#ESP THE T-REX

[earlgreytiefling]

literally every problem the ppl running Jurassic park had would have been avoided if Nigel Marven from prehistoric park had been in charge. a stellar example of what a park housing long-extinct animals SHOULD be like

[mitamicah]

They're precious thank you so much 🥹💗💚🐱

Like... y'know, nyah

Two hats for Käärijä as requested by @marcoofthemoon - hope you like them! ^^

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

gf and I were lamenting the lack of exhibitions about dinosaurs that had updated accurate depictions when we happened upon This Beast. NY’s American Museum of Natural History, T. rex exhibit from 2019. We’re losing our minds over the fact it just has a head of hair and no other feathers. Thoughts?? Insight???

Better than nothing, depressingly low effort tho

esp given AMNH had the "Birds are Dinosaurs" exhibit not long before that and it was one of the best things I've ever seen

[reachartwork]

Chum 139: Tracer Round

Jordan nods slowly, their fingers drumming on the arm of their chair. "Alright. Let's work with that. If it's someone targeting you, who'd have the motive? Anyone we've pissed off recently? I mean, besides the guys already named?"

I snort. "That list's longer than your suspect list."

"Fair," Jordan says, smirking. "But seriously, who's got the means and the grudge? Maybe it's another Kingdom agent we're not aware of? They've got a bunch, I wouldn't put it past them to have a Mrs.... Uh... Mrs. Fire. Or Mr. Prometheus - no, that wouldn't work... Mr... Roadflare, or something. With that whole alphabet thing going on."

"Alphabet thing?" I ask, incredulously. "What?"

"You haven't noticed?" Jordan asks back.

"What are you talking about?" I ask back, back.

"None of the guys we've met had overlapping names. They have, like, a name scheme. Mr. or Mrs. X-Y-Z. Mrs. Zenith, Mr. T-Rex, Mr. Polygraph, Mr. Nothing, Mrs. Heartstopper, Mrs. Xenograft, Mr. ESP... See? No overlaps. You really haven't noticed?"

I stop to think about it for a second. "What the fuck? That's..."

"Right? They have an alphabet thing going on," Jordan sums up.

"Mr. ESP, if you're listening, I think your organization's alphabet thing is clown shoes," I shout out to nobody in particular. "Oh my god, the Kingdom of Keys. Like on a keyboard,"

"FUCK!" Jordan shouts. "That's so fucking stupid. How did I miss that."

[wulfums]

For AllanWulf - ⛈️ - what do you do when there's bad storms? is there anything you do to comfort each other? or maybe you like to watch the storms?

🧭 - what's your ideal travel spot? if you could own a vacation home with your f/o, where would your home be?

🎂 - do you have any special birthday celebrations you partake in every year?

🌡️ - when you or your f/o gets sick, do you take care of each other? what do you do?

🃏 - if you and your f/o were to be snowed in for several days with no power, what would you two do to keep away boredom?

Teehee Answering these rn

⛈️ - what do you do when there's bad storms? is there anything you do to comfort each other? or maybe you like to watch the storms?

Whatwulf really really hates bad storms, esp if theres thunder and lightning and a lot of wind. They don't really bother Allan, but he kind of overprepares if theres a chance of the power going out. Its why he always makes sure they have extra ostomy supplies on hand and a case of water, as well as extra OTC meds. Does he need to get a case of water? Probably not, but he wants him and WW to stay hydrated if the power goes out. These guys are always stocked up on batteries and fake candles too.

I think they have board games and tabletop games they'll play during a storm. In general if he knows a huge storm is coming, Allan will make sure he's home because he knows Whatwulf feels safer when he is. If it gets bad, Allan will just hold Whatwulf until he calms down.

🧭 - what's your ideal travel spot? if you could own a vacation home with your f/o, where would your home be?

Allan and Whatwulf love going to tropical places with beaches. Places they can relax and dont have to do anything and can just Be with each other. Though they also take trips in the winter to Vermont to go skiing (Whatwulf loves to ski), so I think if they had a vacation home it'd be there. Probably a fancy cabin with a hot tub tbh. Benefits of being hashtag childfree

🎂 - do you have any special birthday celebrations you partake in every year?

Yes!! They celebrate each other's bdays. I feel like Allan doesn't really like surprises, so Whatwulf and him plan Allan's bday celebration together. Meanwhile, Whatwulf LOOOOVES surprises so Allan conspires w their mutual friends for WW's celebration. They also usually have a nice dinner with just each other on their bdays too.

Whatwulf realllly wanted to travel to go to Rainforest Cafe for his bday one year. So I think the whole SF group saved up for a big group trip for WW's bday to Disney world for the week. Allan has so many photos of Whatwulf being absolutely delighted at Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex. They went to T rex on his actual bday night and one of Allan's fav photos from that trip is after Whatwulf got his Big Volcano Cake and is pogging unintentionally at it. I can imagine that whole trip was insane. (I miss disney world can you tell)

Allan personally loves when Whatwulf cooks a special dinner for him. Man has his very own gourmet chef at home. So Whatwulf will do a several course meal for his beloved on Allan's bday!

🌡️ - when you or your f/o gets sick, do you take care of each other? what do you do?

When Whatwulf gets sick, Allan gets sooooo overbearing even if its just a cold. Its understandable. Whatwulf is immune compromised. But also no matter how many times Whatwulf explains that Allan doesnt need to call every few hours to check on him because interupting a nap is, in fact, worse, Allan can't help it. But Whatwulf appreciates how much Allan cares.

Whatwulf feels bad he can't really return the favor well, because of the whole Immune Compromised thing. They both mask anytime either of them is sick. Whatwulf will pick up anything Allan needs but he can't sit with him or hug or kiss h im until Allan isnt contagious anymore. But he does everything he can and Allan appreciates it.

🃏 - if you and your f/o were to be snowed in for several days with no power, what would you two do to keep away boredom?

Well, they have their myriad of board games first of all! They love doing that. Whatwulf has a lot of art supplies and will usually do that as well. They would probably end up going to bed early as well. They both try to not use their phones to keep the battery up in case of emergancys. This is kinda hard for both of them. They do keep portable chargers around though.

Any chores that they can do get done too tho they cant do anything like laundry. But in general, board games/card games is their biggest thing to do during times like that. Reading as well !! And just spending time with each other.

[booksandchainmail]

a selection of covers (and one inside cover) from used fantasy/sci-fi books, I don't know what's best:

how Extremely Naked Shadows of Hell is

"But when New Kashubia combined virtual reality with tank warfare, giving its warriors a close symbiosis with their intelligent tanks, neither war nor the galaxy would ever be the same. Not to mention sex..." Immediately followed by the glowing recommendation

Is the photoshopped T-Rex meant to be a dragon, or is it Thongor himself? And what is the downed plane doing?

The ESP Worm, notably not a worm

Dog Wizard, a title that really makes you picture some guy in armor fighting a dragon

what is a pagbeast.

[librarycards]

hello hello! for the autism ask meme: 5, 20, & 27? :-)

What do you wish more people knew about autism?

that it's an interesting lens through which to view the politics of Madness, embodiment, queer/trans liberation, and more. that it's possible and useful to identify as autistic and identify with autism, while willfully refusing the bullshit medical/psychiatric frameworks foist upon it. to wit, the identities of autigender, gendervague, etc. think about autism as entangled with forms of bodymind noncompliance often understood as "only" queer or trans.

in regard to the above, that autistic community doesn't have to limit itself to the pathology paradigm in order to acknowledge that to be autistic is to be disabled –– that is, to face ableism, barriers in the built/social world, and to need to collaborate with other disabled people in order to overturn structural ableism.

What kinds of things are good sensory wise?

certain kinds of asmr; white noise, t-rex arms/walking on tiptoe (esp on certain kinds of carpet); lots of weight on top of me, especially while laying on my back; eating hot things with cold things / crunchy things with soft things, chewing on the side of my index finger (???).

Do you have any vocal stims or echolalia?

periodically i have certain words, usually made-up, that i get stuck on and just repeat even when they have nothing to do with what's being asked of me. they're literally meaningless and i'm kinda embarrassed but it's like, someone will say "hey what do you think of ___" and i'll be like "[phrase]" and then start laughing and get carried away and say it a number of times. i need to be careful when i unmask and where, sometimes i haven't like, transferred the script for [someone i trust] to [a colleague] and have come dangerously close to doing this in public/with someone In Charge of Me (i think i actually have before???)

the professional variation of this is when i'm giving a talk/lecture, my brain will find one theory-adjacent word and force me to use that one word in like every successive sentence and i'm like trying to cram the jack in the box back in lmao

and then there's the more standard (i think a lot of autistics do something like this) someone will ask (for example) "do you want water?" and i'll be like "water". like, saying the mirror of something rather than yes/no.

[boopernatural]

Thoughts on the last of us part 2?

Omg… you have no idea what you’re walking into anon…

It is far and wide the most impactful game I’ve ever played.

There is a lot of criteria in which I could judge it and you asked and I have the day off so…

Firstly, the gameplay!

In my opinion, the gameplay in this is some of the smoothest, most fun of any game. Just like the first game, the transition from cutscene to gameplay is so fucking seamless I was sometimes taking a minute to realize I was in control again. The vast map and wide variety of controls you have over the character to me is incredible! Playing as Ellie is my favorite, she moves so fluidly and the jumping, climbing, ducking, crawling all of it feels so natural and immerses you so much. The highest difficulty I’ve beaten it on is hard so I can’t speak to the grounded or survivor challenge, but for me hard was perfect balance of challenge while still being fun and not too frustrating. The fight near the end with Ellie as the boss was the hardest one for me. And the rat king was a good chase scene/fight too.

Secondly, the visuals.

Naughty Dog never disappoints me with how fucking stunning their games look. The map of Seattle is seriously an amazing feat. Even during gameplay I’m struck by the beauty of the surrounding world, just like tlou1(esp after the remaster). I play on PS5, and so the graphics are just fucking phenomenal imo. My normal gaming experience is decent quality visuals in a cutscene and then clear jumps to gameplay more focused on function. TLOU2 (and 1) doesn’t make you choose. I seriously want to shake the creatives at Naughty Dog and just thank them for all the late nights and missed family dinners they must’ve had to create such intricate and well made visuals.

Some examples of shots I just think are neat:

Thirdly, the story/character arc.

I’ll admit it. The first time I played through this game I was miserable. Joel’s death was a nightmare come true, for Ellie and me. The scene was so well crafted, the dread building up to it, everything. Joel finally settling in and opening himself up to kindness and even heroism (in saving Abby) was his fucking demise. I don’t know what that says but… well, that’s what happened.

I was able to shelve my grief and enjoy the Seattle bits with Ellie and Dina because like her, I wanted those fuckers dead. The drama between Ellie, Dina and Jesse somewhat mirroring Mel Owen and Abby was interesting, but I felt our Jackson trio was much kinder to each other and healthier and would have worked it out a lot better. Jesse dying was so unfair.

The flashback scenes with Joel broke me. The entire museum arc… god. I’ve never played a video game that devotes an entire chapter to gameplay of something mundane and fun, no threats, no fights, the only interaction is climbing a big t-Rex or spinning a planet diagram. The dialogue is amazing, shows how comfortable they are with one another and that they’re really operating like a father and daughter. Things weren’t all doom and gloom. Joel getting her the tape, encouraging her to wear the helmet and close her eyes and Ellie being fully immersed into this fantasy (similar to what Riley does for her in the DLC with the arcade game!) I just love that the people who love Ellie foster and groom her creativity and imagination.

Ellie was trying so hard to ignore the lie between them, to pretend things were okay, and sometimes she could. Sometimes she forgot that this horrible thing existed underneath the surface.

But of course, it festers and rots when it’s untouched. The finding strings portion was amazing. Joel was OP as hell and I like that the game really shows how nothing will stop him from keeping his girl safe. He fucking kills a bloater with a machete and doesn’t get hit once. Unheard of?! The ending sequence where she confronts him was hard to watch. You feel what both of them are feeling and are somehow rooting for both of them to not have to address this pain.

Ellie returning to the firefly hospital… Joel racing after her, pulling her in for this hug like they’ve done it plenty before, you talk to me…

The devastation in both of their faces when the truth does come out. They both want so badly for this thing not to be here. For everything to be okay.

Then, you get to the theater. Abby is there. I’m thinking: I’ve reached the end! Let’s fucking kill her.

And then….3 years earlier.

I was angry, actually. I did not want to redo these three days as this character I despise! Even though Abby had great gameplay and some awesome fights that were really fun, I found myself just waiting for it to end. I was like game, this bitch killed Joel, sorry but I don’t care about her or her people.

The Tommy sniper bits were amazing and made that all feel worthwhile. Seeing him on the warpath to avenge his brother, and seeing his real darkness through all the evidence he left behind was amazing.

I liked the storyline with Lev and Yara, didn’t like the Owen/Abby abrupt back shots scene. Felt like a very NSFW siblings or dating moment. Not an Owen fan one bit! Felt bad for Mel, even though I didn’t like her as a person. Felt worse for Ellie when she realized what she’d done to her.

Then, finally got back to Ellie at the farm. I was pleading right alongside Dina for her not to go. Joel would have wanted this for her, this safe quiet life with her family. Everything would still be worth it to him if she stayed. He would have fulfilled his purpose. To give Ellie a life.

And then she fucking leaves…even though I knew she would, I was devastated for my Ellie. All I’ve ever wanted since I saw that lil switchblade-wielding lunatic is for her to be safe and happy. But it is in character for her to get in her own way.

Santa Barbara was fun, the Rattlers made me full of rage bc they were so difficult lol but a super unique concept and I enjoyed the play through of those parts a lot.

Ellie being the one to save Abby’s life. I love this. I am biting this I am chewing it I am swallowing it whole. I have so many thoughts on this one choice that I could write another way too long post about it.

Ellie and Abby finally have a fair fight. Even ground, both wounded and weak, both tired of all of this.

I wanted her to kill Abby. Still do, actually. I personally think… you’ve already killed hundreds of people who weren’t even the ones who directly killed Joel lol… but ok. I get what the game was trying to do. I just didn’t roll with it. That’s really my only story critique. And it’s barely a critique cause I like the ending as it is too.

Especially because, after my 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc play through, I grew to like Abby. I enjoyed her scenes and gameplay much more the second go through when I knew what to expect and where it was all going. I always thought her revenge on Joel was fair bc an eye for an eye, he’d do the same thing and Ellie did worse. But looking at her differently helped me enjoy the story more.

It would have hurt a lot more I think, to watch Ellie murder this girl I liked, and in doing so doom the little boy she’d sought to protect. Abby and Lev at the end as a mirror for Joel and Ellie in tlou1 was just… how can I make out with a concept? So. Good.

Ellie’s ending is so gut-wretching and sad I can barely even talk about it. 

She lost everything. Her biggest fear was ending up alone. Joel died before she could make things right with him, she lost Dina and Jesse and JJ and Tommy.

The flashback with Joel to the night before he died did provide me a little solace. Merely in the fact that Ellie was able to come out to him, something she was scared to do, and knew that he loved and accepted her as she was. (Honestly how could she ever doubt that?) and that he died knowing she still cared for him and wanted him in her life. I just know he must’ve spent that whole night feeling hopeful and anticipatory for the future. Fucking crushing.

When she picks up that guitar, a gift from Joel, the first bridge he rebuilt after their tenuous return to Jackson, the connection he forged between them when something unspoken was trying to pull them apart, the only way he could truly express to her how much she meant to him, and obviously a way Ellie reciprocated that…

Gone. She can no longer do the one good thing that threaded between them even after his death. And she abandons it.

She leaves the guitar there. The guitar she loved so fucking much she got the moth from it tattooed on herself forever.

I don’t know where she’s going. I’ve seen some say maybe she’s going back to Jackson to try and make things right. Unfortunately… that isn’t the interpretation I had.

I do know that this game made me feel things a video game never has. Living with these characters for so long. I felt Joel’s pain when Sarah died in the first one, and that was a sorrow that carried over into every scene of every game. I felt -viscerally- the horror and agony and pure unbridled rage at Joel’s death. I felt each misstep, each loss, each success and each surprise. These characters are not avatars to be played, they are people, and it’s fucking incredible. This story is complex and huge and sometimes really frustrating and unpleasant, and sometimes you hate it and sometimes you love it.

Neil Druckman said that whether people like his stories or hate them, as long as they’re not ambivalent, he’s done his job.

To me, Neil has done his job tenfold.

[pinkiria-ghost]

future spidersona meets miguel???

POV: ur part of the 1% of atsv fans that cant draw :(

(my spidersona’s name is Candella btw 🫶🏻🫶🏻)

naww cus if she did meet miguel she’d full on be his n1 hater frfr — like she’d hate him w/ every damn fiber of her being 😕🫵🏻

she loves children – esp the spiderfour or arachnokids - so she def hates it when they get hated on bc she got hated on herself back then(sje’s literally the youngest out of the four/hj) likkeee.. as soon as she finds out furry-number-one chased miles on all fours and threatened him to the point hes depressed???

death. absolute death. wayy past the line. no way shes gon’ let that slide 💀 she be out in mig’s universe, screaming, curb-stomping him as we speak. she’d freak out, give him a five hour lecture, pull out his hair, physically DRAG him across his universe, shoot him, attempt to drown him, turn him into a punching bag, pick out his flaws one by one, make his trauma of losing his daughter resurface, put him in a white room and mentally torture him w/ shitty memories, emotionally humiliate him in front of the entire spider-society, skin him alive and feed him to that t-rex thing, blow up his pookie bear Lego-spidey(I luv him too yk), make him watch a video tape of his daughter dying in his arms over and over again, all while peter b. records everything (real I was the camera/j). she will never stop ‘till miguel eventually goes on all fours and apologizes to miles and his entire Puerto Rico family with actual sincere and genuine feelings.

[blueberryrock]

Do you prefer watching movies in theaters or at home? What's the first movie you can vividly remember watching in theaters? What's the most recent movie you watched? Were they any good?

oof that's a tough one, tho i would say in theater cause I remember watching return of the king with my dad a few months ago and it was the best thing in the world, and there are some movies like jurassic park (the of one) that I would kill to see in theaters, esp just to hear the footsteps of the t. rex

the first movie i remember watching vividly is Tangled when I first came out cause me, my mom and brother were living in Houston for a bit and my uncle came to pick me up and took me and his daughter (my cousin ofc) to the movie and I still remember most of the experience!!

the most recent movie i've seen in theaters was the new spider-verse movie and it's 100000000000000/10 the music, the plot, the characters were all amazing, but the most recent movie I've watched not in theaters is the two towers, which is my fav of the lotr trio

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Have you seen the dinos in LEGO Jurassic World? They're no more accurate than the ones in the actual films, but you can make custom ones such as a t-rex with movie!dilo spit and chrome skin.

Oh I love the LEGO games, esp the JW one, it's very good. Wish the graphics hadn't given me a stomach ache tho

[writingpaperghost]

Without You (Chapter 15)

Chapter 15: Here's T-Rex, Here's Trouble

An unfortunate visitor to the Deadmans and Makoto wants to strangle Karizaki.

AO3:https://archiveofourown.org/works/43371954/chapters/123768916

The flowers that Hikaru bought, a few days ago, sit in a cup in his room. They don’t have any form of vase or really anything else good for keeping flowers in, so Hikaru always just filled a cup with water and put them in there. They stick out oddly and lean, even after he attempted cutting the stems down. He just accepted they’d wouldn’t appear as a perfect bouquet. And he really didn’t care much for them to.

As he’d intended for them to, they livened up his empty room. A splash of color that wasn’t his clothes or the blanket Hana had made for his last birthday. Just… something to make it all less miserable. Maybe, when Hana got back, he’d get her help to pick out some plants to keep in his room. That would be nice.

He’d made a habit, since he’d gotten the flowers, to go out and walk around every day, keeping an eye for alerts to any Deadmans appearing. That way, he could hurry over and do what he could to keep people safe, even if it was as little as helping people evacuate or helping a child find their parents. Hikaru had found a new purpose in life, and he was happy to have done so.

He thinks that Hana would be proud of him – will be proud of him, or at least something similar. Happy for him, maybe, or just glad that he’d started to figure things out of himself. Of course, he was still stuck with his parents, it wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go – while he could, in theory, ask to stay with the Igarashi family, he didn’t want to impose on them, and besides, it was still within the reach of his parents and Weekend. Only the way he’d be free of it all was if he found somewhere they couldn’t get to him, and he didn’t think such a place existed. If it did, it wasn’t anywhere he could get to.

That was okay, though. He thinks, once Hana comes back, everything will be good and fine again, and he’ll be happier than before. That was all Hikaru would ever dare to ask for, especially now that he had to go through his life without Hana in it, again.

Pulling his jacket on, and with a spring in his step, he leaves his room and heads out, prepared to just wander around until something happened. If nothing else, the walk was probably good for him, and it gave him time to think.

---

“Ikki… I wanna go out and fight again.” Vice whined, distracting Ikki from his perfectly interesting sports magazine. Ikki liked to read them, if only to be reminded of that brief while he got to feel like a normal kid, even while with the Deadmans, when he’d gotten to play with other kids. It had been a long time ago but… Ikki had found he’d liked it. Not that it had lasted long, but they were memories Ikki couldn’t help but cherish.

With a sigh, Ikki placed the torn piece of paper that was his makeshift bookmark in the magazine, so he could find his place later, and set it aside. “Why? Father hasn’t gotten on our case about going out and fighting again, so there’s no reason to.”

“It would be fun, come on.” Vice sounded a little giddy, “I mean, sure we weren’t trying to beat them, but we could push the Riders a little harder. We’re trying to force them to be stronger, right?”

“We are trying to help them get stronger,” Ikki conceded, “but… I don’t want them to hurt, and I don’t want father to realize the extent of our power with that Driver.” Though they’d both been careful to hold back when fighting, they’d felt just how much power they had as Riders. And they had no way of knowing if their father knew the extent.

Even though Vice had a mask that obscured his mouth, Ikki could tell he was pouting, “You know, he’s ‘spose to be ‘round today. I overheard a couple of his lackies mention it.”

His breath caught in his throat. “What? Father?”

“Yeah,”

There was… a lot that could happen when their father visited, and Ikki would consider none of it good. Especially now that Hana was here full time, he just knows that if she catches sight of any of it, she’s going to try to pick a fight, and that wouldn’t go badly. If she was lucky, he’d go easy and let her out mostly unscathed, but that wasn’t in character for their father.

 No, it was imperative that Hana get nowhere near their father. The question was of how they were going to do that. Hana usually spent most of her time with Sakura, and when she wasn’t, she was usually in Sakura’s room. Maybe find a way to keep her in there? At worst, then, she’d probably only catch the aftermath of whatever happened.

“We… we can’t let Hana see what father does.”

It seemed Vice had caught Ikki’s train of thought, judging by the worried tone in his voice. “Oh. That’s gonna be hard.”

Ikki couldn’t help but sigh, “Tell me about it.”

“We could try to drag her out for a fight,” Vice suggested.

“You and fighting as a Rider again. That’s not going to work, anyway, we’d have to keep her out most of the day and we can’t be fighting for that long.” They’d get tired, and it wouldn’t really accomplish anything.

Vice pouts again, “I just want to see how strong we really are.”

Shaking his head, Ikki responded, “We can’t, not as long as father’s got an eye on us.”

“How boring.”

“Better than the alternative.”

---

There’s… something off, Hana realized. She can’t say what, exactly, but there’s this odd feeling in the air, something in how tense Sakura seemed, perhaps. Hana had seen Sakura dressed up in a few ways, the primary two being as Jeanne and then as Sakura Akaishi, a proper and formal woman who looked to mean business. Even when she’d arrived at Happy Spa with Ikki, that day, she’d been dressed in a pretty blouse and pants.

Today was sort of like that. Sakura fussed over her hair and her clothes and her everything, seemingly obsessed with everything being perfect with not a hair out of place. For some reason.

Hana had spent the past hour and a half watching her, and was becoming a bit concerned.

“Sakura, is something wrong?” Hana called.

Sakura sat her comb and hair pins down, turning to face Hana with a pleasant, but certainly fake, smile. “Why do you ask?”

“You’ve been at it for an hour and a half and are still going. You don’t care about your appearance that much.” Her tone was dry as she pointed out.

Smile falling, Sakura sighed, “It’s not something you should worry about, but I must ask that you stay in here today.”

“How come?”

It takes a few moments for Sakura to think, clearly cautious in doing so, before she answered, slowly, “Father is visiting today.”

From Hana’s understanding, a visit from Akaishi was never a good thing. That didn’t explain much, though, except perhaps why Sakura wanted Hana to hide away in her room all day. “…Okay…”

“And I’d like to keep him far from you.”

“Why?”

A frown graced Sakura’s lips, which had been carefully made red, but not too red, by lipstick she’d applied earlier. Hana thinks it’s too subtle, but she figures that’s probably what Sakura was going for. “I do not trust him around you.”

What did that mean? “Do you think he’s going to try to do something to me or whatever?”

The frown only deepened, “Please, Hana, just… I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Oh, Sakura was really very serious about this. Well if she doesn’t agree, then Hana’s going to feel terrible. It was obvious that she was already worried. If Hana doesn’t agree, then she’ll only worry more.

With a sigh, Hana had no choice but to concede defeat on the matter. “Fine, I’ll stay in here. Work on my knitting, I guess. I’ve got to find something else to do when you’re not here.”

A relieved smile comes to Sakura’s face, “Thank you, my queen. I’ll get you some flowers tomorrow, you can pick them out.”

Hana couldn’t help but giggle, “Oh, you know my weakness. The best way to make a bee like me happy is with flowers.”

“Then I’ll get you many flowers. As many as you want.”

“I don’t think there’s enough room for that many.”

Sakura looked less stressed, now. It really must have been a relief to have Hana agree to stay where she wasn’t going to run into her father.

Not for the first time, Hana couldn’t help but wonder just what Akaishi was like. She’d heard bits and pieces, between Sakura, Daiji, and Ikki, and she’d heard what he was like as the Director of Fenix, somewhat, through Tamaki. But that didn’t tell her much. The siblings made him out to be terrifying, almost like some kind of heartless monster, but they were always sparse on the details.

Maybe Sakura’s stress and the way she obsessed over looking perfect was warranted. Hana could vaguely recall she’d once said that their father was very particular about them being perfect. That they could show no weakness. Hana suspects that’s why Daiji and Kagerou had been so harsh to her the day that she trained with them, or why Daiji was so insistent on keeping his crush on Hiromi to himself. Akaishi probably drilled it into their head that loving someone was a weakness.

Which made Hana standing here, as Sakura’s queen, a very large and bright act of defiance. Probably the biggest “fuck you” that Sakura could do while still being under her father’s control. And it made all the more sense that Sakura wanted her nowhere near Akaishi, because if he realized what Hana was to Sakura – and surely he did – he’d probably want rid of her.

But who’s to say he won’t try to do something to punish Sakura for her weakness, even if he gets nowhere near Hana herself? With that in mind, Hana couldn’t help but worry once more.

“He… won’t hurt you, will he? For loving me?”

Once more, Sakura stopped what she was doing. This time, she didn’t turn to face Hana, just stared at her through the reflection in the vanity mirror. She’s careful when she answers, “…I… don’t know, Hana.”

“What kind of father hurts his own children?”

“No good one, I’m sure.”

---

Absentmindedly, Makoto watered Hana’s flower box, eyes darting between the box and the sky. It didn’t look like it would rain, and with Hana gone, someone had to keep her flowers alive. She wouldn’t be very happy if she’d found they’d died while she was gone, he was sure. Just one more, small, thing to add to the list of chores he’d taken on. He didn’t mind, especially if it was for one of his siblings.

He was far from perfect, but Makoto tried to be a good older brother, even if he still never quite knew how to. This whole thing with Hana was just the newest of the trials he had to figure out how to work through. He was still working on figuring it out, but he’ll get there eventually. Like so many other things, he had to.

Somehow, he thinks the biggest hurdle will be Tamaki, but he’s not prepared to talk to him about it yet, and he suspects that Tamaki wouldn’t be very open to it. At the moment, at least. So there was only waiting to be done on that front. Makoto was good at waiting, he often had little else to do.

“Makoto, good afternoon.” He’s snapped out of his thoughts by Hikaru’s voice. Compared to several days before, when Hana had been “kidnapped” in front of him, Hikaru looked far better.

“Hikaru,” Makoto greeted with a small smile, “You look… well. I’m glad.”

Hikaru laughed a little, “Yeah, it was… rough, at first but… well Hana wouldn’t want me moping around.” There’s a determined glint in his eyes.

He wasn’t wrong, either, Makoto suspected Hana would be happy to hear that Hikaru was doing well. “You’re right, she wouldn’t.”

“When she comes back, I hope she’ll be glad to hear. And I’m glad you’re keeping her flowers alive.”

“Of course, she loves them.” Makoto responded, “When Hana gets back, you’ll be one of the first to know, only after us and our parents.”

His smile fell, “Oh, yeah. How are your parents doing?”

“Better. It was pretty hard on mama especially but… we know who took Hana, she’s almost certainly alive, so the chances of her coming back sooner or later are pretty good.” Makoto grimaced, “It’s just that this all reminds her too much of what happened to her children before, I think.”

Gaze cast to the ground, Hikaru said, “It must be hard. But you guys are lucky to have parents who cared so much. If I got kidnapped… honestly, I’m not sure mine would notice.”

Right, Hikaru and his tenuous, at best, relationship with his parents. Though it would probably mean more if Hana were to say it, Hana wasn’t here, and as the eldest, it was Makoto’s duty to pick up the slack. “Well, Hikaru, if you ever feel you need to, you’re always welcomed here.”

“Er, it’s not like they hit me or anything,” Hikaru was quick to assure, “I just… well you know. We’re not close. But they don’t do anything to hurt me.”

“Sometimes, not doing anything is just as bad.”

Hikaru laughed awkwardly, “Well, anyway, I should be off. See you!” He’s quick to hurry off, obviously not wanting the conversation to continue any longer. Makoto wasn’t all that surprised.

With Hikaru off and Hana’s flowers watered, Makoto returns inside, ready to start on his next task. Which was… oh. Yukimi had taken care of the rest of the cleaning while he was out, which meant other than busywork cleaning of the entrance and foyer, he didn’t have much left to do. Joy.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, but there was just too much that could be on Makoto’s mind for him to want his mind to be idle. He just wasn’t quite sure the best way keep himself busy while at the front desk. In the end he digs out a pen and paper and flips to the practice questions in a math textbook. He’d just gotten this one a month or so ago and hadn’t gotten a whole lot of time to work through it, yet, what with the Deadmans and being a Rider taking up a lot of his time.

Though he gets perhaps too absorbed in the math, as he doesn’t notice that someone’s come into Happy Spa, let alone who it is, until an annoyingly familiar voice stabs through his concentration.

“Ooh, whatcha working on there, Igarashi?” Standing in front of the desk was none other than Karizaki. The man that Makoto would rather avoid, after their uncomfortable interaction the day the Chameleon Deadman had appeared.

Looking up, Makoto set his pen down, quick to shut the book and try to flip the paper over. “That’s none of your business.” He’s not quick enough, as Karizaki snatched the paper right from Makoto’s hands. “Karizaki!”

Karizaki laughed, peering at the paper, “Wow, that’s some complicated stuff. Thought you didn’t finish high school?”

“I didn’t,” Makoto snatched the paper from him, the corner tearing and remaining in Karizaki’s hand. “And I was working on that. What are you here for, anyway? Definitely nothing urgent.”

“Why else would I come to a bathhouse? For your services, obviously.”

“Joy.” Makoto gritted his teeth, forcing the most polite smile he could muster and making himself shift into Customer Service mode. It was very hard, as Karizaki was currently filling him with a great annoyance he suspects is unique to Karizaki. “I’m still charging you, same as anyone else.”

Reaching into the pocket of his ridiculous coat, Karizaki smiled, “Of course, I’d expect no less.” There was something smug in his voice.

Makoto very desperately wanted to tell him to fuck off.

But he did not, as that would be impolite and bad customer service. Though did it really count when it was the annoying scientist who kept causing you some trouble or other (Makoto counted the fact that he’d made the Drivers and Vistamps at all as trouble)? No, it probably did still count. Unfortunately.

Despite going so far as to volunteer to work at the front desk, Makoto absolutely despised customer service. He hated forcing himself to be nice and polite, and while he’d gotten very good at it, it didn’t change that he still didn’t like it any more than he had to start with. But he made himself do it.

If nothing else, he considered it a strange form of self-imposed punishment. And it probably had done his patience some good, though there were times like these, with people like Karizaki, where that really didn’t mean much.

“I wonder if anyone’s told him he has a very punch-able looking face.” Regardless, though the thought came to his mind, Makoto was not going to voice that observation to Karizaki. That would be impolite and bad customer service. And also would probably just cause trouble. That didn’t mean Makoto didn’t think it was at least a little true, he just wasn’t dumb enough to say anything out loud. Not when he was stuck working with Karizaki for the foreseeable future.

Once more, Karizaki broke him from his thoughts, as it occurred to Makoto he may have been staring in Karizaki’s general direction. “See something you like?” And Karizaki winked.

Makoto held in a blanch, instead putting on a smile that he hoped would convey how much he wanted Karizaki out of his sight. “I was staring at the family portrait on the wall behind you.” He lied.

Karizaki glanced back. Makoto wasn’t making up the portrait, at least. It was from Tamaki’s high school graduation, Tamaki in the center, Hana on one side and Makoto on the other. Their parents had insisted on taking the picture, and like all family photos, it ended up in Happy Spa.

Then Karizaki looked back at him, less of a smile on his face, “How are you guys holding up? Your brother won’t tell me, instead he just growls. Think he’s in a foul mood.”

As if Makoto hadn’t noticed days ago. He sighed, “Karizaki, go take a bath. Now’s not the time for this.” Not to mention Makoto just really didn’t want to have this conversation with Karizaki. He didn’t believe Karizaki cared, at least not unless it affected him in some way, maybe his ability to test his inventions or something.

“Fine then,” Karizaki pouted, “I’ll ask you again afterward.” He sauntered on into the bathes.

Though Makoto would never say it out loud, he hoped very much for something, even a demon or the Deadmans in some way, to happen so he didn’t have to be here when Karizaki came back out. He didn’t want anything to do with Karizaki’s feigned concern, it was a waste of both of their time.

He’s relieved, thusly, when not too long later he gets a call that Revi’s appeared again, this time he has a demon with him. That was going to complicate things. While, unlike last time, he and Tamaki were in a lot better shape for fighting, even with Mr. Kadota’s help, it would be hard to juggle Revi, Vice, and this demon. Not that they had much choice.

Makoto rushed out, hurrying to where Revi was, Tamaki and Mr. Kadota already there, clearly ready to fight. Revi’s faked relaxed posture – he was clearly too tensed to be relaxed – changed upon Makoto’s arrival. The demon stayed at his side, seemingly docile, for now at least.

“Good, you’re all here.” Revi spoke, reaching into his jacket and pulling out the Driver and T-Rex Vistamp, like last time. “Now let’s get on with this.”

Activating the Vistamp and stamping the Driver, a text conversation appeared behind him, just like the last time. It must have something to do with how the Driver worked, Makoto almost wanted to ask Karizaki next he saw him, though he suspected it would simply put Karizaki in a huff.

This isn’t too bad for him to make us do.

It could be far worse. Doesn’t mean I like it.

Aww… lighten up a little I- Revi.

You know they can see this, right? It’s projected behind me like some… hologram or whatever.

I know. We just have to be careful with our thoughts. Not that your father’s here to punish you for them.

They can still see this, Vice.

Er, right, sorry…

With Revi and Vice standing there, accompanied by the demon, Makoto, Tamaki, and Mr. Kadota take the opportunity to transform. Makoto would love to linger on the meaning of the conversation between Revi and Vice, but now wasn’t the time for that. He could worry about it later, when they weren’t about to begin a fight.

Tamaki takes Vice again, Mr. Kadota Revi, and that leaves Makoto with the demon. It’s not the worst, he figures, but he’d prefer to be helping Mr. Kadota with Revi. Especially as he seemed a bit more tired than normal, Makoto had to wonder if something was bothering him, or maybe Daiji had dragged him into the exhausting training he was always dong. It really doesn’t matter why, though, what did matter was that he was clearly tired, even if only a little. And that made Makoto worry.

Maybe it was a bit hypocritical of Makoto, given how often he fought while tired or still somewhat injured from a previous fight, and Tamaki did the same. But Makoto wasn’t very important, and Tamaki was stubborn. There were too many people relying on Mr. Kadota for him to be so reckless with his own well being. Maybe Makoto would have to try to guilt him into taking some rest, after this.

It says something about the fights he’s been getting in most frequently that Makoto doesn’t have to pay his fight with the demon much mind, finding that he could easily defeat. Maybe there was some upside to constantly fighting opponents way out of his league – it pushed him to improve much more quickly than if he had only been fighting demons like this one.

With the demon defeated, Makoto can turn his attention to helping Tamaki and Mr. Kadota. Not that Tamaki needed much help, he was faring even better against Vice than last time. Though as Tamaki tackled Vice towards Makoto, he called out, “Koto! You handle Vice, I’m helping Captain Kadota!”

Makoto figured he should place some faith in Tamaki’s capabilities – and besides, he spies a new Vistamp in Tamaki’s hand. So he nods and decides to focus on fighting Vice, taking Tamaki’s place.

Tamaki activates the Vistamp – the Jackal Vistamp. Upon stamping it on his Driver, a gun appeared in his hands, in a manner not dissimilar to how the Marlin Vistamp gave Makoto his own weapon.

Pointing the gun at Revi, Tamaki focused, clearly looking for an opening to shoot Revi without too much of a risk of shooting Mr. Kadota instead. The moment he sees it, he pulls the trigger and shoots – it proves to be more effective than any other gun Fenix has, as Revi stumbles when it makes impact.

If there was one thing Fenix had actually taught Tamaki from the ground up, it was how to shoot a gun, and he certainly seemed good enough at it. Makoto had no real way of judging if that was an accurate assessment, and frankly, he didn’t care. As long as Vice and Revi were at least fought off, if not outright defeated. Giving Tamaki a proper weapon was a good way of aiding that.

---

The moment Hikaru heard that Revi had appeared, and with a demon to boot, he rushed towards the location. He arrived quickly, while there were only a few scattered squads of Fenix soldiers present, and many people were still trying to get far away.

The before, Hikaru set about doing his best to help people, reunite anyone who got separated from someone they’d rather not be, be it friends or children and their parents. Every person he helped, even if it was just helping someone who stumbled and fell, made him feel… better. Like he was actually doing something.

Like maybe, he could make someone’s life just a little better by helping them get to safety sooner, or lessening the amount of time they spent distressed. Maybe it wasn’t much, maybe the Riders were doing far more, but… It was still more than Weekend was doing. That was enough for him.

When Hana got back, maybe she could help him. It could perhaps help satisfy that need to fight that she always had, though he wouldn’t get his hopes up. Not to mention that it might not be a good idea to have her all that close to where a demon or the Deadmans might be, for a variety of reasons. He quickly scratched that thought; this was something he’d do on his own.

That was okay, maybe that was the purpose of Hikaru Ushijima.

---

Sakura is shaking when she enters the room, Hana is quick to set her knitting aside, shut the door behind Sakura, and wrap her arms around her. “Sakura?”

Tightly, Sakura wrapped her arms around her, leaning to place her face in Hana’s shoulder. “I… I just need a- a minute.” She sounded so strangely… small.

“Love love…” Lovekov took her place beside Hana and Sakura, prompting Hana to maneuver Sakura to the bed. Lovekov followed, slithering up onto the bed and wrapping her stubby arms around Sakura, the best she could.

“What’s wrong?” Hana asked. Was this because of Akaishi?

She pulled Hana tighter, “Father…” Sakura said slowly, “expects only the best from us.”

Hana wants to make a joke about it, if only because she can’t think of any other way to respond. She’d gotten that impression about Akaishi from only the things she’d heard, it was little surprise that he really was as bad as he sounded. But what Sakura right now was comfort, not Hana making light of the situation.

Maybe she hadn’t understood just how terrible Akaishi was.

With Hana’s silence, Sakura continued. “He said… so many things. He always says them, it isn’t a surprise but…” She lifts her head, just a little. Hana can see tears in her eyes. “it still hurts. When we’re not enough, he makes sure we know. That’s why I hide Lovekov away – she’s my weaknesses, all bundled into one demon. I’m sure father knows of her, but if he can’t see her – then I can’t show weakness.”

“Love… Sakura love. Love.” Hana still didn’t understand Lovekov – she’s not sure she ever will, at least not like Sakura can, but she can make out enough of what Lovekov meant to do. She was trying to comfort Sakura.

Holding Sakura tightly, Hana said, “Whatever he said, it’s just to hurt you. I bet it’s all wrong – and who cares about weaknesses? We all have them, hiding them doesn’t do much good.”

“It makes it harder for those who oppose you to exploit them.” Sakura responded, tone grave, “unfortunately, it’s a sound strategy, when you must lead people. In that regard, it is better for us to be feared and respected than to show an ounce of weakness or anything else that may make us seem the same as others. Besides, that would be a lie, to come off like we’re normal when we’re not and never will be. A cruel lie.”

Before, Hana had wandered about the Deadman base. It sounded plenty like the people there respected their leaders, at least to her. She didn’t understand what fear had to do with any of it. Or why being seen as normal was so bad – sure, normal was boring and she thinks the people who think themselves normal are more cruel than those who think themselves not, but being seen as normal wasn’t really a bad thing. It had kept Hana from the people who made Tamaki their target, at least to some extent.

Though Hana had questions, she considered that it might be better to leave them, at least for now. So she changed the subject, “It’ll be okay. Anyway, I knitted today, like I said. I’m making you a sweater, since you like being all warm.”

With a small laugh, once more against Hana’s shoulder, Sakura seemed to smile, “I’m sure it will be wonderful, and I’ll cherish it.”

“Love love!” Lovekov loved, stubby arms waving up and down.

Sakura laughed, more this time. “She says you’ll have to make her one, too.”

Hana laughed in kind, reaching to give Lovekov a pat on the head, “Of course, Lovey.”

---

After using the Demons Driver, Hiromi had begun to notice he was more and more tired. Like he’d been working himself hard, even though it hadn’t been any different from before. Sometimes, he felt like he might collapse as soon as he was out of sight of Tamaki and Makoto.

Maybe tired wasn’t the most accurate word for it. Maybe the better word was drained. Like someone had sucked all the energy out of him. He could manage it now, but if it kept up, who knew what could happen. Makoto had helped him with Revi last time, Tamaki this time, but who knew how long that would keep up. He had to be able to fight on his own, otherwise there’d be no point.

Not to mention, he didn’t want to worry anyone, certainly not the Igarashi brothers. But he also wanted to keep word of this sudden drained feeling from getting to Daiji, as well. If Daiji found out, he’d do nothing but fret, and that was the last thing Hiromi needed – Daiji shouldn’t be fretting about him, anyway, and should be paying his own wellbeing more mind.

This was probably nothing, anyway.

[beabaseball]

ok. current plan is yoshi's island, pokemon blue rescue team, zelda minish cap, and (looks at smudge on hand) scribblenauts

am gonna give them to mom so she can decide how to present the DS and how many games he might want to start with at a time and how to space them out if they want (I don't want to make an incentive to power through all games but I also don't want him to get stuck on one and not be able to go play something else for a while.) she mentioned the family will def make sure he still gets outside time. But also we had this discussion while he was with her for 5 hours at her workplace so. I think she's pretty down with trying out new distractions as long as his homework still gets done. Video games are scary to jump into esp when you don't know where to even start. Like, I've knocked this expense down a lot by knowing what to look for and where to look, and also what console gives him a lot of potential future options. But the four games above are 1) platformer 2) turn based rpg 3) real time fighting puzzle game 4) "why don't you summon a t rex sweetie :) "

so hopefully at least one of them will just. hit his the brain right where it wants to go.

if you see an ADHD child who does not have access to video games, is it ok to talk to their mom and offer to buy the child age appropriate video games?

(im gonna give him undertale)

[hcllorhighwater]

look lian has supreme weird little girl energy and does tell weird little girl stories and for this we must truly love and appreciate her

[vampyr-bite]

This is an incredibly niche greivance but I'm reading an article about T. Rex from 1980 in which the journalist is making the point that in the 70s, T. Rex were considered 'trivial' whilst prog rock bands and heavy rock bands (e.g. Led Zeppelin) were considered 'serious'. This is fine, except he goes on to say that T. Rex fans ended up in groups like Buzzcocks or Positive Noise whilst Zep fans ended up in groups like Def Leppard as if the Leps aren't all massive fucking T. Rex fans..............

[sgtford]

a simple favor really was a wild ride from start to finish