teacher.  That is awesome.

CHARLOTTE:  Would you like to come and join us tomorrow at school?   There are the stage play and choir performances of the children,  that is if you are free at 7 PM.  It's a simple gathering with parents in this town.  I hope you enjoy meeting them.

NICOLAS:  I will be there. Thank you for the invitation.

CHARLOTTE:  You're welcome.  See you later.

This is it!  Nicolas thought in excitement. There will be no more board meetings to attend,  no first-class dinners,  no midnight phone calls, no unending emails,  no stock markets review,  no more jet lags,  no emergency conferences, and no hectic appointments. It's Nicolas and Charlotte with her students tomorrow night. Nobody cares who he was,   just a grocery man.

The store closed at 5 PM.  On his way to the car, he saw a boy sitting on the bench in front of the store.

NICOLAS:  Hey kid!  Where's your mom and dad?

The kid stared at him blankly with a sad face and fell silent.  Nicolas noticed a tag on his neck with his name and address on it.   His name was Albert.  He was an autistic kid. So, he asked the boy to get into his car and then drove him home safely in front of his house on the address on the tag.  As he pushed the doorbell someone opened the door. The woman immediately embraced his son and told Nicolas that his father had been looking for him. She invited Nicolas inside the house to have some tea then she called her husband that their son is already home.   The couples, Marlon and Jennifer, asked Nicolas to stay for dinner with them.  They have three children,  the two sisters were Cleo and Bobbie, and the boy's name was Albert.

MARLON:  It's not the first time Albert got lost in the school.  Thank you so much for bringing him home.

NICOLAS: Don't mention it.  Everyone will do the same way I did when they saw Albert alone. You have beautiful children.   How are things going?

JENNIFER:  We're good.  Marlon is working on an uptown ranch while I do some part-time job in the church.  The girls are in elementary school.  Do you have family Nick?

NICOLAS:  No.  When my father died, I have to take care of everything he left me.  I have no time for family.  That's why I need this kind of break.

MARLON: We are sorry for your loss.  It's good to have you here with us Nick.   Please don't hesitate to call me if you need some assistance. We are always on your side.

BOBBIE:  Can you come again here on my birthday this Saturday?

Nicolas looked at once to Jennifer and Marlon with a gesture.  Both parents nodded to him with their smile.

NICOLAS:  Well,  sure why not?  Thank you,  Bobbie.  How old are you on your birthday?

CLEO:  She will be ten years old.  

During their discussion at the table,  Jennifer and Marlon were surprised to hear Nick's proposal on a business partnership. He planned to put up farmland that produces products that are in demand on the market. Though Marlon has doubts about what Nicolas has been talking about,  he still supported his ideas.

NICOLAS:  I saw many wastelands around here.  All we have to do is build a dam to irrigate the plantation.  Then we will put up a factory to produce products for export.  Windmills for electricity,  it's a clean environment project.

MARLON:  Count me in as your partner Nick.  Surely, this will uplift the economy in the community.  Where are we going to get financial assistance for the proposed projects?

NICOLAS:  We need collateral to get loans from banks.  Corporate aid funds through Foundation.

When Nicolas and Marlon looked to each other,  they both laugh out loud as if the whole thing was a dream.  Marlon accompanied Nicolas to his car and patted his back and said good night.  Nicolas shakes Marlon's hands before he drove away.

NICOLAS:  I had a wonderful time with your family Marlon.  That was a good dinner.  Thank you.  Good night.  

MARLON:  Good night, too.

While Nicolas was driving his way home,  in his thoughts,  he was serious about his plans.  But for Marlon and Jennifer,  it was just an extraordinary conversation of a man like Nicolas who lived a simple life with great ideas.

The following day after closing the store he went home immediately to prepare himself to attend the Elementary School program that night.  As he parked his car in front of the house,  he saw Charlotte at the doorstep waving and smiling at him.

CHARLOTTE:  Hello Nick!  Good afternoon. I brought some apple pie for you and an invitation card signed by all my students.

NICOLAS:  Good afternoon Charlotte. Well,  it's an honor. Thank you,   Charlotte.  Please come in and let's share the apple pie.  I think I'm hungry.

CHARLOTTE:  You know,  I cooked this pie especially for you.

On the dining table, they were talking about the children's show,  the songs they are to perform and the story of the play.  Then Charlotte offered herself to wash the dishes while Nicolas prepares to dress up for the occasion.  While they were on their way to school,  Charlotte sensed something on him.

CHARLOTTE:  What is it you're thinking?

NICOLAS:  You reminded me of my mom.  We usually eat together when she cooked her favorite apple pie.  She died when I was 12 years old.  I already missed her.

CHARLOTTE:  I'm sorry.

NICOLAS:  It was the best apple pie I ever had tonight.  I am grateful to you.

CHARLOTTE:  Likewise,  Nick.

As they arrived at the school,  the parents were in the theater room waiting for the show to start. Everyone was busy looking for their designated seats.  Charlotte has no time to introduce Nicolas to the parents instead leads him to his seat in front while she went backstage to organize the children for the show. During the children's program,   Nicolas remembered when he was a kid that his dad not even once attended on his stage performances,  it was his mom who is always present on the show. Right after the show,  there was a picture taking on the stage of children and parents and teachers and the guests. Nicolas thought this was an unbelievable experience sharing jokes and laughter with the working-class folks.   There was a buffet and the kids were seated on the long table while their parents were serving meals. Suddenly, four military helicopters were flying over the school area with spotlights and then they moved away.

CHARLOTTE:  It's the first time we've seen helicopters hovering in the school.  Could it be an emergency?   Let's watched the T.V. in the classroom?

MARLON:  Maybe it was just a military drill.

So everybody went inside the classroom to watch on the T.V.  for twenty minutes but there was no emergency broadcast,  it's all the regular shows.  They all decided to end the party and started going home.  It was already 8:32 PM.  Nicolas waited for Charlotte until everyone was gone.  He dropped Charlotte, Charlie and her mother to their house on his way home.  

CHAPTER 2  TWO MONTHS LATER

Nicolas has known all the folks in the community.  He would be attending Parents Council meeting on Wednesday nights,  playing baseball with the elementary kids on Saturdays,  attending a fellowship in the church on Sundays, and in the afternoon with Charlotte's family at home until dinner.  Charlotte taught him how to play the guitar and sing a lot of Beatles songs.  

One day,  Marlon invited Nicolas to go fishing on the lake with his family for a picnic.  Nicolas agreed and suggested to invite Charlotte's family with him.

NICOLAS:  How far is it?

MARLON:  Taking the short cut, it's just about thirty-two miles along the dirt road.  It's beautiful out there on the lake.  There's a waterfall on the upstream east side and hot spring.  We're leaving on Saturday early morning.

One Saturday morning,  there were two vehicles in convoy along the country road.  They went through eight wooden bridges, three road crossings, and two creeks before reaching the lake.  Nicolas was amazed by the view of the lake. He can hear the birds chirping.  They went fishing,  hiking to the waterfalls and swimming in the lake.  Nicolas had a good time that day.

It was almost dark when they were packing the things they saw eight jet fighters in the sky.  Marlon decided to take the hi-way in going home because it's so dark and foggy on the dirt road. One hour later along the hi-way,  there was a barricade in front of them.  Suddenly two helicopters were hovering above them with spotlights.  Then they were surrounded by soldiers with a gas mask and protective camouflage suit.

SPEAKERS:  Stop!  Do not enter!  The area is prohibited.  This is not a drill.

They were escorted by the military vehicles to a nearby base complete with biological-chemical facilities. There was a quarantine room for virus detection and an isolation room for those who were infected. Everyone passed the medical check-up except Nicolas. He was transferred to another secured military medical base for further analysis.  That was the last time they saw Nicolas.  Upon arrival on the Medical Base,   Nicolas met a high ranking General and a Senator.  An adviser to his Corporation told him that they have to condone the perimeter of the town for his security reason.

CHAPTER 3  TWO YEARS LATER

The town has increased its population to 8,320 with new structures and business offices downtown.  There was a new school building,  hospital, banks, hotels, gasoline stations,  restaurants like McDonald,  Kenny Rogers,  Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Starbucks Coffee.  Fifty miles circumference around town were different crop plantations, factories, a dam for irrigation and windmills for electricity.  On the east side of town is the new middle-class subdivision where Charlotte and Marlon's family live. Marlon is the Manager of one of the factories. Charlotte is the Principal of the new Elementary & High School Building.  

On Saturday night,  there was a dinner party hosted by Marlon and Jennifer at Kenny Rogers Restaurant. It was the 12th birthday of their daughter,  Bobbie. Charlotte's family was present including Marlon's close associates,  relatives, and friends.  Marlon suddenly raised his glass for a toast and called the attention of the guest.

MARLON: To the man whose ideas have changed our lives and dreams become a reality.  Wherever you are,  you are always in our hearts.  You are the man,  Nick.

CROWD:  You are the man,  Nick.

The crowd cheered.  There was laughter and chatting with one another.  Marlon was busy shaking hands with all the guests in the restaurant.  Cleo went to Charlotte and whispered to her ear.

CLEO:  I think I just saw Nick at the door.

Background Music: "IF DREAMS WOULD COME TRUE" by Danny Caing https://soundcloud.com/wet-glass-album/if-dreams-would-come-true

All Rights Reserved Wonderful Stories Limited Copyrighted @ 2019

[hollyoaksloversx]

CleoJ, The End of Dancy and Mandy the Master Criminal...

Rounding up a week in Hollyoaks (28th August-1st September 2017)

Ah, Darren Osborne. A bigger mug you will not find. After handing himself in to the police at the end of last week, Darren hoped that he would be released without charge. After all, he's helped the police out and a little bit of drug dealing’s not that bad, right? Well, he was wrong and he’s now facing a prison sentence. Nancy told Darren that she couldn’t stand by him and announced that she was leaving. Luckily for Darren, Charlie was on his side and the youngster told Nancy that he didn’t want to be apart from the only Dad he’d ever known. Not wanting to upset her nephew, Nancy decided to stay put but later told Darren that this didn’t mean they were back together. She would stay until the trial, but their marriage was over...

Meanwhile, Mandy turned criminal mastermind this week. Not only did she kidnap Ella from her foster parents, but she robbed a couple of sandwiches from Price Slice.  Arriving in the village, Mandy was keen to see Tom, believing he could help her out (yeah, her kid brother, what’s he going to do?) Mandy obviously hasn’t kept in touch with either Tom or Cindy during her 6 years away from the village as she arrived at the house now occupied by Cindy and Dirk, believing that Tom and the Osborne’s still lived there. If they had kept in touch, you’d think a couple of house moves and Jack buying back and then selling The Dog may have been mentioned. Anyway, Cindy was in a right old state thanks to Yasmine’s pranks and attacked Mandy with a broom when she let herself in. Mandy was knocked to the floor and landed on some broken glass, leaving her with a nasty gash (*snigger*).  Mandy filled Cindy in on her situation but as the pair went outside to get Ella, they discovered that she’d vanished...

The pair searched for Ella themselves before getting Dirk involved and he nearly dropped Mandy right in it when he phoned the police. Luckily for Mandy, Cindy was able to cover for her, with a little help from Misbah, who’d arrived to see to Mandy’s cut. It was Milo who would eventually find Ella and he was made to feel most unreasonable when he admitted that he’d taken her to the police station. As Ella was taken back to her foster parents, Mandy was taken in for questioning but released with just a caution. Later in the week, Luke turned up at Cindy’s to speak with Mandy and attempted to win her back. However, Mandy was having none of it, and announced that she was moving in with Cindy.

Elsewhere, Cleo and Joel revelled in their new relationship, but not everyone was happy. The pair discussed how they were going to break the news to Myra, but it turned out that they didn’t have to, as she walked in on them kissing and was furious that Joel had been “seduced by sins of the flesh”. With Myra refusing to support the pair, Cleo announced that she was moving out. Joel clearly wasn’t all that thrilled with the idea and locked the pair in the bedroom until they sorted out their differences. Eventually, Myra came to see that Joel was the man for Cleo and gave the pair her blessing, but not before telling Joel that she would be doing God’s work and keeping an eye on him. “And I’m less forgiving”, she told him. Look out, Joel...

Also this week, Hunter was delighted when he was offered a place at an art college in Edinburgh. This was also excellent news for Neeta, who pointed out that this would be their opportunity to be together properly. However, their plan was brought to an abrupt end when Mac discovered the truth about their relationship. It all started when the police showed up to inform Mac that his car had been spotted speeding just outside a town some distance away. Not only that, but a speed camera had caught footage of the driver and passenger and Mac was asked to identify them. Mac was horrified to see that the culprits were Neeta and Hunter and after sneaking a look at her phone, realised they’d been having an affair. Mac later confronted Neeta but told her he wouldn’t go to the police as long as she broke things off with Hunter and came back to him, to which Neeta agreed.  Once again, this story is just falling flat with me. Mac’s an arse, but no amount of vile behaviour from him is going to make me root for Neeta and her schoolboy lover. 

Finally, Ste’s trial date was creeping ever closer and Harry was struggling to cope with the realisation that Ste could be found guilty of murdering Amy. Meanwhile, Tegan was horrified when Ry Ry informed her that James had set Ste up and insisted that they must report him. When Ry Ry refused, Tegan set about reporting James herself and recorded a confession from him, which James soon got his hands on and destroyed...

5 Things We Learnt This Week:

1. Staff in Price Slice will do sweet fuck all when they catch someone shoplifting. 

2. Napal isn’t a place. It’s a state of mind. 

3. Waving a tennis racket around during an argument will not help your case. 

4. Joel is most definitely not Jesus. 

5. A feather duster isn’t just for cleaning. It can also be used to break apart a couple you think shouldn’t be together. 

One Last Thing:

Forget “who killed Amy,” the big mystery intriguing me at the moment is “what the hell is the deal with Milo?” We’ve already seen his tattoo, which reads “numquam obliviscar”, meaning “I shall never forget” in Latin. This week, he displayed some more strange behaviour when he was shown looking at a collection of newspaper articles about the Cunningham’s and he seemed to know who Mandy was before he’d been introduced to her (something she later questioned him about). So, is he a secret family member who was given away as a baby? Did Mr C have another child he’d not told anyone about? Or is he not connected to them at all and is just trying to find out as much as he can about his landlady’s family? Hopefully all will be revealed soon! 

Characters Featured:

Alfie, Charlie, Cindy, Cleo, Damon, Darren, Dirk, DS Roxy Casaidy, Ella, Ellie, Harry, Holly, Hunter, Jack, James, Joel, Lily, Luke, Mac, Mandy, Milo, Misbah, Nancy, Neeta, Oscar, Prince, Ryan, Ste, Steph, Tegan, Tom, Tony and Yasmine.

Past Characters Mentioned:

Amy Barnes, Pete Buchanan, Gordon Cunningham, Helen Cunningham, Debbie Dean, Katy Fox, Kieron Hobbs, John Paul McQueen, Jason Roscoe, Nick Savage. 

[renatorizzuti]

Spotlight on Cleo Berry: Actor/Singer

Interview by Renato Rizzuti

Cleo Berry is known as “the funny guy.” During the course of this interview, Cleo is shown be much more than that! A well trained and passionate actor that has a great attitude towards acting and towards life! Cleo’s well thought out and thorough answers reveal a dynamic actor and a lover of life! 

Renato: You were born in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, on February 10, 1984. This makes you an Aquarius from an astrological point of view. I was born on February 12 which also makes me an Aquarius. What qualities do people born under that sign possess that makes the person perfect for an acting profession? Is this personally true in your case? 

Cleo: First, Happy Belated birthday my Aquarian brother. As you know, Aquarians are known to be deep thinkers, very intellectual and generally just want to help the world be a better place. These are qualities that I bring into my everyday acting career. I have to think deeply about the character. What are their quirks? What makes them tick? What’s their motivation for life? What do they want most of all in the project? I fully believe that being an intelligent person is an asset as an actor. There’s tons of reading scripts and studying. It’s almost like full time college. We’re constantly preparing a group project that we have to perform in front of the class for a grade or in my case a job booking. But I absolutely love it. No complaining here. And I think we as actors are merely putting a mirror up to society and showing them parts of our humanity. Sometimes it’s a drama and sometimes it’s a comedy but we’re always trying to be as true to life and the character as possible. 

Renato: Was there a person or thing that inspired you to be an actor during the 18 years you spent in Little Rock? 

Cleo: I’ve always attended an Arts school. From first grade through college, I’ve been immersed in performing arts. So, I caught the acting bug in sixth grade when my elementary school took out our music class to a dinner theatre matinee show to see my music teacher perform Nancy in “Oliver!” It was there that I saw actors my age singing, dancing and acting. I instantly knew that I wanted to do that too. A few days later, while in music class, I asked my teacher how I could do it too. She helped my mom and I get me into a training camp over that summer. I’ve been on this path, since then. 

Renato: You moved to New York at age 18. What motivated you to make the move? How did you feel about the move? 

Cleo: Yes, I left LR for NYC at eighteen because I needed more training. The best trained there. So, I applied and auditioned and was accepted into the musical theatre training program at AMDA (NYC). I was excited about the move. The fact that 9/11 had just happened the previous year didn’t scare me at all. 

Renato: You graduated from The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (NYC). What is the most important thing you learned about acting there and was there a particular instructor who inspired you?                                   

Cleo: Most important things that I learned is how to break down a script and a song. I hated all the monotonous work of creating a character while in school but it definitely helped me with establishing my own short cut to getting to the heart of a character, scene. Darren R. Cohen is the acting instructor who I learned the most from. From my first semester there, Darren helped mold me. He absolutely let me be me and guided me through my schooling. He even created a cabaret show for me and three other students after we graduated. His belief in me is something that I still wear like a badge of honor.

Renato: You missed your graduation from the Academy to go to a feature film callback. What factors did you take into consideration when you made that decision?                                                                                                                   

Cleo: I was paying to attend a performing arts conservatory with the hopes of getting acting work once completed. I had the opportunity to land a lead in a film. It was something that I couldn’t pass up. I did not book the job but I proved to myself how bad I truly wanted my dream to happen.

 Renato: You made a name for yourself as “the funny guy” in numerous commercials and promos. What qualities do you possess that make you ideal as “the funny guy?” How do you personally feel about being “the funny guy?” What higher life purpose do “funny guys” serve or in other words what do “funny guys” do for the rest of humanity? 

Cleo: I’m a rotund guy with a big smile. I’m also quite funny, when prompted. Those are the qualities I possess to work in commercials. I love commercials. Great work, if you can get it. Being funny pays but I don’t think I’m serving any purpose other than selling a product. I certainly hope that if someone out there is having a bad day, and they see a hilarious commercial it brightens their day. Flips it around. But that’s pressure I don’t put on myself.

Renato: You also excel in dramatic roles and have worked with award winning actors such as Hugh Laurie, Glynn Turman and Ving Rhames. From an acting point of view how are dramatic roles different from comedic roles? I what ways are they similar? Given a choice, would you choose comedy or drama? 

Cleo: For me, dramatic roles are easier. I love being in that raw, real space of a role. With comedy, no matter what you do, it’s gotta be funny. With both drama and comedy you’ve gotta be open and readily available for what the scene and story demands. Sometimes, comedy gets to be a bit stressing to me. Coincidentally, it’s also the easiest for me to perform. If given a choice, I would pick drama 7 out of 10 times.

Renato: Name one of your favourite comedic roles.

 Cleo: Captain Chandler on “Young & Hungry!” I thought that character was absolutely hilarious. And I got to do a bit of physical comedy. Which is something that I love.  To view, click on link: https://www.imdb.com/videoplayer/vi2092219161

Renato: Name one of your favourite dramatic roles and explain why.

 Cleo: Daryl Fisher on Monday Mornings! I got to act opposite Ving Rhames. He’s been a favorite actor of mine for a very long time. Also, the character I played went through hell and back. Love playing those kinds of characters.To view, click on link: https://www.imdb.com/videoplayer/vi2092219161

Renato: You were in two Super Bowl commercials. As far as commercial acting is concerned that is quite an achievement! How did you feel being in a Super Bowl commercial? How do you feel about doing commercials in general? 

Cleo: Yes, I was in a Super Bowl commercial for Tide. It turned out great and was the big spot everyone was talking about. This year, I did a Super Bowl spot for Pampers. Got to act and sing with John Legend and Adam Levine. Super cool.  The Super Bowl is the top of the commercial realm. Something I always wanted to achieve. Very thankful to finally be able to cross it off my vision board.

Tide, to view click on link: https://www.imdb.com/videoplayer/vi2225322265

Pampers, to view click on link: https://youtu.be/S9A9Uw9e2p8

Renato: Your bio refers to your “stunning tenor singing voice.” Can you tell us which musical performance has been a highlight of your career?

Cleo: Playing Horton on a National Tour of “Seussical The Musical” was awesome! I loved traveling around the country to all the cities and towns and putting up a show. No performance video as it was over 10 years ago but it was a great show and cast.

Singing video, to view click on link: https://youtu.be/4f5UGb_7Yls

 Renato: You studied Taekwondo and played football. Can you tell us how the discipline learned through sports can be carried over to acting?

Cleo: It’s all about practice and performing at your best. It’s goal driven as well. Block or tackle in football. Break the wood board in Taekwondo and Booking in the Acting world.

Renato: Acting involves mental and physical work. How do you keep prepared for both?            

Cleo: I work with a terrific acting coach when I need to tune up or need help with the development phase of a character. Physically, yes, I do have to get some exercise on my weekly calendar. It’s tough but I make it happen.

Renato: Are there any upcoming projects you would like to tell us about?

Cleo: Yes, I have a project that comes out February 13 on YouTube Premium called “Weird City.” I play an awesome character named Dirg. That’s about all I can say. It’s written and executive produced by Jordan Peele (Get Out) and Charlie Sanders (Key and Peele). Love the way that they write. Definitely give it a watch. I’m guest starring in the third episode of season one.

Trailer, to view click on link: https://youtu.be/raJJbbiKtlY

My episode, preview only, (the first two episodes of the series are free but  you have to pay to watch the 3rd and remaining episodes of the series), to view click on link: https://youtu.be/y-MnuR0n1R8

Renato: Any social media links or other links that you would like to include?

Cleo: Please follow me on my verified Twitter account: @CleoBerry I’m not on any other social media sites.

Renato: Your personal quotation is, “I’m like the Energizer Bunny…you tell me I can’t do something and I keep going and going… until I do it!” Was there a situation in your life that you put that into play?

Cleo: When I was venturing out on my own at eighteen and embarking on school and a professional career, I would always tell myself this. I knew I’d come up against a multitude of brick walls, No’s and who are you’d! So, I’d remind myself to keep going. 

Renato: In general, what is your philosophy of acting?

Cleo: To get to the heart and truth of the character without judgment. Sounds easy but we all have our prejudices and quirks. Sometimes it’s tough to put yourself on hold and put a character on. Buts it’s something that must be done to effectively live as that role.

Renato: In general, what is your philosophy of life?

Cleo: To live, love and explore.

Renato: You won a special recognition at The Boston International Film Festival. What was that for? 

Cleo: The film I was in won Special Recognition. The indie film was called “Mow Crew.” It was my first lead in a movie and we shot on location in Martha’s Vineyard for a month. At the time, it was the first film to shoot on the island since “Jaws.” The locals were amazing and I can’t wait to get back there.

Renato: Thank you very much for your time and all the best to you!

[life-in-the-monster-haus]

Monster High Electrified!: Review

The digital version of Electrified was released this week so you know what that means! it’s review time!

Massive Spoilers and in depth analysis under the cut! This is our second movie into the reboot friends, I will not be as lenient as I was in my review of Welcome to Monster High. And as of writing this we do not know if we are getting a fall movie so I expect Mattel to have their stuff together by this stage in the game.

Ready? Steady? GO!

5 second in...I’m annoyed That has got to be some kind of record. Draculaura starts off by summarizing WTMH which I’m fine with - the part I take issue with is her opening statements.

“I’m Draculaura! and I’m a monster! but don’t be afraid! we’re not what you think! we’re nice and normal and weird too!”

...This sentence right here is exactly the type of watering down of the Monster High franchise that pre-boot Monster high fans feared from the very beginning. Monster Highs original mission statement was “be Yourself! Be Unique! be a Monster!” love and accept those around you despite their flaws and differences. Draculauras statements here are more along the lines of “don’t be scared of us because we are exactly like you” - which depending on how you look at it could be really profound or really sad. I’m choosing to look at it from the sad perspective because it erases the need to love and understand those different from yourself. But at the same time I understand the messages “we’re all the same!” - which sounds profound on paper, but I feel like it can be easily misinterpreted as “what if they’re nothing like me? then can I be afraid of them?” I feel like the reboot so far has muddied the message it wants to share with Monster High... You can be normal or you can be weird- but you can’t be both but darn it is Mattel isn’t trying to have it both ways. Weird by definition isn’t normal.

HA! hahhahaa! This dude tried to catch a running wolf with his bare hands, no ropes or chains or a cage he’s just gonna reach and grunt. What was he expecting? was he just gonna pick up a fully grown apex predator by the scruff and just tote her back to the rest of the mob? hahahahaah!!!!

Our first real look at Silvi and I’m still kind of underwhelmed by her design TBH. grey skin, blue eyes, blue hair- I can’t think of any character we’ve had like that before. They could have gone all out and made her really wolfy! dark grey with patterns! But the went the safest most boring route they could have with her and it shows. We’ve had 5 new characters released since the reboot and all of them have had either familiar color schemes or boring color schemes.

These are the flesh colors of the 5 new characters we’ve gotten since the reboot began.

I would have also included their webisode colors as well as their 3-D movie colors, but Zomby Gaga and Dayna do not have 3-D counterparts and none of them but Ari have webisode counterparts because what are webisodes? sounds like a made up concept.

I am bored with this color pallet. The first five Monster High girls in the pre-boot gave us browns, pinks, blues, greens. So far the reboot has given us- grey and more grey and grey with shimmer and purple grey - TECHNICALLY Ari is white but they gave her a pink shimmer so I’m counting her as the pink grey. Dayna is the only one who stands out as GOLD which computers have a hard time translating metallics but she stands out against the other ghouls. I am over this pastel color muted with grey skin tone thing Mattel is doing with these new ghouls, I’m ready for some dark colors, I’m ready for some earth tones, I’m ready for some neon. Treesa Thornwillow cannot get here soon enough but even she has her own problems (like this bizarre brown skin/pink hair combo Mattel has been doing with her, Ginger Breadhouse and Howleen but that’s another rant entirely)... Silvi is cute...but what else?

Mattel:

Okay, Sorry I had to get that out- back to the movie.

The ghouls doing their best Charlies Angels / Ginyu force impersonation.

Clawdeens brilliant plan was to distract the normies who are looking for a wolf- by turning into another wolf and then returning to that same location... I wonder why that plan didn’t work.

Frankie being a super genius wouldn’t bother me so much if they didn’t take Ghoulia’s main character trait away from her and then demote Frankie to second banana. Are you smart? you like science? guess what! we’re giving your main character status to the cute pink frilly one, sorry for your luck Frankie.

Also: man that Mad Science class sure is missing- a teacher. if only they would hire more staff besides Dracula and Clawdeens Mom.

Lines like this are why I love Moanica D’kay. she’s not nice but she’s not wrong.

This is the new foyer? it’s so...bright, cheerful and average looking.

Twyla being visibly uncomfortable while being adopted by extroverts is the best part of the movie so far.

Ari why aren’t you in class? or at Lunch? do you just give daily concerts instead of having lunch? do ghosts not need to eat in this universe?

These dorks are starting a band...I can’t wait to see where this goes.

I need more into on that Metallic green fishboy and the confused brown werecat boy stat.

I’m very happy to see the reboot animators have a solid handle on Venus’s teeth... her previous iterations never had any consistency they always fluctuated from incorrect (Venus’s coffin bean art and her weird upper tusk teeth) or just not there. (most of her webisode appearances just omitted her teeth whenever her mouth was open) or just gave her normal teeth like everyone else (her 3-D appearances)  The red blush on her green cheeks is a weird color choice: I think in an attempt to make the ghouls look more cute Mattel is giving everybody red or pink blush- Frankie, Rochelle & Abbey all have it in their dolls and it stands out so much against their multi colored flesh in a bad way, Blush is supposed to be blood showing up though your flesh & if Venus is a plant creature her blood should be green: so in theory her blush should also be green just maybe a darker shade.

I am 100% here for Moanica to get a Spanish bad ghoul theme song while she causes trouble... I was gonna bust them earlier for the dramatic Spanish guitar music sting when she appeared but upon reflection I would rather have Mattel pound in that she is Puerto Rican to the point of redundancy than to have it left vague enough for people to go “she’s not REALLY Hispanic- she just speaks Spanish...not every person who speaks Spanish is Hispanic!” Because if you followed me throughout my black history month postings you will know we do have fans that are in some kind of next level denial when it comes to any character who isn’t overtly white... so go a head Mattel - pound it IN.

Metallic fish boy needs glasses to read! I love him. But isn’t he like the third or forth sea manster we’ve had with a fin mohawk? it’s a cute hair style Mattel but you’re milking it why no spiky urchin hair? or eel gorgon? or sea anemone dreads? there are SO many options you could have for sea boy hair styles! but y’all are married to this fin mohawk thing.

At least this backgrounder fishboy is a unique color and not blue/teal. though green is kind of Deuces thing.

I take issue with Clawdeen’s big dream changing from running her own fashion designing empire - to opening a salon. Not only did it take all the power away from her- making stylish clothing vs. waiting on humans hand and foot. I feel like it’s just a bit stereotypical that the one main canonically black character we have wants to open a beauty salon...and yes I realize that just about every doll franchise has a salon line... but did it have to be Clawdeen? I feel like whoever is in charge of handling Clawdeen in the reboot needs to watch more Shark Tank and watch less Barber Shop. How did we go from Clawdeens Fashion Entrepreneur's Club fashion pack & her Moanatella Ghostier fashion designer internship - yaknow the entire plot of Scaris: the city of frights...to “I wanna open a salon!” how did we fall so far??? Maybe I’m reading too far into it but this rubs me the wrong way & usually if something skeeves you out it’s for a good reason.

I also wanna add that she states her reason for wanting to design in the first place is because she lived in a “dark dingy den with no style or art” - then why is her mother teaching art at this school!? How does Clawdeen already know how to draw!? If Clawdeen had no exposure to art and fashion before she transferred to Monster high then shouldn’t she be new to all of this? is her mom even qualified to teach art at a school if she didn’t allow it in her home? This plot point has so many holes in it.

“My family built the pyramids!”... Cleo, somebody lied to you...I guess it’s not PC to say tens of thousands of Hebrew slaves built the pyramids despite the fact that's taught in 4th grade history. Because of this scene I’m giving everyone homework tonight- go watch The Prince of Egypt.

“Being creative is hard, You have to open up your heart and show it to all the world!...painful, yes. But joyful too! I believe in you! you just need to believe in you too! You can’t rush great art!”

As a creative person, knowing this movie was made by other creative persons I have to say that this is excellent advice and sounds very much to me like this voice of experience. Listen to Mama wolf gang! her words are wise ones!

It is really distracting that Clawdeen has like 500 eyelashes but Harriet only has one... That aside- this moment between them was very cute and well done. More Monster Parent interactions please!

I thought the entire purpose of getting Twyla to spy on the Zomboys was to find out stuff no one else could due to her shadow walker ability - but here she is taking  a picture of them in the foyer out in public where everyone is and can see, they’re not exactly being discreet hauling a wheel barrow though the building in the middle of the day.

Frankie Ex Machina. I was going to bust this scene for not being like the graphic novel but it was exactly like the graphic novel. Finally some consistency Mattel! I am impressed!

Oh look! it’s Gob! being fat and greedy again... dog nabbit when will I be free from him!? I don’t care if he’s just doing it because Twyla asked him too. We all know he’s gonna eat the treats anyways because that’s what he is, a one dimensional fat joke and I can’t stand him! he’s even worse in this movie because he always has food floating around in his fat naked body....side note: why is he naked!?

Am I supposed to believe that a couple of undead teenage boys built this intricate tunnel system underground over the course of a couple of days?  I am?...okay, moving on.

.... Oh come ON.

At what point are they crossing the line of “lil bros helping out!” to exploiting child labor...

Those dresses are boring as heck Clawdeen, I expect better from you. But I guess they’re not bad for someone whose never been exposed to art despite having a mother who teaches it.

That is less boring- but now Clawdeen can’t take full credit for the design! best case scenario Frankie is her collaborator worst case scenario she is stealing credit for Frankies patterns...See how many problems you create when you make Clawdeen a salon owner instead of a fashion designer?

So not only can Frankie’s electricity put cute glowing patterns on dresses and NOT fry them, she can also create sentient life? Whoever wrote this script clearly went to the Disney school of how magical powers work.

I will always screen shot Monica making crazy eyes.

“hey! be scary!”

Okay, I genuinely laughed.

Moanica having some sliver of affection for the zomboys is adorable.

wow, even the background normies got an upgrade! unique faces! so many skin colors! diverse hair styles! this is good stuff A+++

Pour one out for this cute Lagoona we’re never going to get a doll of, Pour another one out for a DJ gig tore away from Holt, Elle, Operetta - literally anyone else who is musically inclined but Lagoona...just pour the whole bottle out.

Clawdeen is heart broken that Frankie isn’t at her salons big opening night....but why? she JUST met Frankie in the previous movie and shouldn’t be this attached to someone she barely knows. it’s not like they’ve been friends for months/years and have had time to establish a bond like they did in the pre-boot.

How many times do we have to watch Frankie get electrocuted to death Mattel? how many!?

Oh! so Venus and Silvi get electrified outfits too - that look exactly like the dresses Clawdeen designed except they weren’t made by Clawdeen they were shocked into being from Frankies power source....so....what I’m getting from this is that these outfits and unique styles exist with or without Clawdeens creative input...That’s a depressing prospect Mattel.

Hang on a second- Venus has an electrified doll... But that isn’t the outfit we see here.

Did...Did they just re-color her basic outfit in the movie with neon instead of putting her in her actual Electrified outfit her doll wears!? That is a new level of lazy I’ve never seen before in any of the movies. I’ve complained when they’ve made cool outfits for dolls that we don’t get in the movies (Moanicas dance the fright away look in WTMH) and I’ve complained when we get cool movie outfits that never get a doll ( literally every movie but biggest offenders are manta ray Gil from great scarrier reef & roller maze Cleo)- but re-coloring Venus’s basic outfit when she has a doll for this line is new and lazy and I am just flabbergasted by this.

“Hey! where’s my electric outfit!?”

Raythe asking the hard hitting question that we all wanna know the answer to. why didn’t he get an electric outfit!? so far he’s had more of an impact on the movie than Silvi and she not only got an outfit she got a doll too. Raythe got robbed in this movie.His signature outfit is already very boring- they couldn’t have at the very least gave him an Electrified debut doll outfit to make up for it? That’s messed up Mattel, what did this poor kid ever do to deserve this kind of neglect?

Moanica...this is a bad plan. The Normies are already afraid of monsters is the plan to scare them more? what are you going to do during the day time? What about the one who aren’t afraid of the dark? What about back up generators? It being dark isn’t going to stop one of them from just hauling off and punching one of your cronies in the face. this plan has so many holes in it.

and why are her eyes still blue!? her dolls eyes are green- fix it Mattel.

That’s all the space I have for this part of the review! if you wish you read the rest You can find part 2 right here!

[frombeyondtheblackhole]

Hermit DSMP Swap AU: Part 9.1

[TW: Blood, violence, severe injury, bone related gore and zombie/undead related body horror. Please take care of yourself and stay safe. Warnings bracket the worst of the potentially triggering content and a summary is provided if you feel the need to skip that part. Some violence and minor injuries are outside the brackets. If there is a specific TW that you would like me to include in the future feel free to let me know and I will do my best to add it.]

Quackity, Purpled and Charlie, spent over an hour searching through the woods and the land around Las Nevadas, well mostly just Quackity and Purpled while Charlie hovered around asking annoying questions. Neither The Zombie nor Foolish were anywhere to be found. 

Quackity told Purpled and Charlie to Head back to Las Nevadas and look there while he did one more check around the perimeter for any clues as to what happened. Quackity took his time. Now that he was by himself he was able to think more clearly. He shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned.    

Quackity wasn’t exactly sure what he had witnessed. He’d never seen something exactly like it, one minute Foolish was standing in front of him and the next he was gone and this zombie lady was in his place. He might argue with the other Las Navadas recruits, and they might not have the best opinion of him, but one thing was certain, if anyone messed with them, especially on Las Navadas property, They were messing with him and he wasn’t about to let anyone push him around, not anymore, never again. 

Quackity looked up as he rounded a sand dune, the walls of Tubbo’s “cookie” outpost looming up on the edge of Las Nevadas land. Quackity Scowled. One problem after another. The whole conflict about the walls hadn’t really been resolved, Tubbo was being stubborn, unreasonable. But that wasn’t a priority at the moment, he would deal with that latter, right now, he had bigger problems. 

Quackity followed along the wall and stopped short on the road in front of the Las Nevadas toll tunnel. Ranboo and Tubbo stood on the road coming from the other direction.

They stared at each other, neither side moving. Then Quackity broke into a smile “Hey there, Fancy running into you two here. You seem to hang around here a lot, have either of you seen Foolish or a strange looking Zombie by chance?”

Ranboo fidgeted and looked away but he was always fidgeting and he was never one for eye contact so that wasn’t exactly a tell. 

Tubbo on the other hand, Quackity had been in the same cabinet with him during Schlatt’s presidency, and in the cabinet during Tubbo’s presidency, he knew what the kid looked like when he lied. 

“A Zombie you say? What makes you think we would have anything to do with that?” Tubbo shrugged. 

Quackity didn’t drop the smile. “Don’t play dumb with me. You know exactly what I am talking about.”

“Honest big man, there are no Zombies here, that's why we built the walls.” Tubbo insisted.

Ok so the kid was getting better at lying. Quackity frowned but the smile returned a moment later. “That's all good. Just be careful, she did something to Foolish, he’s gone missing, I’m worried that if she is allowed to roam free and do whatever she wants then she might do what she did to Foolish to someone else. You understand. I would hate to hear that one of you two went missing.”   

Tubbo and Ranboo looked at each other.  They definitely knew something they weren’t telling him. 

“Thanks for the warning big man, we’ll let you know if we see anything,” Tubbo smiled tightly before grabbing Ranboo’s arm and pulled him aside to whisper in his ear.

Called it. Quackity smiled, his sharp gold tooth glinting in the sunlight. He turned on his heel and headed back down the tunnel towards Las Nevadas. 

---

Cleo looked down at the dark water lapping against the stone pier where she sat, her legs dangling over the edge. The air smelled of salt, cold stung her lungs. She wasn’t shivering despite the fact that a crop top and shorts was chronically under dressed for the weather. She didn’t really notice. 

Her heel bounced against the wall of the peer as she stared out to sea. Snowchester was secluded, nice and peaceful, but it also felt vacant. There were houses but no one lived in them. Not that that was anything all too strange, Hermits built empty houses all the time, but these felt different. The empty houses the Hermits built were intended just for show, or to conceal functional builds. These houses once housed people, and now were abandoned.  

Cleo looked up at the sound of footsteps crunching through the snow and the clunk of boots against the wood at the beginning of the peer. Tubbo and Ranboo stood looking back at her. Tubbo had his hands in the front pockets of his coat and Ranboo stared at her over Tubboo’s shoulder. He never seemed to blink, it was a bit unnerving. 

Cleo pursed her lips “Um, thanks for letting me stay here kids, but-”

“You can’t stay here anymore,” Tubbo blurted out. 

Cleo blinked.

Ranboo flinched “Sorry about all this, it’s just…”

“Don’t worry about it kid,” Cleo said, getting to her feet, “I was going to leave anyway,” She shrugged.   

“Oh really,” Ranboo sighed.

Tubbo frowned “Why? What changed?” 

Cleo chuckled hollowly, “I could ask you the same thing.” 

Tubbo pursed his lips but didn’t push the issue.

Cleo walked past the two of them and started up the path.

“Wait,” Ranboo called

Cleo stopped.  

“Where are you going to stay now?” Ranboo asked. Tubbo just glared at her.

Cleo shrugged and smiled a bit to cheerily “I’m sure I’ll find a nice cave somewhere, after all I am a Hermit,” 

“Um,” Ranboo looked off to the side, tapping his fingers together. “If you need it there’s a hotel in the Greater Dream SMP. It’s big and red, hard to miss.”  

Cleo chuckled, “I’ll be alright, don’t worry ‘bout it.” 

Tubbo was still glaring at her. She turned to leave again.

“Just know that if you try and mess with us we can and will defend ourselves,” Tubbo said.

Cleo didn’t turn around “Oh, I know,” She smirked as she walked away. This Tubbo kid had guts, she could respect that. 

---    

Quackity taped his fingers against his arm impatiently as he waited in the ditch on the Greater DSMP side of the speed tunnel to Snowchester. After talking to Tubbo and Ranboo he had watched from a distance and followed them here. 

The splash of oars cutting through the water reached Quackity’s ears as a boat made its way towards his hiding spot. Quackity took a steadying breath, stealing himself as he listened carefully. The boat scraped against the shore and there was a crunch of sand as someone got out of the boat. Only one person. 

Quackity stood up and moved into view. The Zombie jumped, summoning her sword as she spun around to face him, teeth bared.

Quackity held up his empty hands and took several steps back. “Woe, woe woe. Hold on. I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

“You think?” She scoffed. She didn’t attack but she still had her guard up. 

“Just tell me what you did to my friend and maybe we can resolve this peacefully,” He smiled tightly. 

“I didn’t do anything! And even if I did, why would I tell you? You already tried to kill me once?” She said. Then her expression changed, as if just remembering something. She lowered her sword and straightened. “What do you know about perma-death?” She asked calmly.

Quackity sucked in his breath and took a step back. Was this a threat or a legitimate question? He looked at the determination in her eyes… It was both. 

He fought the urge to summon his axe. 

“Do you really think you can kill a Zombie? I’m already dead. The rules don’t apply to me!” She strode forward and pointed her sword at him. Quackity staggered back looking up at her standing over him on the edge of the pit framed by the crystal clear sky behind her.   

Was she bluffing? 

Fuck. 

She spun on her heel and ran the other direction, across the field. 

The trance was broken. 

[TW: Blood, violence, body horror. Skip to the next bolded text to avoid the worst of it] 

“Shit, Get back here!” Quackity scrambled up the bank, summoning his crossbow and letting loose the bolt. It struck her in the leg, but she didn’t even seem to slow down. Had she even felt it? An ender pearl replaced the crossbow and a moment later he felt a sudden rush as he flew through the air, switching to his axe mid-flight. He crashed into her back, embedding his axe between her shoulder blades.

Quackity pulled his axe out of her back and staggered backwards. She wasn’t dead. She hadn’t despawned yet. Maybe she had been telling the truth about being unable to die. Oh wait, she was moving.

She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees coughing up dark sickened blood. She staggered to her feet and turned around to face him again, fire and determination in her eyes.

How was she still standing? That last hit had to have broken several ribs. Quackity glanced at the exposed ribs poking out from under her crop top, edged with decayed flesh. Those had been that way before. Maybe broken bones didn’t matter?  

[TW End: Summery: Quackity chases after Cleo, she tanks a bunch of damage but is able to keep fighting despite severe injuries]

Why were his knees shaking? She hadn’t even scratched him this time, and she wasn’t as good at combat as Dream or Techno. Yet she refused to die? 

He clenched his teeth and scowled, “I’ll give you one more chance. Tell me what you did with Foolish?” He demanded. Now he was bluffing. 

“I. Don’t. Know!” She yelled as she lunged at him, summoning her sword mid swing as she brought it down on him. 

He didn’t have time to block. Instead he moved back and swung the axe up. The blunt side of the head struck her in the chin as he felt her sword cut into his shoulder and graze his chest.

She staggered back and switched her sword out for a gapple. 

Oh no you don’t. Quackity raised his axe about to lung when he felt someone jump on him from behind. Arms wrapping around his neck in a choke hold. The axe returned to his inventory as he grabbed at the arms around his neck. They were invisible, his attacker was invisible.  

“Cleo, Run!” the invisible man shouted. 

She froze, the gapple halfway to her mouth “Etho?” 

“I said run!”

She turned on her heel and started running, only pausing for a moment to eat the gapple and keep going. 

Quackity clawed at the arm around his neck. This Etho guy was invisible. That ment he wasn’t wearing armor. Quackity summoned a sword in reverse grip and stabbed behind him. He heard Etho hiss as the sword grazed him. His grip loosened and Quackity was able to wrestle free. Summoning another pearl he threw it, getting away and landing near some trees. He staggered against one of the trees, coughing and rubbing his neck. He gritted his teeth, his face twisting into and ugly snarl. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. She got away. And she had an accomplice.  

They made him look like an idiot. He quickly rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He had promised never to let himself feel helpless again. Never to let other people control him. Yet he had let himself get pushed around by some random Zombie and one guy with an invis pot. Fuck this. He needed to do something about this. He couldn’t let this stand.