#Even now I play Dragon Racer over and over again okay?

[wrathful-reptile]

Some dragons I've drawn recently! (in order of drawing them, left to right) They are Lazarus, Hurim, Zahara, and Cloud Chaser!

These dragons are from the discontinued interactive novel/game series "Riders of Abauruth" by @13leaguestories

Click the images for better quality!

[dragonmasterhiccup]

She smiled back at him, glad that he was there for her if anything were to happen.

As Hiccup was talking with Valka, the twins had netted another sheep, causing Danny to clap and cheer for them from where she was sitting.

She looked at Valka when she sat down next to them, her voice soft so that only she could hear. “Hey, so… Everything’s okay, right?”

“Either Astrid or the twins. Fishlegs is already lagging behind, and Snotlout is… well, Snotlout.”

She watched with anticipation as they flew the last lap, her eyes darting over to Gobber every so often to see when he would launch the black sheep.

When he did, her eyes immediately darted back towards the racers, cheers coming from her as Astrid was the one who secured the black sheep.

The other racers fought to steal it from her, but she didn’t give it up, and eventually, she dropped it into her basket, causing the entirety of the village to clap and cheer loudly for her, including Danny, who was now standing up, a wide grin on her face as she cheered.

"Oh, yes," Valka grinned at Danny. "Hiccup told me the good news, you must feel so at ease now, yes?"

Camicazi giggled. "That's so true! Snotface Snotlout hasn't won in a loooong time! If I ever get to play in the Dragon Races, he doesn't stand a chance!"

Hiccup cheered as Astrid quickly got ahold of the black sheep, and Toothless roared with delight, excited for Stormfly.

The whole crowd was on its feet, cheering for Astrid victory. As usual, she flew a victory lap, high fiving as many in the crowd as she could while Stormfly circled the stands in a wide arc.

She finally landed on the Chiefs platform as the crowd quieted down.

Hiccup stepped forward, congratulating her and pulled her in for a kiss.

After pulling away, he addressed the crowd.

"While that was certainly a close game, Astrid remains our reigning champion! If you would all like to go to the Great Hall, there is a feast waiting for us all to celebrate!"

The crowd cheered even more after that, and the hungry Vikings started to disperse, heading towards the Great Hall.

The twins on their zippleback could be heard arguing as they flew by.

Astrid, with Hiccup by her side, greeted Valka and Camicazi before moving to Danny.

"I'm so glad you came! I wasn't sure if you would." She eyed Spitelout, who was waiting to give Snotlout a talking to. He didn't look very happy that is son lost again, especially to a Hofferson.

[ldybluerse]

My Heart and Head Hurt.

So Very, Very Much

I am Asexual. I like cuddling, kissing, loving touches, I even love to make inappropriate sex jokes. Okay, I can make some pretty lewd sex jokes but that’s what happens when like 90% of your friends for the past ten years identify as pansexual. I just don’t feel sexual attraction and I am mostly repulsed by sex (ehhh it’s too much to explain).

At the first of the year, I moved to Texas from Michigan. Leaving behind all my friends, which with the internet isn’t terrible... but also my friends are shit at peopling on the Internet. Not angry or blame, they all have depression and anxiety. I get it. Just saying it’s hard to pretty much completely lose that connection with my friends. My friends are also the type where we would all pile into my bed and watch videos while cuddling with each other and my dogs. They spent so much time caring for me after my surgeries.

Being handicapped, and still learning how to live with it (it’s a relatively recent thing and takes relearning how to live life in a way that works for your limitations) I live with my parents. They are great but... they have their own mental health issues that really fucked me up as I grew up. It means that I don’t feel like I can open up or talk to them about anything because of what happened back then. I love them and I know they would do anything for me, but it’s just this thing I have. Heck, I have trouble opening up to my therapist for a long time. My therapist, who I also had to leave in Michigan. And Texas Medicaid? Kind of non-existent. Plus, I’m too old for my parents to be taking care of me, you know western standards and all, so I can’t have insurance through them.

Basically, I ran out of some of my medicine months ago, which means I live in near constant pain too. I can’t go see a therapist, because I can’t afford it. I haven’t run out of my depression medication yet, so there is that.

Since my accident (I will do another post on that later, because that will take a while), I haven’t been able to work. The accident was in December 2011, since 2013, I have had ten surgeries. I started back to school because it doesn’t seem like I’ll ever be up for any type of manual labor. But it also means I feel useless because physically I’m limited and mentally I am so fucked up I can’t do what I can handle doing. I graduated with my Bachelor (really proud of) but Texas has some different requirements that will add a lot of time towards getting my Masters, because Michigan didn’t have those requirements. This means I am going to enroll in an accredited online program, hopefully. Have to get accepted, fingers crossed.

To summarize, for ten months I have been isolated in a different state, dealing with body trying to adjust to different weather and medicine changes. Self isolation isn’t helping but the other problem is when I do reach out, there isn’t someone there...

Background info done, now to what’s troubling me:

My best friend and girlfriend is also Asexual. We’ve been together for almost eight years, but it’s always been long distance (we’re Ace, it doesn’t bug us too much) and I have gone to visit her. We started “talking” through Role Play and until recently, whenever there was lulls in life when a lot wasn’t happening, we could lean back on the Role Play to stay connected. There wasn’t a day when we didn’t talk to each other, even during the hospital visits we both went through, we stayed connected in some small way. And we talked about everything and anything. Our fandoms didn’t always match up, but it was fun listening and learning... I thought...

She was dealing with a lot of stuff, and for a few years was out of work, probably why she had so much time and energy for me. It was really bad for her for a while, where she even verbally attacked me on a few occasions. I know it wasn’t her but her mental illness, so I forgive her for it. But it was bad.

She was raised super Christian (DONT celebrate Halloween because it’s evil type Christian), and she has always been Christian even if she yelled at God a lot in her low days. Yeah, the good Christian girl is dating the Goth Pagan Celtic Witch... whatever you will call me. I’ve been Pagan for about 2/3rds of my life by now, so it’s not like she didn’t know she I was one. She’s never tried to shame or convert me.

My Bachelor is in Religious Studies, I know how good a religion can be for someone’s mental health if they are religious. I would talk to her about rekindling her faith. Finding a church she could at least go sit and listen to, so she could reconnect. She did! And it’s been amazing for her mental health. She has held a steady job for a while, actually is the poster child for the program that helped her move foreword and get her life back in order. I am so very proud of her and I do love her so much.

I just think... she’s outgrown me. The only fandom she talks about anymore is... Christianity. She doesn’t talk about LoZ anymore. She doesn’t talk about Tolkien. She doesn’t watch anime or cartoons anymore. She has no interest in Role Playing, as I said a big part of staying connected.

She talks about work, her cats, crocheting, and her religion. The thing is, I can’t fault her for any of it if it’s what’s best for her. She deserves happiness and stability. But...even when I’m back in school and when I get a job I don’t think I could leave the world of fantasy and fiction behind.

I grew up going to Ren Faires, my dad wearing tights. My first boyfriend I met at Ren Faire, while he was in tights. Labryinth and The Last Unicorn are still my favorite movies of all time! I collect Dragons of all sorts. I’ve watched the whole series of Fraggle Rock a few times, because it’s just wholesome and sweet.

My parents are Trekkies, my mom has had some of her fanfiction a published in old Starlog Zines. We watch fantasy, fiction, actions, cartoons... my mom has always loved the world of books, especially fantasy. She collects unicorns, so many unicorns. When I got into Anime, so did my mom. Kenshin is still her favorite, although to be fair she loved Ultron and Speed Racer when they first came to the states (she says Speed Racer was her first ever crush).

My brothers love the same thing, my oldest brother still fans for Jason David Frank. My other brother, well, he named his cat Pandea after WoW, we have his LotR sword collection, all his movie memorabilia...

We’re nerds and dorks and not afraid to be so.

Since the move the only thing making me happy has been my animals (Gods and Goddesses the fluffy bastards are clingers and just want to love you and be loved which is something I need) and fantasy. I’ve watched several animes I just want to gush about, but if you don’t have someone who is watching it too... you don’t want to ruin it. I want to just talk someone’s ear off about Steven Universe or Miraculous the Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Hell, even Ducktales and Tangled. Do you know how AMAZING they have made Ducktales?! I watched the original series when I was younger but...! And all the inside jokes!!!!

The books! I probably read about thirty or forty in one month when I went on a book binge. They were all trashy romance novels, and admittedly the sex scenes were... meh... I’m Asexual, what do you expect?! Okay... some Aces like sex and stuff. It’s not that important to me. What is, is the connection two people have to each other. The love. And trashy romance novels aren’t the best at giving that... but it’s something.

Oh and the Webcomics. I have always, always loved Webcomics. I used to have the folders on my old computer organized down to the day of the week the comics updated because I so many, that I had to organize them just to get the right updates! Right now Lore Olympics. OMG Lore Olympics. Be still my heart! I am reading several on WEBTOON. I have a few I follow through DeviantArt; Erma is so frikken cute! Daughter of the Lilies, ahhhhhh so amazing and the artwork!!! Pincushion! Constructs will always have a place in my heart!

I just got into the Good Omens fandom, because I’m a Whovian and Tennant is defiantly one of my most favorite of Doctors. He was just so beautiful in it. And when I took my Shakespeare course my teacher had us watch Hamelt and ohhhhh Tennant. Ohhhh you really can’t tell if Hamlet has gone crazy or it’s an act (which he claims it is!!). Sir Patrick Stewart was also just... oh!!! I entered Good Omens because my Instagram was all Ineffable Husbands (I think because of my Doctor Who love). Finally, finally i watched it.

That was like three weeks ago I got into Good Omens and I still am completely in love. The tenderness, the loving looks. I have to read the book! And the script book! (Depression, yay!). I need to listen to the radio adaptation and revisit Queen (I was raised on rock’n’roll. And I mean, David Bowie has probably been the only Rock Star I ever went heart-eyes for... also kinda sad he wasn’t mentioned in Good Omens because he did work with Queen and let’s face it, Bowie was so gender-nonconforming!). I just want to ramble and babble on and on about the series with someone. About all the hidden bits and pieces and theories and things in my head!!!

But... I don’t have anyone. My girlfriend sort of shuts down when I talk about any of the fandoms I like. She will just skip those parts of the conversation and comment on the animal videos I send her or something else. She will talk about work or God. Again, I’m know Religion and people. If there is something I know best is you can’t dictate what someone else’s beliefs are. So while I know the Bible and Christian theory, when she talks about it and tells me stories I can only “nod” and “smile” because if a persons religion isn’t harming themselves or others, and it’s helping them, I don’t think it would be right to argue theory and philosophy with them over what is mostly fairytale stories in a book. I’m not saying their isn’t a Christian God, or many Gods, or things in the Bible didn’t happen, but not all of it is factual nor was it ever meant to be seen as strictly factual. I try to show I am at least paying attention to what she says.

At the same time, with the state I have been in, I probably haven’t given her what she needs when she is telling me about stuff.

Fantasy and fiction has been the only thing keeping me afloat. Religion and work has been helping her. I just can’t see a world without the magic of make-believe but that’s not where she is anymore.

So... I’ve been thinking for a bit now maybe we’re no longer what we need for each other in our lives. Not that we don’t love each other, and not that we can’t still be friends... but maybe it’s time we adventure out? We were what we needed from each other for years... maybe we just aren’t that anymore.

[prosaicswirl]

Dragons! (tbh this is something i’d want to revisit after this event). This is for day 7 of @short-story-slam, yay :) (~1.8k words) Rest of the story under the cut.

Warnings: Combat (but it’s practice so no real wounds or anything)

I was snapped out of my trance when two juvenile Dragons landed in front of us. Ciro stirred a bit, but then went back to his peaceful sleep. Up in the sky, I could see some other Dragons flying around an aerial race track.

“Is Ciro still sleeping?” Nyx asked me.

“He’s obviously not awake if he’s leaning on Camira,” Nesar playfully snapped at her. I knew what was coming next. Nyx leapt at her brother, bowling him over. The commotion was enough to finally wake Ciro.

“Mmmm,” he mumbled as he sat up straight. He opened up his jaw to yawn. Both dragons sat straight up, delighted that Ciro was finally awake.

“Can we go up for a fly?” Nesar asked eagerly. Dragons mature much slower, which meant that they still acted like Dragonets while Ciro and I were finally starting to mature.

“We can race. We haven’t done that in a while,” Nyx added, looking at me pleadingly.

They longed for a race, I’m sure Ciro could feel it. Ciro had beaten me and Nyx the last time we raced with just the two of us, so I’m sure Nyx was eager for a rematch

I looked over at Ciro, “If you wanna get beat, I’m up for it.”

Smirking, he rubbed his eyes and the sleepiness disappeared in an instant.

“You’re on,” he replied.

“Challenge flight?” I asked him. Challenge flight was a type of race where the dragons were allowed to do anything to slow down the opponent as long as the Dragons didn’t touch each other. There was a three strike warning for that, and upon receiving a third strike, the racer was automatically disqualified. The riders were allowed to bring practice weapons and fight on the backs of other dragons, making everything more interesting.

“Yep. Do you have your glider?” asked Ciro as he put on his flying mask.

“Yea. You?” I asked him. He nodded and clipped himself to his dragon.

Kai, Wai, and their riders, also twins, Elise and Ellen looked at us from where they were enjoying the sun. They were identical twins, and the only way to tell them apart was by looking at them from the front, or their dragons. Ellen had a green streak in her brown hair, and her dragon was Wai, the turquoise water dragon. Elise had a blue streak in her hair, and rode Kai, the blue water dragon.

“Come on Cam, show Ciro who’s the champ,” Ellen said, playfully. Ciro faked a look of disbelief, but then dissolved into laughter.

“I don’t know…” said Nev. His dragon, Tenchi, who was the half-brother of Nesar and Nyx though, so it was like we were from the same family. “I think Nyx has been eating too many treats lately…”

Nyx responded with dignified silence, causing Tenchi to laugh.

“What,” Nyx growled, looking at Tenchi with an accusing expression. Tenchi went silent and just smiled at her as Nesar burst into laughter.

“You can stop it Nev, we all know that Cam will win,” a voice behind us said. Kora Lasair was my girl best friend. She rode a fire dragon that was named Phoenix, or Pho as we often called her.

Nev just chuckled. Xander and his earth dragon, Ajax joined in then as well.

“You won’t know if you don’t try. I’ll even fly to watch this, won’t we Ajax?” Ajax nodded, getting on his four feet.

Ciro got up and tightened the saddle on Nesar’s back, and I did the same to Nyx.

More of our classmates came over to see why we were getting on our dragons, when they learned that we were about to race, they called their dragons too. Ciro and I didn’t race very often, and when we did, it was always a challenge flight. It was a prime form of entertainment for our friends. I tightened the boot straps and placed my goggles on.

“Okay then,” he said and lifted off into the air. I patted Nyx on the head before following him up. Other dragons shot up too, as more people came to watch.

I positioned Nyx on the right of Nesar and Ciro at the starting line, which was one of the only floating platforms. Our classmates spread to other platforms to watch our race. I was plaining to use a weak breath of ice to slow down Nesar’s wing movements, which would allow me and Nyx to gain a lead.

“Hey sis,” I heard Ciro’s voice in my head. “I can hear your plan. You might want to start hiding your thoughts.”

I nodded, thankful he was nice enough to warn me beforehand. There was one way to block the other from our thoughts, but neither of us used it that often. I focused on being alone, and once I felt his presence disappear, I started thinking about a plan.

“Nesar won’t expect us to stay with the same plan,” Nyx said.

“I know, Nyx, but Ciro might,” I said.

“True,” Nyx thought. There was a silence between us.

“Let’s stick with slowing them down,” I thought. I felt Nyx agree with me. Nev stood in front of us on Tenchi with the starting flags.

“Play fair guys. The other air riders are refereeing for your match,” Nev said.

Ciro and I nodded to the other air riders. Ceca, Sam, Aves and Henry were on the right side, and Solan, Dezi, Kevin, and Jester were on the left. They were all great flyers, and would be able to keep up. They all had gliders on, ready to talk to us if necessary throughout the race.

“Ready?” Nev shouted. Ciro and I nodded. We bent over the neck of our dragons. He waved the flags with a great flourish and yelled, “Go!”

Nyx knew that we would have to be a bit behind in order for us to use the frost plan. She purposely let Nesar and Ciro to fly ahead so that their wings were just past her snout.

“Now,” I told her.

In a flash, Nesar had pulled up short in order to shake off the ice that had formed on his wing. I heard Ciro swear as we passed him.

“That worked out well,” Nyx commented. She usually didn’t communicate with me while racing so that she would be able to concentrate on flying.

I looked behind us. “Not so fast,” I warned her. “They just got the ice off.”

I heard her growl and speed up. The course was a hundred kilometers in total, but we had just finished the first kilometer. I willed Nyx to slow down since we had to save energy for the last part, which was the hardest, since it involved a lot of twists and turns. I felt Nyx slow down ever so slightly, but then I felt a blast of fire. I made sure that I had clipped my wire to Nyx as I turned around while crouching. Ciro was bent over while holding the top of his saddle. When he saw me turn, he smirked and shook his head. He had a practice sword with him, and it was pointed at me.

“Bring it!” I yelled over the roaring wind. I use two swords instead of one long sword like my brother, so I pulled out my own two practice swords and pointed one back at him.

“Nyx, take this time to rest, I can stall.”

“Okay, if it gets bad, I’ll speed up.”

I felt Nyx slow down, and I saw Nesar speed up a bit. I unclipped myself, and jumped with my glider unfurled, and landed on Nesar. Nesar tried to shake me off, but I held my ground. Quickly, I attached my safety rope to Nesar’s saddle. While I was gaining my balance, Ciro took a swing at me. The platform we just passed was yelling and cheering.

After I fended off his first blow, it was my turn to swing, so I brought it from over my head, but Ciro blocked it easily. My second sword swung at his torso, and he jumped away, avoiding my attack. As Ciro was about to counter attack, Nesar faltered, and Ciro realized what had happened. Nesar was still a juvenile dragon, even if he was much bigger than us, he was still at least another ten years away from being fully grown. Right now, he was definitely not strong enough to carry two teens on his back for too long.

“See ya at the finish line, Ciro,” I said and jumped back onto Nyx. He let out a yell of frustration as I sped off again.

We were at the halfway point of this course, and Nyx was at a comfortable pace. My brother wasn’t too far behind, but Nesar was more tired than Nyx.

I was losing concentration when Ciro executed his plan. Nesar used a breath of icy wind to freeze Nyx’s forearms together, creating a wall between them. I felt her slow down considerably, and Ciro passed us. Nyx was frantically trying to get her arms free while still flying. She bent her head down to breath fire, but now her flying had slowed down almost to a stall. I could see that the ice was slowly melting.

I willed her on, and the moment the ice wall melted she sprinted off. We were reaching the last part of the course, and Ciro had a lengthy lead. From where we were, I could see Nesar faltering a few times. He was exhausted, but I knew that Nyx wasn’t much better since she had spent a lot of time trying to get rid of the ice. We slowly caught up since Nyx was more agile than her brother. These turns were better suited for Nyx, which is what I was counting on. Those who were on other platforms came back to the starting line to see the result. I started seeing distinct figures as I drew closer

“No dragon fights on this course!” Aves reminded Nyx when she used her tail to hit her brother.

The finish line was ten kilometres just in front of us. “All you have left in you now, Nyx, this is the final stretch.”

I felt her speed up, and the next thing in knew, she was crossing the finish line.

“HAH! FIGHT ME CIRO, I’M THE BETTER FLIER!!”

[portraitsofivy]

In My Dreams

Requested by an anon on @seizethebens ‘ blog a few days ago. 

Anonymous asked:  Race x reader soulmate AU? (The one where you can communicate through dreams)

Tag List (to be tagged in future fics just reply to this post and I’ll add you!):

@seize-the-davey @spot--conlon @ben-cook-can-cook

~~

You first learned about soulmate dreams when you were six years old. That's the first time you had one. A blond boy, no older than you, was fighting a dragon.

You dreamed some armor and fought it with him. When the dragon was defeated, the boy turned to you and bowed. “Never before have I seen a lady fight so well before.”

You woke up smiling.

Every time since then, the boy (Race, his name was) would appear in your dream and go alongside you. You helped each other through nightmares, and laughed through the good ones.

But your favourite dreams where the ones when the two of you just talked in a field. And when you drifted off and that scene greeted you, you smiled.

You wandered around for awhile, waiting for Race to go to sleep and join you. Finally, he did.

“Hey, you,” you greeted.

Race waved. “Hi.”

“What took you so long?” you asked, pulling up a blue flower and tucking it behind his ear.

Race shrugged. “I’m real nervous for tomorrow.”

You smiled. “You’ll be fine. And I guarantee you’ll find some friends that are just as good, if not better than your Brooklyn friends.”

Race smiled and held your hand where it rested on his cheek. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“So what do you want to do tonight?” he asked.

You shrugged. “We could continue the racing dream from a few weeks ago.”

The track materialized around you as Race raced off on a brown mare.

~~

The next day, your school was abuzz with news of a new kid. Sarah was the one to finally tell you about him.

“He’s short, and one of the teachers cussed him out for smoking his vape in class. Davey says his stress levels rose 30% in one class period alone.” She smacked her bubble gum.

You rolled your eyes. “Davey’s stress levels are always fluctuating, I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Plus, his name is super weird. His real name is Antony, but I don’t he had a weird nickname.” Sarah thought for a moment before she shook her head. “I don’t remember. Maybe it's a gang name from one of those Brooklyn groups.”

You shrugged. “Maybe. Tell everyone hi, and that I’ll see them at auditions. Go to lunch, you don’t wanna be late.”

Sarah sighed, dramatically peeling herself from the lockers as though she couldn’t bare to be dragged away from you. “Fine. And don’t worry about those, Charity loves you. You’re sure to get a good part.”

“Maybe. We’ll wait ‘til the cast list is put up.”

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but people were still talking about the new kid.

“I heard he got ISS,” one kid muttered.

“I heard he was caught making out with his girlfriend in the janitor’s closet,” another answered.

“He’s an asshole,” Davey said as he plopped into the seat beside you in the theatre. “He almost beats Jack for how much of an asshole he is.”

“Davey, you love Jack.”

“I also love you, doesn’t mean you cease to get on my nerves.”

You gasped. “Davey? You love me? I wasn’t expecting this so soon in our relationship!”

Davey shoved you. “Shut up.”

The two of you sat quietly for awhile, making note of everytime the door slammed open or shut behind you. Soon the rest of your friend group was gathered around you, Jack and Katherine behind you, Crutchie with his walkie-talkie standing next to you waiting for auditions to start, and Blink and Mush playing chopsticks in the floor. The theatre was alive with noise until the director, Charity, stood and commanded silence from the room.

Auditions started soon after, groups of people being led away to practice for a moment before doing a cold read of the script. By the time it was over you were pretty confident you’d done well, but the parts wouldn’t be announced for at least a week.

~~

Callbacks were Wednesday, and the cast list was posted Monday. You scanned the list anxiously, starting from the bottom. Your eyes finally landed on the top and you squealed so loudly half the hallway stopped to look at you. You had landed the role of Katherine!

Speaking of the devil, your friend rounded the corner at the same time and gave you a weird look.

“I got the part!” you yelled.

Katherine clapped her hands before running over and hugging you. “Congrats, (Y/N)!” She let go of you and moved back a bit. “Who got Jack?”

You looked back at the list. “Some kid named Antony?”

“Ah, the new kid,” Katherine nodded. “Good luck with that.”

“He could be a terrific actor!” you defended.

Katherine rolled her eyes. “Sure. We’ll see.”

You looked at the bottom of the sheet again and saw that rehearsals were starting in ten minutes and you still had to get all the way across campus to the theatre. You bid Katherine goodbye before taking off down the hallway at a fast walk.

You made it to the theatre with a minute to spare and slid into your seat beside Davey. Jack was sitting on the other side, regaling the boys with his latest exploits that had landed him in detention.

Charity walked up onstage and began rehearsal, giving out a few guidelines. Everyone listened, even the seniors who’d been doing this for years.

“Now, if I could have my leads stand and come on stage. I’d like Jack and Katherine to come up here please.”

You stood at the same time as Jack. The theatre laughed, and Charity glared playfully at Jack before telling him to sit down. He grinned and complied.

You and another boy walked to opposite sides of the stage and ascended at the same time. You glanced up at him and immediately stopped.

It was Race. Your Race.

Your mouth fell open as you looked at him. You were frozen in your spot, staring at your soulmate. He gave you a tight lipped smile before turning his attention back to the director. You however, could not take your eyes off of him.

“(Y/N)?” Charity snapped her fingers. “You with us, darling?”

You shook out of your thoughts and looked at her. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just, uh, distracted is all.”

Charity nodded. “Well, you better get your head on straight, we don’t have time for distractions.”

You nodded. She called for the first scene, where Race as Jack and Davey as Crutchie would be on the rooftop, singing about how much they hate New York.

You sat back in the audience, next to Crutchie. “I can’t believe we’re finally doing Newsies, and not one of us got the character we’re named after.”

“I supposed it was a little much to hope for,” you said distractedly.

Crutchie turned to look at you. “Hey, are you okay?”

You nodded. “Fine. Just thought I saw something.”

As soon as rehearsal was over you tried to track Race down, but he disappeared. Resigned you went out to your car, knowing that if nothing else you’d see him when you fell asleep.

But you didn’t. He wasn’t there when you were asleep. He wasn’t there the next day either, the two of you didn’t share any classes, and he always ran away right after your rehearsal. It seemed he was ignoring you.

Every scene that featured Jack and Katherine was stilted and awkward as you poured your heart into your part and Race tried to act while shrugging away from you. Charity asked every time why Race was acting so awkward, and everytime he just shrugged.

You sat in the theatre next to Jack, watching Race and Davey on the rooftop for probably the twentieth time that week. Race was acting awkward again, being almost afraid to touch Davey.

“I don’t really like the energy of this,” Jack whispered to you. “Race is acting like he hates touching Davey.”

You shrugged. “Maybe it’s just cause he’s new here.”

The two of you sat in silence for a little longer, and then you turned to face Jack. “How close are you and Race?”

Jack shrugged, not looking away from the stage. “Dunno. Why’re you asking?”

“Would it be weird if you had him over to the house?” you asked.

Jack turned to look at you. “Not really. Why?”

You ignored the question. “Could you have him over this weekend?”

“(Y/N), what is this about?” Jack asked. “Why the sudden interest in Race?”

You shrugged. “No reason.”

He quirked an eyebrow.

“He’s been avoiding me, ok?!” you exploded. Two girls in the front row looked back at you, and you smiled sheepishly in apology before turning back to Jack. “I haven’t seen him in rehearsals, and you’ve seen how awkward that is, and he’s not been in my dreams-”

“Dreams?” Jack cut you off. “What do-?” A look of recognition dawned on his face. “Race is your soulmate!” he said. The two girls turned to look at you again.

“SHHH!” you put a hand over his mouth. “Don’t say it too loudly!”

Jack smirked at you, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Sure, I’ll have Race over after school Friday. Pop by any time.”

“Thanks, Jack,” you said, bumping his shoulder with your head.

~~

Friday at exactly 4:12pm, you stood on the porch of Jack’s house. You psyched yourself up before ringing the doorbell.

“Who’s that?” Race’s muffled voice asked.

“Dunno,” Jack replied. “Can you go check that?”

Race started grumbling, but you heard his footsteps stalking towards the door. The doorknob twisted. Suddenly the door was opened and Race’s blue eyes met your own.

His eyes grew large in surprised before he let out a quick “NOPE!” and shut the door in your face.

You immediately began to knock on the door. “RACETRACK! YOU LET ME IN RIGHT NOW!”

“NO!” he shouted back.

“WE NEED TO TALK,” you shouted, still pounding. “YOU CAN’T IGNORE THIS FOREVER!”

“WATCH ME,” he replied.

“JACK,” you called, “TELL HIM TO LET ME IN!”

“LET HER IN, RACER!” he said.

Slowly the door opened until you could see Race again.

“Hello,” you said.

He merely stepped back so you could walk through the door.

“Hey, (Y/N),” Jack said, plopping onto the couch with a bowl of popcorn. “What brings you here?”

“Nothin’ much,” you responded. “Hey, didn’t Ms. Medda say she needed you to do something this afternoon?” You hoped he’d get the message.

It seemed he didn’t, as his forehead creased in confusion. “Umm, I don’t think so?”

“Yeah, she wanted you to get something from the store,” you said in a harder tone. You flicked your head to the doorway as if to say, get out.

Understanding blossomed on his face. “Oh! Right! That thing! Hey, Racer, I gotta go get something for Medda, be a dear and entertain (Y/N) ‘til I get back, won’t you?” He stood, passed Race the popcorn and then walked out the door.

“Wait, Jack, I-”

“Use protection!” Jack shouted, the door slamming after him.

Race looked at the door, then down to the popcorn, then back to you. He sat down on the couch and curled up onto his side. “What do you want?” he hissed.

“To talk to you!” You plopped on a chair across from him. “What’s wrong, Race?”

He mumbled something into the couch cushion.

“What?” you asked.

“I said, ‘why don’t you tell me?’” he exploded, sitting up and facing you.

You were a little taken aback by the sudden fury. “I don’t know what’s wrong, Race! That’s why I came to talk to you!”

He rolled his eyes. “Nothing’s wrong with me.” He turned back into the couch.

“Yeah, that’s true,” you scoffed. “You’ve been avoiding me for two weeks! You haven’t said a word to me outside of rehearsal, and heaven knows those are stilted and awkward, and you haven’t been sleeping either!” you said, your voice definitely louder than normal. “I don’t understand, Race, did I do something?”

Race was silent.

You ran your hand through your hair as you stood and began pacing. “I thought I’d be happy when I met my soulmate! Not feeling like I did something wrong.”

“You and me both,” Race muttered angrily.

You stopped and stared at him. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing,” he muttered.

“RACE!”

Race stood up and marched until he was a few inches away from you. “Why don’t you go ask Davey, huh?!”

“Davey?” you asked incredulously. “What does Davey have to do with anything?”

“Well, he’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?!”

Your eyebrows drew up in confusion. “No.”

Race looked at you. “No?”

“No,” you replied.

“But, but,” he stuttered. “The day of auditions! He said he loved you and you said something about a relationship and then you two cuddled up to each other!”

You stared at Race. “He meant as friends. He’s dating a girl named Rose that's from Alabama. They met over the internet.”

All the anger flooded from Race’s expression. “Oh.”

You placed a hand on his arm. “Have you not noticed how overly affectionate our friend group is?” you asked honestly. “We call each other babe all the time, Crutchie and Katherine are constantly sitting in someone's lap, and Spot smacked Blink’s ass just the other week!”

He smiled sheepishly. “So you're not dating anyone?”

You shook your head no. “I was waiting on you to come along.”

He smiled at you, and you smiled back. Finally, you were in each other’s arms.

~~

When the two of you walked hand and hand into rehearsals on Monday there was a lot of wolf-whistles, especially from Jack. Race laughed as you flipped them off.

Charity sighed loudly. “Finally, you two got your mess together! Maybe now we can have some Jack and Katherine action that actually makes me think they're in love!”

Everyone laughed as you moved to your seats in the auditorium. Charity called for the Davey, Les and Jack scene, and unfortunately your wonderful boyfriend was taken from your arms.

Jack put a hand over his eyes. “Hey, where's Spot? I can't see him, ain't he the one playing Les?”

“Screw you, Kelly,” he muttered. “I'll strangle you.”

Jack smirked down at Spot. “I don't think you're tall enough.”

Race placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. “Jack?”

“Hmm?”

“Run.”

Jack turned to see Spot angrily stalking up the stairs towards him. He let out a soft “oh shit” before leaping from the stage and running out the back of the auditorium.

Charity looked at Spot. “Go find him and tell him you won't beat him up and that he needs to be in here.”

Spot nodded before leaping from the stage as well. “BABE! COME BACK! I GOTTA KICK YOUR ASS!”

Charity rolled her eyes. “(Y/N), come up here, we’ll do the scene right before Something to Believe In while they solve their differences.”

You nodded and climbed the stage, scampering onto the railing that represented Jack’s penthouse.

“Start point?” Race called.

“Umm, If you were a boy you'd be talking with a fist in your mouth.”

Race glared at you. You glared back. “If you were a boy, you'd be talking with a fist in your mouth!”

You stalked up to him ‘til your noses were practically touching. “And if I were a boy you'd be looking at me through one swolen eye!”

Race grabbed your fist, jamming it under his chin.  “Oh yeah? Well don't let that stop you, eh?! Give it your best shot!”

You froze for a second before grabbing his cheeks and pressing your lips together. You sagged into the kiss as Race's arms circled around your waist tenderly. He moved his lips against yours and you hurriedly returned the favour.

His arms tightened and you gasped a little. He used this to his advantage, pressing his tongue against yours. You gasped again, one hand knocking off his hat as it threaded through his sandy locks.

You became vaguely aware of cheers and whistles as the two of you broke apart.

“Wow,” you whispered, arms loose around his shoulders.

“Wow,” he agreed.

“WOO BOY, GETCHA SOME!” Jack yelled.

You both turned bright red and looked down at your friends and castmates, who were all in various states of cheering.

“Not bad for a first kiss, eh?” Race whispered into your ear.

“Not bad at all,” you agreed.

[gingerxtrash]

As the years go on/3

Hey so I’m going to switch Lucy’s last name to Heartfilia for story purposes so please forgive me y’all ;-;  And I’m also sorry for taking so long to update but I have been busy trying to find a job because I need money lol -Author’s note

---Third Person---

In the halls of Magnolia Academy it was crowded with people talking to each other and sharing  their weekends activities. The halls filled with the innocent and not so innocent kids who use their lives to party or stay stuck in a house. Some of them complaining, and some of them gloating of their supposedly “fun” lives. In this school the kids are either the hunters or the prey to all sorts of abuse. Students that reside in gangs are the most dangerous kids in the school and no one dares to defy them. Even some teachers will let them get away with certain things because they fear those students. Every inch of Magnolia is a part of a battlefield of rival gangs who fight for what they want.

While the students are spread out through the hallway, everyone’s voices came to a stop once the front doors opened and revealed the ten kid gang members of Fairy Tail. Walking down the halls they all separated into pairs except for the leader of the group, Natsu Dragneel which is the future leader of Fairy Tail. The current leader is his father Igneel Dragneel, known as the “King of Dragons” and most scariest man in Matnolia. This makes Natsu the most feared student in the school, also known as the bad boy that every girl wants. He has salmon colored hair and black onyx eyes that any girl will fall for. A bonus to his physical figure is that he has the muscles of a god. Except for his murderous look, he is perfect.

Natsu’s P.O.V.

After opening the doors to this boring hell on earth, every head in the spacious room is focused towards me and my comrades. If someone was to drop a pen everybody would hear it with no doubt. People look at us either in fear or look as if they praise the ground we are walking on.

After a minute everybody goes back to their conversations about what they did during the weekend. I ignore the people (mainly girls) who are walking to me and finally approached my locker to get my books for the day. I open the small little metal door and see a necklace that has a small key with the sign ‘cancer’ engraved on it. I slightly furrow my eyebrows knowing that I can never give this to her. ‘Damn, why did she have to leave? Is she safe? I would do anything to see her again, to see those eyes.’ Natsu thought to himself but pushes away those memories. I close my locker to see a girl standing there who was wearing a very revealing outfit with a decent amount of cleavage showing and short shorts. This girl had silver hair and it was topped off with a cow lick on the top of her head. Most guys would jump to the opportunity to flirt with this girl who dresses to seduce, but that doesn’t work on me.

“What do you want Angel?” I said with a look of disgust on my face. “Oh wow Mr. Bad Boy you’re so scary” Angel said with a smirk spread on her face. “Well I don’t have time for girls who try to get guys from looking like a hoe” I said while walking away to my English class. Over my shoulder I see her mouth in the of the ‘o’, surprised by my comment.

I walk up to my friends/comrades and start walking together and had small talk to occupy the time while we all walk into a boring 45-minute class. “Yo Salamander, we saw you with that silver-haired weirdo just now, was she just tryin to flirt with ya?” Gajeel yelling over the voices of the students passing by. This boy has long spiky black hair and piercings all over his face and arms, in other words, “metal head”. Next to him is Levy and she has short blue hair, although she is pretty short so Gajeel never stops calling her shrimp. “Oh yeah, that whore is tryna add me to her sex list, hah pathetic right?” I said and earned a laugh from Gajeel. I look forward and see Erza and Jellal, the two that are never apart, always staying by one another’s side as if it’s their last day together. My best friend/rival Gray is with his semi-girlfriend (Juvia claims so but Gray won’t admit his feelings for her yet. But we all know he likes her back so we just say their dating already). Next up is Laxus, people consider him to be even more scary than Erza by a long shot, if someone messes with him they will most likely end up badly bruised or dead. He is accompanied by Mira who is considered scary and nice, which is probably a reason why her and Laxus get along so well. Lastly there is Cana and she is currently holding a bottle of apple juice, although it’s a disguise bottle for her booze. Well, she did make a goal of drinking the most “apple juice” in the world so she sure does not disappoint, although she is still drinking rivals with a “wild” man named Bacchus.

“Hey leader! We all know you don’t wanna go for any other girl because you’re saving yourself for Lucy “Cana said giving me a sarcastic wink while drinking from her “apple juice”. Everyone was a bit surprised to hear that name and looked a bit sad but quickly shrugged the thought aside and laughed at the joke, knowing that she didn’t mean it as an insult to Lucy. I proceeded to go into class to get to my desk in the back corner of the class next to the window. All my friends are sitting around me while everyone else is sitting next to me. On the other side of the room is Minerva, Angel, Jenny, Midnight, Racer, and Cobra. They call themselves the neo-seis and they are those one of the groups who oppose Fairy Tail. They call themselves that name because that gang was found from six people 50 years ago from some people who are long dead now. Minerva, Angel, and Jenny haven’t changed much over the years except having their tits and butt grow bigger like all other girls, well except for Levy. I don’t pay attention to Levy like that but Gajeel always fawns over her butt and makes fun of her boobs to annoy her. With those three girls I still consider them some hoes because all they do is find a cute guy with money and take them to bed. That is one of the only reasons why they have their little ‘boy toys’ defending them all the time.

Midnight has black messy hair and while long hairs on the front of his face, he also wears lipstick which makes him look a bit like a draq queen. Although, Cobra is a bit different. He also has chestnut brown messy hair and the tan skin every woman would want. ‘Dang, I sound really gay when I say that’ I thought to myself kind of shocked by that happening. He lost his eye a few years ago so that makes me slightly respect the guy, but never a comrade.

Once we all get settled into our seats the teacher, Mr. Bob starts the lesson assigned for today. Mr. Bob is a very fat, very bald, and a very ugly man. I don’t know why but this school has the weirdest teachers ever. “Okay class, we are going to learn about Roman Mythology, so I expect you guys to listen to this unit because it is something you all will br intere-“Mr. Bob was interrupted when the door slowly creaked open. All the heads in the room started to turn their heads towards the door including my friends. They had a scared and surprised face which made me a bit curious. I slowly turn my head to the direction of the door and I don’t believe my eyes…the first thing I see are the most beautiful chestnut colored eyes, ‘Lu…cy?’

---4 years ago---

Natsu’s P.O.V.

“I already have everything I want, but my goal is to never lose you guys as my dearest friends!” Lucy said with a big smile on her face. When I hear Lucy’s laugh my mood lightens up, when I see her smile I want stay with her, but the eyes are the most dangerous part of her. Her eyes will enchant anybody who looks at them. Out of everyone, I know Lucy the best because she is my best friend. And because of that, I know when she is sad when others can’t, I see through her fake smiles. I know that she has been bullied, abused, hurt mentally and physically but she refuses to have me help her. I don’t want to ignore the fact that she is hurting but she is very stubborn when it comes to the topic. She made me promise not to tell anybody and to not bring it up because it makes it sad for others to worry for her. Although, if I had a choice I would kill each one of them for even laying a finger on her. I don’t care that I’m only a 13-year-old, anyone who hurts my Luce will get hurt in return. That is why my goal is to become the strongest person, so I can protect her.

After everyone was done playing at the tree we all started to go in separate directions to go home. “Hey everyone, we should hang out tomorrow at the usual place” I yell out to everybody and they all cheered about that. I started to walk home and immediately was wishing that tomorrow would come so I can see my friends.

…time skip to the next day…

I get to the tree to see that everyone is there except for one little blonde girl, Lucy. “Hey where is Luce?” I said out loud. “I don’t know but she must be on her way right now” Levy said. I just nod, a little sad that she isn’t here yet, but I’ll just shrug it off for now. “Hey flamebrain, when are you gonna admit to Lucy that you’re uncontrollably in love with her?” Gray said smirking because he knows that it will get to my soft spot. “I’ll tell her when you use your head to tell Juvia you like her, Ice Princess” I say back and just turn away from him. Although he annoys me, I just don’t feel like fighting today.

After an hour Lucy still hasn’t arrived and I’m getting worried about her. “Hey guys I’m going to go to Lucy’s house to see where she is” I said to everyone. “Oi, we’re tagging along with you. If you haven’t noticed yet, we are friends with Lucy too.” Gray said with a side smile. “Yea, and I still need to see how you two interact so I can make the perfect plan to get you two together!” Mira said with a devilish face but let out a giggle. ‘Wow, I really don’t understand Mira at times because she is like a devil in the disguise of an angel’ I laugh nervously to myself. “Natsu, Lucy and Jellal are mine and I don’t like it when people take what’s mine so I will take the honors of leading the way.” Erza said with a scary look on her face causing me to step back with a sweat drop above my head, Jellal was blushing a little bit from the what Erza said. Levy looked angry at Erza’s comment but decided not to join in because she didn’t want to be scolded by Erza. “Hehe, Juvia thinks it is a great idea to see Lucy!” she said to calm down Erza and Natsu from starting conflict. I just look at Erza and then look towards the direction of Lucy’s house and my legs immediately started to walk there. *Sigh* “okay fine, I guess you guys can come” I said jokingly to my friends.

Once we got to the Heartfilia mansion all our hearts immediately dropped in immediate confusion, ‘What happened, where’s Luce?’. I’m too shocked to move at this point and I feel as if my heart was shattering. I see trucks parked at the sidewalk with people coming in and out of the house carrying the furniture. There is no sold sign, so these people are not taking all this stuff with the Heartfilia’s. Without thinking I run up to one of the men and asked where Luce was. “Sorry kid, they just left out of nowhere and left everything behind, so we were told we can keep anything we wanted. If I say so that is generous of such a wealthy family, although it was surprising that they went bankrupt out of nowhere. Well, things always can go downhill in life so it’s none of my business to pry into their problems.” Hearing this from the random man made my heart drop and I am slowly starting to become numb. Tears slowly started to form in my eye’s, but I refuse to let them fall in front of everybody. I look back to see my friends all upset just as I am. Gajeel and Laxus always hid their emotions but you could tell that they were sad because they stood still and looked down to the floor. Gajeel was also holding Levy in a hug to comfort her sobbing figure. The great and strong Erza looked down to the floor to hide the tears that are slowly falling from her eyes. Juvia had her hands over her mouth and tried not to cry. Gray and Mira just stood frozen with the look of sadness in their eyes. Cana didn’t drink her apple juice because she did not have the desire to take a sip because of the sadness of Lucy’s disappearance.

Levy surprisingly spoke up, “guys, Lu must have a good reason for leaving, she is not the type to just leave without saying goodbye.” We all knew Levy was right but didn’t want to admit that our Lucy is gone. No, I didn’t want to admit my Luce is gone so I will wait for her, even if it means I must wait for the rest of my life. That is a promise and I never break my promises.

---Present day---

“Lu…cy?’ I whisper to myself making sure no one heard me. She shared the same expression I have now, but it was mixed with an expression of sadness. She had on an oversized sweater and wore jeans that were a little over-sized for her. She was probably the same height as Juvia and topped off her appearance with glasses. With her ensemble someone could barely recognize that it was her, but I know it’s her because of that blonde hair that shine’s like the sun and those chestnut eyes that I have been yearning to see for the past five years.

The look she had on her face absolutely killed me and caused me to stay frozen in my chair. She looked so different from the last time I saw her and she quickly looked down to avoid eye contact with me, like she was hiding from me. My friends were in total shock and some of the girls were holding back their tears, as a gang member we should show little to no emotion. “Dear, what is your name and are you a new student here?” Mr. Bob said, excited to have a new student in his class. “Yes, my name is Lucy Hearfilia” Lucy said in a soft voice but was loud enough to be heard by the teacher. “Well it’s lovely to have you, can you sit next to the big, scary pinky boy in the back?” Mr. Bob said and returned to the lesson he was giving.

Lucy slowly started to walk up to us to take her seat and turned her head to look at the wall. Once she sat down in her seat she turned to look at all of us, “I am so sorry to all of you guys for leaving without a word, and I will understand if you guys hate me” she said with a blank face, but I saw the message she was giving me “Things can’t go back to what they once were, so please just forget about me”.

Chapter 1- https://gingerxtrash.tumblr.com/post/173317577354/as-the-years-go-on

Chapter 2- https://gingerxtrash.tumblr.com/post/173429902759/as-the-years-go-onch2

[senatorrorgana]

Never Be The Same - Three

A/N: Hey everybody! Sorry, this chapter took so long! I meant to get this up way sooner but hopefully, since this chapter is kinda long it will make up for it! <3

AO3: (x)

  After everything Rey had learned about Poe last night, between her mother and the extensive internet searches she did on her phone in the middle of the night when she couldn’t sleep, she wasn’t sure she could face Poe without giving herself away. It was clearly something he didn’t want to talk about, given how much he tried to hide his racing career in his own home, and from the pictures, she found of the crash she couldn’t blame him for wanting to forget it. On the other hand, some part of him deep down must have still had a love for racing and cars, if he was truly done with it he wouldn’t have held on to anything that reminded him of it, and yet there was his mother's Jaguar in the garage. She didn’t want to just bring it up out of nowhere and pry things out of him, she had to find a way to get him talking about it on his own terms.

   “Come on, Chewie,” Rey grinned, clipping his leash on and leading him outside.

   Chewie practically dragged her the whole way there yet again, stopping in front of the fence and wagging his tail, seeming to already know that they were heading back here. Beebee-Ate was in the front yard again, yapping happily and wagging his little tail at the sight of Chewie. Rey carefully maneuvered the two of them into the gate without letting Beebee-Ate escape and let Chewie off his leash to start playing with the little pup. Poe walked out the door a few moments later, Rey noticing something slightly different about him.

   He still had the scruff of a beard trying to grow in, but he seemed to put a little more effort into looking more put together than yesterday. Still wearing long sleeves and pants despite the summer heat outside.

   “It’s funny that he likes Beebee-Ate, he’s usually not this friendly with other dogs,” Rey said.

   “Beebee-Ate has a way of making friends with anyone,” Poe said, “he’s just that kind of dog I guess.”

   “He’s certainly playful, I’ll give him that,” Rey laughed.

   “You want to come inside? There’s a doggie door in the gate on the side for them to get to the back, I have water and food out there for them,” Poe said.

   “Sure, yeah, it’s way too hot out here for me,” Rey said.

   She followed Poe back into his house, noticing it was a bit brighter inside the home this time as well with a few more blinds opened up and lights on through the home. It was still a bit cluttered between the half-unpacked moving boxes and things still seemingly looking for a home around the place, but it just felt lighter and more comfortable than yesterday, even Poe himself seemed a little less weary.

   “I’m glad you bought this place, there used to be a family who lived here for a while but the parents got divorced, it’s just felt eerie to walk by it without anyone in it. They had three kids that were always getting into something,” Rey said.

   “Yeah, I think I found some stray Barbie dolls and dinosaurs upstairs,” Poe said, a smirk on his face, “You want anything to drink?”

   “Waters fine,” Rey said.

   “Okay, go ahead, sit wherever you like, sorry for the mess. It’s been a while but I just haven’t gotten around to it, plus I don’t usually have visitors,” Poe said, heading towards the kitchen.

   “It’s fine, when we moved into our house I had moving boxes in my room for six months,” Rey said.

   She took a seat on the sofa, an old racing trophy sat on the coffee table in front of her that was engraved to his mother, Shara Bey. Rey had done some research on her too last night, she’d been one hell of a racer, holding the record for the most Dragon Void wins at twelve first place wins. She probably could have won even more, but cancer had got the best of her, she couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been on Poe, especially considering how much she clearly influenced him.

   “Here you go, one water,” Poe said, handing her a glass before he sat down on the sofa beside her.

   He grabbed the remote off the table and turned on the TV, keeping something on low for background noise more than anything else. She could tell from how he fiddled around with the ring on his necklace that he was nervous.

   “You have a lot of your mom’s racing stuff up, did you ever like racing?” Rey asked.

   “Yeah, I used to race myself,” Poe said, “I, uh, just lost interest I guess.”

   “I can understand, it’s dangerous anyway,” Rey said.

   “Yeah, it can be,” Poe said.

   “So what do you do now?” Rey asked, steering the conversation away from the topic but hoping to come back to it later.

   “Build websites for people mostly, a little bit of photography sometimes though that’s just a hobby of mine really,” Poe said.

   “I love photography, my grandfather on my mother’s side took an interest in it after the war, he was a pilot in the Air Force for World War II,” Rey said.

   “A pilot? That’s got to be one hell of a thrill,” Poe said, his eyes seeming to light up.

   “He was one of the best, or at least in the stories my mom told me he was one of the best,” Rey said, grinning, “my grandmother, his wife, was a nurse, that’s how they met.”

   “What about your parents, how did they meet?” Poe asked.

   “My mom was grounded and she snuck out of the house with my Uncle to go to a midnight showing of some horror movie. A bunch of tough guys were there, showing off to their girlfriends and all of that, trying not to be scared. But my dad, who my mom was sat next to in the theater, jumped in his seat at some point and my mom laughed,” Rey said, “they bickered the whole rest of the movie aggravating the people around them. By the end of the movie though before she left, he asked her out on a date and they’ve been together ever since.”

   “My parents met at the race track. My mom was a racer of course, and my dad was a mechanic, he was filling in for somebody that day that worked on my mom’s car and they started talking. He was too nervous to actually ask her out on a date so she was actually the one who asked him out,” Poe said.

   “That’s sweet,” Rey said.

   Poe visibly relaxed now, leaning back into the sofa and no longer fiddling with the ring around his neck. He was comfortable around her now, and Rey couldn’t help but feel a bit more comfortable around him.

   “So, what do you do, Rey? I think you’re father said something about you helping out at his shop,” Poe said.

   “Yeah, I’ve been helping him out there ever since he said I was old enough to, I love working on cars just as much as he does,” Rey said.

   “He’s lucky to have you helping him out then from the sounds of it,” Poe said.

   The two carried on talking for hours about anything and everything that came to their minds. They even ventured upstairs at some point so Poe could show her some of the pictures he’d taken. They were beautiful shots of empty racetracks or cars zooming by on the track, some were even of people, a couple were the members of Black Squadron that she’d seen just last night. She was tempted to ask him more about them, but just seeing how happy and comfortable he was with her now, she couldn’t bear to bring up something that was possibly painful again. Eventually, the day started to come to a close, Rey hadn’t even realized that almost the whole day had passed until they came downstairs again and noticed the sun beginning to set. The dogs had come in through the doggie door long ago, the both of them curled up and fast asleep on the carpet in front of the living room sofa.

   “Any dinner plans?” Rey asked.

   “Not really, just making something here and heading to bed probably,” Poe said with a shrug, “why?”

   “I was thinking maybe you could come over for dinner if you want,” Rey said, she knew it couldn’t hurt to at least offer.

   “That’s nice of you, but maybe some other time,” Poe said.

   “How about I help you make dinner here then? Unless you really just want to pass out,” Rey said.

   Poe thought about it for a minute, “Sure, yeah, if you really want to.”

   “I’d love to, I can’t promise anything spectacular though, my mom’s the good cook in the family, I’m still learning,” Rey said.

   “Hey, any little bit helps,” Poe laughed.

   “Alright, let me take Chewie home and then I’ll come right back over,” Rey said.

   “Sounds good, I’ll be here,” Poe said.

   Rey had to swear to her mother that she was simply just helping Poe out because it seemed like the nice thing to do. A single man living on his own could probably use all the help he could get, or so she convinced herself of that. She didn’t want to admit to anyone or herself that she found Poe to be quite interesting and dying to know more about him past the accident. Not to mention, when he was comfortable and in his element, he was quite a charmer. It didn’t hurt that he was quite handsome for someone who was practically a hermit.

   So, maybe she liked Poe a little bit, but it was a harmless crush developing, that was all.

   She entered the home again, careful not to disturb the still sleeping Beebee-Ate, but making her way to the kitchen to let Poe know she was back. He caught a glimpse of her right as he pulled something out of the fridge.

   “That was quick,” Poe said.

   “The benefits of living next door,” Rey said.

   “So, how are you at making enchiladas?” Poe asked.

   “Considering I’ve never made them before, probably terrible,” Rey said.

   “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you,” Poe said.

   “I was supposed to be helping you, you know,” Rey said.

   “You are helping me, you’re keeping me company on what otherwise would have been a very lonely dinner for me and Beebee-Ate,” Poe said, now wearing a smirk.

   “Fine, teach me what you can and I’ll try not to set anything on fire or cut any limbs off,” Rey said.

   “It’ll be fine, come on,” Poe said.

   Poe taught her every step of the meal, always at her side and showing her how to do things a few times before letting her do them herself. He was actually a wonderful teacher, never hovering over her and letting her figure things out herself as she needed to. A few times he got a little closer than Rey thought he would, even helping guide her hands a few times when she was chopping and she found it hard to focus on him being too close. But she did her best, and by the time the enchiladas were done, they looked fantastic coming out of the oven.

   “These are amazing,” Rey said, biting into one after they sat down at the table.

   “Thanks for your help,” Poe said.

   “No need to flatter me, we both know you did all the work here, I chopped up a few things and attempted making tortillas,” Rey said.

   “You did good for your first time, the first time I helped my mom make these I nearly cut my finger off,” Poe said, “it just takes practice, that’s all.”

   “Well, I’m glad I had you for a teacher, it was actually fun,” Rey said, “I help my mom sometimes but she gets a bit flustered in the kitchen so I only help with the easy stuff.”

   “Anytime you want to learn more, I’ll be happy to help,” Poe said, “crap, I forgot drinks, would you like something? Beer?”

   Rey had drunk before, it wasn’t anything new to her despite being a few years off from legally being allowed to drink. Her parents were alright with it, as long as she didn’t do anything stupid like she had the one time at the race track, they had drunk when they were young and weren’t supposed to after all. Besides, it was only a beer over dinner, it couldn’t possibly hurt.

   “Sure,” Rey said.

   They continued dinner with their beers, Rey feeling the alcohol starting to make her calm, letting her be even more comfortable in her environment. Poe didn’t seem to be affected until he hit his second beer and brought a new one over for her. Even after the food was gone they kept talking at the table, both getting a bit red-faced from both laughter and the alcohol.

   “I should probably get going, it’s getting a little late,” Rey said.

   She didn’t really want to go, but she caught a glimpse of the clock and knew that her parents would be looking for her after spending an entire day over here.

   “Are you sure?” Poe asked.

   Rey noticed the twinge of sadness now in his eyes, he didn’t want her to leave. They were having so much fun, and from what she could gather, she was one of the only people who had been over here long enough to hold a conversation with him. She didn’t want to leave him, but she also didn’t want her father to grab his shotgun and come charging over here.

   “Yeah, I’ve got an early morning down at the shop,” Rey said, grateful that she wasn’t actually having to lie to him, she did have to get up early tomorrow morning.

   “Alright,” Poe said, looking over at the clock himself now, “wow, it is late.”

   “Need help with the dishes? I feel bad leaving you here with all of them alone,” Rey said.

   “No, it’s fine, that’s what dishwashers are for,” Poe said, “let me walk you to the door.”

   They walked to the door, Poe’s hand resting gently on the small of her back while he walked her there, Rey trying to hide her smile the whole way. When she reached the door, she hesitated, turning to face him in the small enclosed environment.

   “Maybe I can come by tomorrow again if that’s alright with you?” Rey asked.

   “Of course, I’ll be here,” Poe said, Rey, relieved at the sight of his eyes lighting up at the mention of it.

   “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow then, I get off work around five,” Rey said.

   “I look forward to it,” Poe said.

   He quickly leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek, his face flush when he pulled back after realizing what he’d done.

   “Sorry, sorry, it’s...it’s a habit,” Poe mumbled.

   Without thinking it through herself, Rey leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, leaving them both blushing fools though she tried to retain some of her composure and seem confident through it all.

   “There, we’re even, nothing to worry about,” Rey said.

   Poe grinned and gave a slight nod, the tension seeming to melt away again.

   “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Rey said.

   “See you tomorrow,” Poe repeated.

   Rey reached for the doorknob behind her and slowly opened the door. She carefully maneuvered her way out, turning around only to wave goodbye one more time before heading home.

   She’d expected that her parents would be suspicious, she had no doubt her father would have a million questions, but she didn’t fully prepare for them both to be sitting in the living room awaiting her return.

   “Nice of you to join us again, kid,” Han said.

   “Han,” Leia hissed, “welcome back home, sweetie.”

   “Sorry, I just couldn’t leave him over there, he’s all alone and I felt bad just leaving him,” Rey said, she’d been working on the excuse since dinner time, it had sounded much better in her head.

   “You two do anything?” Han asked, Rey, knowing full well what he meant.

   “What? No!” Rey hissed, “Dad, I can spend time with a guy if I want and just be friends.”

   “I’m not worried about you with them, I’m worried about them with you,” Han said.

   “Dad!” Rey exclaimed.

   “Han, she’s right, and she’s also an adult, she can make her own choices about what she wants and doesn’t want,” Leia said.

   “I know, but she’s my little girl, and I also remember all the times you stayed out late to spend time with me when we were young,” Han said.

   “That was different,” Leia said, “and I didn’t come home on nights I did that, Rey’s right here and perfectly fine, right?”

   “Yes, I’m fine because, no, I did not have sex. I spent time with a guy and we just talked, that’s it,” Rey said.

   She could feel her cheeks turning bright red having to have this conversation with her parents, but in truth, there were few times this conversation ever had to come up.

   “Alright, alright, go ahead, you’re free to go,” Han said.

   Rey rushed past them, wanting to get to her room and get under the covers as soon as possible, hoping to forget the embarrassment.

   “She look funny to you?” Han asked once he heard Rey’s door shut.

   “A little lovestruck, but trust me, if they had done anything she would have been skipping into the house with a grin plastered on her face,” Leia said.

   “Maybe I should talk to Dameron about-”

   “Han, let it go,” Leia said, “she’s growing up, she’s an adult now. She’s still your little girl but she can make her own choices about her life now without us. Besides, would you rather she liked someone like Poe who you know and trust, or would you rather have her fall for someone else that you don’t know?”

   Han was silent for a moment before he grumbled out his reply, “If I had to choose, Dameron.”

   “It’s probably just a crush, either way, it’s someone new and exciting in her life,” Leia said.

   “You honestly believe that? I haven’t seen her that happy in a while,” Han said.

   “...No,” Leia said, “I know how happy she was. I haven’t ever seen her that happy over a guy.”

   “She’s like you in that way, falling in love way too young,” Han said.

   “I guess she is, but it turned out alright,” Leia said with a smirk.

   “Yeah, it did,” Han said, “...I say we get him over here for dinner one night.”

   “You are not scaring him off, Han, we practically raised that boy with Ben,” Leia said.

   “I’m not scaring him off, just catching up with him,” Han said.

   “If Rey comes home still this happy in two weeks, then we’ll have him over for dinner,” Leia said.

   “Fine, I can wait,” Han said.

   “You’re impossible sometimes,” Leia said.

   “I know,” Han smirked.

[verdigrisprowl]

Mar 24 Bevel’s Movie Night - Star Trek TNG

They watched an episode where Data’s sentience and right to be treated like a person instead of property is put on trial; and an episode where a spy was caught and an investigator came to start a witch hunt on the rest of the crew.

Everyone was pretty mad.

ItsyBitsySpyers 7:34 pm omfg what a song Bevel 7:38 pm ((Cro noticed the audio was being buggy so I'm retesting it Me 7:39 pm ((sounds fine here)) Bevel 7:40 pm ((awesome, someday I'll have a computer without an audio glitch and can tell these things myself Bevel 7:45 pm *shoves Prowl and Soundwave's couch into its usual placement aaaaaaaand that's everything back into movie night place* Ratchet 7:46 pm [[ i really need to watch SU again and catch up ]] ItsyBitsySpyers 7:47 pm *Soundwave flies in through the missing wall, slows, hovers, turns to face his couch, and transforms to drop into it.* Ratchet 7:47 pm [[ this video is making me cry ]] Bevel 7:47 pm ((I admit it's tempting to show it like one episode at a time pre-movies or something >_> Ratchet 7:47 pm [[ pleeeeeeeease ]] Bevel 7:47 pm ((I can do that 😀 ((Gah, I love that video so much Ratchet 7:48 pm [[ ugly fucking crying all over the place ]] Bevel 7:49 pm *claps for Soundwave's entrance* Ratchet 7:49 pm *pops in too late to see anything cool and doesn't mind at all* Bevel 7:50 pm *One day she'll have to fly in herself but she'd have to practice her maneuvers first, she rarely takes on a flying alt mode* Ratchet 7:51 pm Evening, Bevel! .... Soundwave. Bevel 7:51 pm Hi, Ratchet! ItsyBitsySpyers 7:51 pm *Soundwave bobs his helm at Bevel in thanks. It helps keep him in practice for when creatures come calling.*

[[Ratchet.]] Ratchet 7:51 pm *yep, good enough* *nods back to Soundwave and proceeds to not pay attention to Soundwave* ItsyBitsySpyers 7:53 pm *One of these days he's going to try making a peace offering to Ratchet. Today is not that day.* Ratchet 7:54 pm *that's fine. Ratchet's gotta work through his shit in his own time* Bevel 7:54 pm *Ratchet can not pay attention to Soundwave at the table with Bevel* Ratchet 7:56 pm *sure! speaking of tables, Ratchet once again has a small offering of snacks. hard candies, anyone?* Bevel 7:57 pm I found more Starfleet stuff! Not the Discovery crew though. Enterprise records with Data. *she will happily accept a snack!* Thanks, Ratchet. Ratchet 7:59 pm No problem! Should be thanking Cliffjumper and Beachcomber though, they teamed up on these. I just brought a few along for the evening. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:00 pm *Soundwave was about to grab one with a feeler when Ratchet said Cliffjumper and Beachcomber. Now his claws are sorta hovering uncertainly* Me 8:00 pm *appears; surveys the room a moment, before sitting with Ratchet.* Bevel 8:00 pm ((ok, everyone ready or do we need a moment for food and drinks? Ratchet 8:00 pm *eyes that feeler* Me 8:00 pm *just in time to catch that description* ... What did they put into them? Ratchet 8:01 pm They made them for Autobots. Relax. Bevel 8:01 pm *pops treat into mouth without hesitation* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:01 pm *...Snatches _one_ and spaces it for later* Me 8:01 pm *the fact that they were made for autobots does not mean that there might not be something interesting in them.* Bevel 8:02 pm ((gonna start after this Ratchet 8:02 pm Uh... I'm not real big on recipes. Some kind of crystal, some energon? They're not the special kind of candy. I said Beachcomber and Cliffjumper, not Beachcomber and Groove. Bevel 8:03 pm I like it. You should try one, Prowl. Me 8:04 pm Can't. Bevel 8:04 pm Why not? Ratchet 8:04 pm They're solid. Me 8:04 pm I'm holomatter. *and that.* Ratchet 8:04 pm Or is it the avatar? Bevel 8:04 pm Oh, right. Ratchet 8:04 pm *... both. okay.* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:05 pm *...Maybe he'll liquefy it and drop it off some time. Too bad it's not one of Beachcomber and Groove's.* Me 8:05 pm Both. *although if they'd been Interesting snacks, he would have been tempted to take one home, blend it, and see what happens.* *as it is, though, not worth the effort.* Bevel 8:06 pm It is a really good avatar. *so good she forgets Prowl even uses it instead of showing up in person* Me 8:07 pm *slight nod.* Ratchet 8:07 pm Data's visor is fantastic. Me 8:07 pm ... I suspect that Data is about to learn a hard lesson. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:07 pm [[...Do any of you play?]] Bevel 8:08 pm Man with the ax? Me 8:08 pm I've been persuaded to at times. I'm not fond of gambling games. *Yep. There's the hard lesson. Card games are only half about statistics. The other half, unfortunately, is psychology.* Ratchet 8:09 pm I've played a hand or two. Bevel 8:09 pm ((did the audio die for anyone but Cro? Ratchet 8:10 pm [[ nope, good here ]] Me 8:10 pm ((fine here)) Bevel 8:10 pm ((*thumbs up* Omicron 8:10 pm ((-faceplants in-)) Bevel 8:11 pm ((hiya! I used to gamble sometimes but not really anymore. Me 8:11 pm Ugh. Anyone who can call somebody a "pompous ass" and "damn sexy" in the same sentence is someone to be avoided. Bevel 8:12 pm He seemed really uncomfortable about it too. Me 8:12 pm I'M really uncomfortable about it. Bevel 8:12 pm *nods in agreement* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:13 pm [[DISASSEMBLE Data?]] Me 8:14 pm ... Eugh. Bevel 8:14 pm Bad guy. Me 8:14 pm Indeed. Omicron 8:14 pm *Ice Queen comes in looking around, little supersized at the invitation but happy to be social and get Racer away from bad insecticons spoiling him* O_o Bevel 8:14 pm *waves excitedly at Ice Queen and Racer* Hi! Me 8:14 pm *said with utmost disgust:* "Its." ItsyBitsySpyers 8:15 pm [[Greetings, Ice Queen.]] Bevel 8:16 pm Nooooo. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:16 pm [[Throw him out an airlock and call it an accident.]] Ratchet 8:16 pm What a disgusting abuse of power. Omicron 8:16 pm hello *dragonic smiles, then pauses, blinking at the screen,* ? Racer: Pffftt! *stays on icy's back until he's aloud down* Me 8:16 pm I should disagree with this murder suggestion. *very pointedly says nothing else.* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:17 pm *Notices that very pointed nothing else.* Omicron 8:17 pm What did I walk in on? *transforms and uses wings to nudge Racer up to her shoulder* Bevel 8:17 pm I found some Starfleet files. Me 8:18 pm They're treating a sentient mech like a piece of hardware to be disassembled on flimsy pretenses. Omicron 8:19 pm .....what did she just say? Me 8:19 pm Ugh. Her condescension. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:19 pm [[Nobody demands the flesh crew submit themselves to tests of these sorts. Only machines and aliens they do not understand.]] *Red slash mark on his screen. Disapproval.* Me 8:20 pm Mmh. Bevel 8:20 pm *frets* Me 8:20 pm "Over a machine." She says. You can hear the "just" in her voice. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:21 pm [[HOW DID HE GET IN WITHOUT PERMISSION.]] Omicron 8:21 pm That was not something I was expecting in that world.... primus, even I ask before going into the rooms of my mates' Me 8:21 pm Go threaten to dissect her to find out about how muscles work. It's fine, they can sew her back together. I'm sure she won't object. Why would she get passionate over meat? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:22 pm *Tiny and soft applause clip.* Omicron 8:23 pm *sits down on the floor, not sure if the chairs or what can hold her, not sure who she's by but a hatching meeps to be let down and sniff around* Me 8:23 pm HIM, though... Bevel 8:23 pm *wiggles her fingers at the hatchling and mouths "hi"* Omicron 8:23 pm Can I flick that blue shirt anoyance? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:24 pm [[If only.]] Me 8:24 pm *looks at their new visitor. Hello, he doesn't usually see you outside of Mondays.* *focuses on the hatchling.* ... Pbbbbt. Bevel 8:25 pm *makes a rude gesture at the screen* Omicron 8:26 pm Racer: ....!!!! Pfff....Pbbbt! 😀 'ere? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:27 pm *Soundwave glances at Racer. Was that a word?* Me 8:27 pm *focuses on for the same reason.* Hm? Omicron 8:28 pm He's been trying to show off to you two for weeks now Omicron 8:29 pm Racer: *sits all proud on Icy's* Me 8:29 pm He can— What's he saying? Bevel 8:30 pm He is really cute. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:30 pm [[Then he apologizes for not having noticed.]] Omicron 8:31 pm *looks at Bevel and then around* can he come down? Bevel 8:31 pm Yeah sure! Me 8:32 pm *... focuses back on the screen.* Omicron 8:32 pm It's mostly half words right now Prowl. but he's trying...and learning bad chirp too ItsyBitsySpyers 8:33 pm [[Bad chirp?]] Bevel 8:33 pm Like bad words? Ratchet 8:34 pm [[ omg that obvious foam prop replacement ]] Bevel 8:34 pm ((i love it ItsyBitsySpyers 8:35 pm *Shudder.* Omicron 8:35 pm bad works...... whaaat? Me 8:35 pm *on the edge of his seat watching this trial.* Bevel 8:36 pm *whines* Ratchet 8:36 pm 😧 Omicron 8:36 pm Racer: *climbing down off icy once she's moved to let him* ........the frag? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:37 pm [[Data is formed of multiple connecting parts. He can be disassembled in ways we cannot. His arm will be replaced. He hopes.]] Omicron 8:39 pm *Icy hisses at the screen for that thought, she's seen predacons treated like animals in that mentality* Me 8:39 pm *oh, the other bots in the room have been hissing in one way or another all night.* Omicron 8:40 pm Racer: -sniffing at a mech's pede- Me 8:43 pm ... The idea that sexuality is imperative for sapience is a particularly nasty and pervasive myth—but if it helps Data get free I'm going to let it slide. Omicron 8:45 pm this is from an organic race *snorts, keeping an eye on Racer who's sitting watching the mecha in the room* Me 8:45 pm I know. You'd be much less likely to see a trial like this among mecha species. Me 8:48 pm Data is far more forgiving than he has any cause to be. Omicron 8:48 pm I have heard of cybertronians debating on how aware organics are on the flip side, so to say Me 8:49 pm Hm. ... Fair. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:49 pm [[They mentioned understanding and being conscious of one's actions. He realized that his partner did not want others to know of their interaction and attempted to keep the promise even after her death, and at the cost of risking his life. If nothing else, her hologram helped make an interesting point about him.]] [[...And showed him to be more considerate of others than the Maddox human has likely ever been in his miserable, oozing life.]] Omicron 8:50 pm Racer: pbbt? *looks up, adults seem not as glaring-ly at the screen now* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:51 pm [[That said, he agrees that requiring such an interest for sentience would be a mistake.]] Me 8:51 pm It did make an interesting point, but the pointed mention of his intimacy with her visibly shook the people in the room. *visibly enough that even Prowl saw it.* I've little doubt it was a... if not a deciding factor, then a strongly influencing one, even outside of the fact that he expressed concern for her postmortem privacy. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:52 pm *Nods. That is a fair point.* Omicron 8:52 pm hmm *snorts* Racer: *snorts to mimic, then looks around* 'itch? Bevel 8:53 pm I am glad they had other arguments besides him and her being intimate. Omicron 8:53 pm .....okay I like him ItsyBitsySpyers 8:53 pm [[Itch? Racer itches?]] Ratchet 8:54 pm It seems to me that wanting something is evidence enough of sentience. Bevel 8:55 pm *nods* Ratchet 8:55 pm His medals should have proved it alone. And his sentiment for the book that was a gift. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:55 pm [[They should have.]] Bevel 8:55 pm He said friendship too. That was important. Omicron 8:55 pm Racer: *looks up at sound wave and rolls, waveing his feet* 'itch!

He means scritch ItsyBitsySpyers 8:55 pm [[Ah. May he?]] *Spreads claws out* Me 8:56 pm Not neces— Well, WANTING something is. But they could still try to argue that it's not "wanting"—that it's a preprogrammed motive to pursue some end that linguistically is translated into the word "want." Omicron 8:56 pm *Icy nods, as racer wiggles around on the ground on his back, waings and tail flapping and flailing a bit to look cute* Ratchet 8:57 pm But there was no end to keeping the medals. He admitted that himself. Me 8:57 pm If someone has decided not to treat someone else as sentient, it's not that hard to twist their own self-reports of their internal lives in ways that support the argument that they aren't sentient. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:58 pm *Reaches down to so very gently wiggle tiny forepaws before delivering the requested scritches. Silly youngling.* Me 8:58 pm The "end" could be a pre-programmed subroutine to obey human commands; if he was handed a medal, he could have interpreted it as being given an object which he is expected to keep, and so obediently does so. It's too easy to twist anything around. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:59 pm *...Logs that idea recording away* Me 9:00 pm *if Prowl ever gets a bouquet of earth plants, should he have their DNA read* Bevel 9:00 pm That is really cool. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:01 pm *Quite possibly.* Omicron 9:02 pm Racer: -wiggles, forelegs grapsing at soundwave's wrist area and hand, but his wiggles slow, he loves scritches of any kind- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:03 pm *Huffs quietly - he can barely feel that; thank you, redesign - and turns his arm, to slowly spin Racer in a half circle.* Bevel 9:04 pm *grumpy muttering about this human and her dead dad issues* Omicron 9:04 pm Racer: ..!!! *flips his tail up and tucks his wings, there's a sense he's had this done before- and omg do it again please* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:05 pm *Huffing louder. Very well. Have fun being carefully twirled about, little one.* Omicron 9:06 pm only do that for a few kliks please, he'll get sick but not care until its too late.... ItsyBitsySpyers 9:06 pm [[Acknowledged.]] Omicron 9:07 pm ....just like that? the kid could have a kind he's just learning about ItsyBitsySpyers 9:08 pm [[He is a Betazoid. They are somewhat telepathic in nature.]] [[They can, however, be led astray.]] Omicron 9:08 pm kiinks Racer: *having a grand old time* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:09 pm *...Is finding this one interesting for Reasons.* Me 9:09 pm *Prowl bets he is.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:10 pm *Soundwave finally stops spinning Racer and scoops him up.* [[Does he fly yet? Or show indications of interest in flying?]] ItsyBitsySpyers 9:11 pm [[So they chase crew members for nothing?]] Ratchet 9:12 pm What does the tall one do? Omicron 9:12 pm He's starting to mimic my and...my mate's posture for taking off. *remembers the reaction to Scourge's name, even though he's from her original world* Bevel 9:12 pm Taking notes? Ratchet 9:12 pm She's staring very intensely at the captain there. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:12 pm [[Transcribing what is said and done, no doubt.]] Me 9:12 pm She's typing. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:13 pm [[...She will cause a mob.]] Me 9:13 pm She will. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:13 pm [[And we are NOT like roaches.]] Omicron 9:13 pm ...primus I would never down do this to one of my crew Me 9:14 pm Even if they find him innocent, it would be doubted. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:14 pm *Soundwave looks at Racer and lifts a feeler.* [[Flying game?]] Me 9:15 pm Once someone has been on trial, there are people who will never see them as innocent; they'll see them as someone guilty who wasn't caught. Omicron 9:15 pm Racer: *he more relaxed, flopping where ever eh's put for now, wings linp and hanging. peeeers at the feeler* ....meh?? Bevel 9:15 pm He is lying. Why is he lying? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:15 pm *Places a crude animation of what the humans would call 'playing airplane' on his visor and beeps so Racer will look.* [[...Does that explanation not incriminate him in the eyes of the onlookers anyway?]] Me 9:16 pm It does, yes. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:17 pm [[He lies, Bevel, because if it is true, they will suspect him worse for no reason other than his organic lineage.]] Me 9:17 pm The evidence against him was insufficient for ANY of this to be justified. Omicron 9:18 pm Racer: *gets up and shakes, fanning wings* Bevel 9:18 pm No no no I got that. But why did the other guy lie? I thought they said the warp core thing was an accident. *did she hear wrong?* Me 9:18 pm They did say it was an accident. He's wildly speculating to the contrary. Omicron 9:18 pm its a fear tactic I would image Bevel 9:18 pm 😔 ItsyBitsySpyers 9:19 pm *Aha. He'll hold the feeler claws out and near to Racer, then, so Racer can get settled and secured if he wishes.* Me 9:19 pm Making up a theory that fits the evidence but is improbable given the circumstances. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:22 pm [[It is no wonder he hid the identity of his ancestor. See how they treat him for being the descendant of an enemy - as though he had a choice in the matter.]] Me 9:22 pm Indeed. Bevel 9:22 pm *sticks her glossa out at the screen* Omicron 9:23 pm Racer: *tail wiggle and he starts to balance, eyeing that feeler* Me 9:23 pm He has a very good reason to be afraid of the truth. People will hurt him for the truth for no reason. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:23 pm [[/Expanded?/]] Omicron 9:23 pm .....what Ratchet 9:24 pm There is no conspiracy. Me 9:24 pm No, there isn't. Bevel 9:24 pm Throw her out an airlock. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:25 pm [[They /dare/--]] Omicron 9:25 pm She's making one...but tossing her would make it look worse ItsyBitsySpyers 9:25 pm [[Even /he/ required more data than this before being allowed to correct an errant Decepticon.]] Bevel 9:25 pm She only did that because he said he would fight her. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:26 pm [[And his judgment was deeply trusted.]] Omicron 9:26 pm Racer: *jumps for the feeler suddenly, wings popping up* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:26 pm *CATCH* Me 9:26 pm Now that's a damning indictment: worse than Decepticon justice. Omicron 9:28 pm Racer: *excitedly wing flaps, little jaws clicking in the air* Omicron 9:29 pm oooh he wants to pull that head off XD ItsyBitsySpyers 9:29 pm *Propels Racer through the air along assorted wobbly paths as he flaps, fast enough to entertain but slow enough to not risk losing a grip or terrifying the youngling.* [[Now she connects things that have nothing to do with each other.]] [[The Borg do not ask before assimilating, and do not permit freedom of thought. He had little choice but to do as was done while he was part of them.]] Omicron 9:31 pm Racer: O__O! harp? *omg...he's flying....ooooh what? what?* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:31 pm [[And they do not /deal./ They would not scheme with Romulans.]] Me 9:31 pm She accuses him of being a traitor for daring to be capable of sleeping after MIND CONTROL!? HE'S the one who should be shouting! Omicron 9:32 pm well...her ego is big Me 9:32 pm He's LUCKY if he can sleep at night, not a TRAITOR! ItsyBitsySpyers 9:32 pm [[Agreed.]] Bevel 9:33 pm *claps for Racer* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:34 pm [[An Admiral worth his rank, then. In all the ways she was not.]] Bevel 9:34 pm She should not be an admiral anymore for acting that way. Omicron 9:34 pm no kidding RAcer: -mind blown right now, flaps his wings like he's seen Icy do- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:37 pm *So very amused. He rather thought Racer would enjoy the opportunity.*

[[A mighty flyer you will one day be.]] [[...He is concerned for the young medical human's fate, though.]] Ratchet 9:37 pm He'll be fine. Picard will look out for him. Omicron 9:37 pm Racer: Ya! *gives another stronger beat, then again hearing Icy purring at him* Ya! Ratchet 9:37 pm *Ratchet would like to think* Me 9:38 pm *sits there quietly BOILING over the Borg accusations.* Bevel 9:38 pm Picard is a really good leader. Omicron 9:38 pm I'll agree with you medic, Picard seems like the sort to care for his crew Me 9:38 pm *he didn't even know that was a thing that happened but he has skipped straight to incensed without even knowing the whole story.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:38 pm *Soundwave chooses to believe Ratchet* *And Prowl would hate every moment of that piece of history, no doubt.* Ratchet 9:39 pm It's Ratchet. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:39 pm *Does the S L O W E S T loop-the-loop as a finale for the hatchling.* Bevel 9:39 pm *Bevel is gonna hunt up those files because she didn't know either* Me 9:39 pm *no doubt but he's still ready to defend Picard to the death.* Ratchet 9:40 pm *knows all he needs to know from the Admiral's description of it, thank you* *Picard is as fully recovered as he can be with 11,000 lives on his conscience and that's all that matters* Omicron 9:42 pm Racer: -having a blast! its like and not like riding on the horns of the insecticon guards and warriors- ....don't shoot up that's so stupid I don't have any projectile weapons and I know that ItsyBitsySpyers 9:43 pm *Is pleased to have entertained Racer so. Of course, if anyone talks about this in public, he'll deny all of it. No soft spots here, nope.*

*And Racer is gently lowered back to the ground in front of Ice Queen.* [[Time to land, youngling.]] Bevel 9:43 pm ((youtube your shuffle option is broke af Omicron 9:44 pm *Icy grins, leaning over and down to let racer bump his head against her's after he's climbed to her knee, listening to his exited chitters about his adventure* Omicron 9:46 pm ((making up a new rp blog x.x I might have forgot how to do some things <.<)) Ratchet 9:46 pm *glances at tiny dragon* Omicron 9:47 pm Racer: *happy chitters, posing on Icy's knee guard spike and flapping his wings* Ratchet 9:47 pm You can have energon, can't you? Omicron 9:48 pm Racer: *head pops up at that word* nam! ItsyBitsySpyers 9:48 pm ((what things are those)) Bevel 9:48 pm ((anything we can do to help? Omicron 9:49 pm ((um, unless you can think of a good name or tag for Scrapper in Pacific Rim? I'm doing her as an aware Jaeger that come on line, just making the blog now)) Ratchet 9:50 pm *scoops a few energon candies from the table, tosses one to Racer* *hopefully he can catch?* *tosses another to Soundwave, who he assumes can catch* That's for Bug. Omicron 9:51 pm *CATCHES Her hatchling that jumps for the treats, he gets one, and chops it down. Nope she didn't have a moment of panic in reflex, sets Racer back on the saver ground to let him find the treats and chomp them down* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:51 pm *Soundwave can absolutely catch. It's snatched out of the air and subspaced right quick.* Bevel 9:51 pm ((I admit I don't know enough about PR to really think of anything, sorry ItsyBitsySpyers 9:51 pm [[He will see that Zori receives it. Thank you.]] Ratchet 9:52 pm *nods and returns to Not Paying Attention To Soundwave* Omicron 9:54 pm Racer: *he saw who tossed the treats and now is sniffing around Ratchet's pedes* Ratchet 9:55 pm *has only a few more, and does not think a bot as little as Racer needs more than one* Bevel 9:55 pm Oh! Soundwave, can you tell Chimera I said hi? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:55 pm [[Yes, he will. They'll be pleased to hear it, he's sure.]] Bevel 9:55 pm *grins, pleased as well* Omicron 9:58 pm Racer: *too late, racer does, he stands up shakily on his hind legs to peer up at Ratchet- but he remembered his manors and wont climb him unless invited* Ratchet 10:00 pm Hmm. *nudges Racer gently with a foot* You're kinda cute, aren'tcha? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:03 pm *Soundwave stretches his legs out, stands up, and nods to every other mech in turn.*

[[He should return home. Laserbeak will be irritable if he extends his break too long. Thank you for the documentaries, Bevel.]] Omicron 10:04 pm Racer: cu...! Pfffffffft *sticks little forked glossa out, he knows what cute means!* *Icy looks up and waves, both with a hand and wing claw* Ratchet 10:05 pm Hehehe. Yeah, you know what you've got. Me 10:05 pm *oh. well, prowl would've been content to stay longer, but he guessed that wasn't happening tonight.* Ratchet 10:05 pm Not getting more treats, though. Too many isn't good for you, and I should know. Bevel 10:06 pm You are welcome! I will look for more Starfleet things but I have other stuff I want to show next time. Omicron 10:07 pm Racer: *balance finnaly gives and he flops down to all fours* Pbbbb...plplpl... 'itch? Ratchet 10:08 pm Oh, sure. Come on up here where I can reach. Omicron 10:13 pm racer: *perks, looks back at icy*

That was an invention

Racer: *happy wiggles, hops up into Ratchet's lap, backlegs scrambling a bit* Ratchet 10:14 pm *proceeds to apply skritches with due diligence* Omicron 10:15 pm Racer *arches back, happy murmeres, but flops when he's petted between the wings* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:15 pm *Was distracted watching Ratchet be as precious as Racer. Shakes his helm slightly and transforms so he can fly off. After going with a vertical lift so he's above the rooftops and Prowl can't fuss at him, that is.* *And nyoom.* Me 10:16 pm I'll see you... next week, most likely? *to ratchet* Ratchet 10:16 pm *what no no watching Ratchet don't do that* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:16 pm ((i didn't mean to hit enter on the and nyoom yet oops)) Bevel 10:16 pm ((I imagined him saying it tbh ItsyBitsySpyers 10:17 pm *Slightly less nyoom. A slow nyoom. More of a quiet whoosh.* Ratchet 10:17 pm Oh, yeah. I don't see why not. *continued skritching* I don't suppose there's a way I can bring a snack for you...? Me 10:17 pm Evening. *looks down at Racer.* Pbbt. Oh. *thinks.* ... I can find a way to take it home. *he doesn't usually bring his projector to these, but he supposes he could.* Omicron 10:18 pm Racer: *wing limp flop on new lap* pbbbt...'owl Me 10:18 pm *startled smile* Omicron 10:18 pm XD *knows Racer has been practicing that name for a while* Me 10:19 pm Yes. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:19 pm *HE MISSED HEARING PBBBTOWL. His life choices are terrible.* Ratchet 10:19 pm Hey, he knows your name! Me 10:19 pm He does! —You do! Omicron 10:19 pm I said he's been wanting to show off to you Ratchet 10:20 pm We're all duly impressed. Omicron 10:20 pm He tried saying it a few times under soundwave's table at the time, even tried to say ''bye' to you Me 10:20 pm Indeed. *looks at Racer.* Uh—thank you? *what do you say to a tiny person who can only half-speak a dozen words and decided to add your name to that list* Bevel 10:20 pm How old is he? Me 10:20 pm Oh. I—must have been distracted. Omicron 10:21 pm Racer: *chewing on air, then on ratchet's armor*

Not that old, under a half a vron. He's the oldest of the last clutch Racer: *does not have hard fangs though, its safe chews* Ratchet 10:22 pm *is.... being chewed on?* Me 10:22 pm *Well, as fascinating as this has been, his projector is almost out of range, so—* I should go now. *looks pointedly at the hatchling.* Bye, Racer. Bevel 10:22 pm Aw. *giggles at Racer chewing* I guess Racer likes you, Ratchet. Omicron 10:22 pm that's normaly for predacon hatchlings....or some adults Ratchet 10:22 pm *okay. this is unusual, but okay.* Omicron 10:23 pm Racer: *omg its his time!* bah....'owl! Ratchet 10:23 pm See ya, Prowl. I'll bring you something next week. Bevel 10:23 pm Bye, Prowl. Omicron 10:23 pm I hope you have a safe trip Me 10:24 pm *another, crooked smile for the hatchling. he nods to Ratchet, and then disappears.* Ratchet 10:24 pm [[ prowl smiling help me ]] [[ *clutches at heart* ]] Bevel 10:25 pm *...she didn't even get a nod, is going to worry about this forever* Me 10:25 pm *sorry bevel, you're just the person who turns the movies on* Bevel 10:25 pm *grabbyhands for approval* *notice me senpai* Me 10:26 pm *someday... someday...* Bevel 10:26 pm *waits impatiently* Omicron 10:26 pm Racer: *full on sparkling babbling now, 'owls and 'aves and all sorts of half words as he's being pet* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:27 pm *OH NO HE'S MISSING THE 'AVES* *Soundwave, you utter fool* Ratchet 10:29 pm *Ratchet is quietly charmed. though a tiny bit glad the chewing has stopped, even if it was a sign of affection.* Omicron 10:33 pm Racer: *gives himself a shake, then grabs a hand to pull back for the scriches, going though what insecticon he knows, all proud with some things* primus *facepalms* I need to talk to the guards again Ratchet 10:34 pm *doesn't understand a word of it, it's fine. it's all pbbbbts to him* Bevel 10:35 pm Talk to the guards about what? Ratchet 10:35 pm *he should probably be on his way as well, though, and so gently disengages from the very flopped and wiggly little dragon* Omicron 10:36 pm ad things in insecticon are being picked up Ratchet 10:36 pm Thanks for the, uh... *whatever it was they watched tonight* Thanks, Bevel. Bevel 10:37 pm Oh! I will be careful what I say if you bring him next time. Promise. Of course, Ratchet! See you next time 😀 Omicron 10:37 pm racer: *pouts, but is off the new lap, tries to catch one of ratchet's hands, or a ped for a lick* Ratchet 10:37 pm Yep! See ya. And see YOU around, little guy. Omicron 10:38 pm Race: Bah! *flaps a wing* Bevel 10:40 pm *giggles* Ratchet 10:40 pm [[ fun fact when i first saw captain america i was so convinced by the sscrawny steve at the beginning i genuinely thought that the REST of the movie was special effects ]] [[ wow they sure made that skinny kid buff ]] Bevel 10:40 pm ((they did such a good job with skinny steve Omicron 10:40 pm [yeah] Racer: *thinks, then trots to bevel, hesitates and meeps at her* Bevel 10:41 pm *meeps back* Ratchet 10:41 pm *pops out* Omicron 10:42 pm I think he wants to head but with you Bevel 10:43 pm Head? Ratchet 10:44 pm [[ oh my god ]] [[ anyway i gotta sleep, good night! thanks for stream! ]] Bevel 10:44 pm ((Night, Fabu! Omicron 10:45 pm helm tap? its a one of the friendly, milder, greatings ((rest well!)) Bevel 10:46 pm Oh I can do that! *she drops down to all fours carefully and offers her helm for a tap* Omicron 10:47 pm Racer: ! *murs and comes close to bump his head to Bevel's, squinting happily* Bevel 10:48 pm *mimics his noises back and flops down on her belly to be more on Racer's level* Omicron 10:49 pm RAcer: n.n! *nuzzles back, likes this person* Bevel 10:49 pm *giggles* Hi, Racer. My name is Bevel. Can you say Bevel? Omicron 10:52 pm Racer: *headtilts one way and then the other, looks over at Icy as she transforms and back, chirps?* Bevel 10:53 pm *chirps back, she doesn't mind if he can't* Omicron 10:54 pm You might need to say it a few times, or live without a part of it Bevel 10:55 pm Bevel. *points to herself and then taps Racer gently on the forehead* Racer. *and another tap to her own face* Bevel. Omicron 10:58 pm Racer: *wheels are cranking in his head, give him a minute* .....ba....bava? Bevel 10:59 pm *close enough, she gives him a thumbs up and grins* Yeah! Omicron 11:01 pm Racer: 😀 *he's getting good at this talking thing! yay!* Bevel 11:04 pm Awesome job. *she checks her internal chronometer and blows air out of her vents with a whine* I have to get going. Sorry, Racer. *skritches him briefly on the neck before standing up completely* Omicron 11:06 pm *chirps for her hatchling, moving a leg for him to climb once bouncing over* thank you for inviting us Bevel 11:07 pm Thanks for coming. I hope you can come next time too. Omicron 11:09 pm *gets her sparkling up on her back, gives a head bow- racer trying to mimic, and leaves* Bevel 11:09 pm *waves* Omicron 11:10 pm [[good night! going to giggle at Scrapper's blog for a bit]] Bevel 11:10 pm ((Good luck, hope you figure things out! Omicron 11:11 pm [got it up, just very little pictures]

[promisedangel]

King’s Island Haunt Review

I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO MAKE ONE FOR LAST WEEKEND’S TRIP, at least not until the friend who went with me reminded me during the MLP season 7 finale.

Travel to there was long, took longer cuz we got stuck in two bad choke points in Columbus traffic. We already made the mental note to leave earlier if we are returning to the Haunt next year. We ended up getting to the park little over an hour after it opened and the lines for rides/haunted houses didn’t exceed 45 minutes that night.

General Notes -The Haunt’s scenery was well done. The fog, the eyes on the Effiel Tower clone were awesome, and there was creepy music around the park to boot. One thing I am kinda disappointed about was the lack of actors outside of the haunted houses. There were only 3 sections of the park in which actors were on the prowl, and only one of them were really effective (I’ll tell that story on the second night). -We stayed at a Super 8, and it was actually pretty good. We just needed a place to sleep, and it worked. It was also near a good amount of food places to choose for breakfast! -The park offered these necklaces for $12 that pretty much said you don’t want to be scared. WHY COME TO A HALLOWEEN THING AND NOT WANT TO GET SCARED? I saw adults with these things on, too! The only way I could see these necklaces worth it, was if no area of the park was safe. If there were actors all over, maybe even in lines for rides and stuff. Then, it’d be worth it. But with only 3 scare zones, it’s not worth it.

Friday - The first thing my friend insisted we do was ride The Beast, as it was getting dark when we arrived and the ride was famous for its night ride since there are no lights around the track. When my friend was young, he and his dad swore they saw red lights, which they have since titled “The killer cows from hell”. Pretty cool ride, not the best, but it was fun riding in the front. -We hit two haunts next. First was The Slaughterhouse... which was kinda meh. Pacing felt too fast and the actors just weren’t trying that hard. - Madam Fatale’s Cavern of Terror was fun! They even got my friend pretty hard. He was lightly taunting some guy actor when this girl actor came from behind and scared him. I swear he jumped 2 feet and fell on the ground. -MYSTIC TIMBERS. AWESOME. The lore, the ride, no wonder it’s got an award already! If Halloween wasn’t so close, I would SO do oneshot based on the ride, but it’s too close and I got a request/gift to do T.T -Diamondback is now in my top five coasters EVER. Riding in the back at night was amazing, you get so much airtime!!! -Vortex is an Oldie but Goldie ride. It was pretty much a walk-on, but an awesome ride. I heard some people want it torn down, but it’s good! -Urgent Scare definitely needs an upgrade on its animatronics. In the ONE place it needs to look it’s most real, they look the fakest. Disappointed. -Drop Tower was fun, loved how it twisted on the way up. -Finished the night on the Banshee. it was cool, equal to The Raptor in Cedar Point.

Saturday -Had a nice breakfast before getting to the park as it opened. We rode Diamondback twice more as our start (In hindsight, this was a bad idea, but we still enjoyed it). -We accidentally went all the way around Backlot Stunt Coaster before we found the entrance, BUT, it led to us meeting a fellow Brony in line for it. Turned out he was at the park by his lonesome and we offered for him to hang out with us. Best decision of the day. The coaster was cool, good family ride. -Rode Vortex again with our new addition and got to know him pretty well. Also headed down to Racers, which was okay. He led us down to The Bat, which was MUCH more fun than Iron Dragon at Cedar Point. -Had to wait a half hour for Invertigo, kinda found out the park was starting to get crowded with people. While in line, we all bonded and I learned out this super intense horror experience called McKamey Manor. While our new friend seems gung-ho for it, I, on the other hand, will NEVER enter that place. Don’t hate the idea, nor the people who go through it. Invertigo was fun, but dunno if it was worth the wait. -Adventure Express was a good beginner coaster, used to be an Indiana Jones coaster before the park was bought by Cedar Fair. -Took a break to get food out of the park and relax a bit, and get sweatshirts for the night ahead. Getting pack in was a pain because we had to park so far away from the park. Made it a half hour before the 7:00 cut off point for getting back in the park. -Our goal for the night was to focus on the Haunts. We started with CarnEvil. Pretty decent, and someone gave me their 3D glasses, so it was trippy for me. Our new addition began to playfully taunt actors and was a joy to see. -Kill-Mart was fun, but mostly fun cause all of us work retail. We ended up making jokes on how it was ‘normal’ for us. Our new guy pointed out a scare and I still fell for it, so he heckled me a bit for it. -Field of Screams had a long line. Think it was a little over an hour. We ended up talking with the two girls in front of us most of the time about various horror topics and watched as one guy in the Fast Pass line scared a few people by hiding in bushes. Two other girls also fell off a fence in the line, but they weren’t hurt. Field of Screams was fun despite the wait but needed just a few more people to really bring out the best of it. There was this wide hay bale area with one actor, but two more would have really made it. One woman followed us out and scared a couple of us. This one girl behind us latched onto my friend, but she made it through with his encouragement. -We quickly went to Board to Death, which was more of a cool visual haunted house than a scary one. My friend and our new friend heckled the actors a bit, and we noticed by now that a lot of the actors over the night tried to get me rather than them. I remember this one actor woman asked if I wanted to play Twister with her and I said no. She then booked it to behind our group and got a scare out of the group of girls behind us, it was funny to just see her book it and immediately hear the screams. - We wanted to go to Blackout, cuz we had heard of various people throughout the night that it was really good, but the line was long and our new friend said he had to leave before midnight since he had to drive himself home. We made a choice and rode Banshee with him. I was, unfortunately starting to get cranky around this time cuz my feet hurt but giving him one last hurrah was worth the hour wait on Banshee. Fun fact: Banshee doesn’t allow fanny packs, BUT, if you stuff them in a hoodie pocket, they’re no problem! Just something I found funny. -We cut through the scare zone of Wasteland so we could quickly drop our new friend off at the gate. The actors in this zone were plentiful and really worked to get scares. They were really good. Sadly, we found this mom with this little girl, probably about 6-7, crying on her mom’s shoulder after going through the zone scared. Felt kinda bad for them. -We said our goodbyes to our new friend and got his contact information in hopes to meet up with him again sometime, even if it was just to come to the Haunt with him again. Did a quick picture together and then my friend and I went at it alone at about midnightish. -I REALLY wanted to hit as many things as possible before the night ended. We cut through the scare zone under the tower called Dance of the Macabre, pretty cool area. -Went straight to Backwoods Bayou. Decent place, good number of actors. The ones in swamp monster suits got us the most cuz we could barely see them coming. Saw people go into the bonus area and we mused about getting the pass for the rooms next year. -We saw that we didn’t have much time left before the park closed. We planned our route and headed straight for Blackout, and the line was less than 15 minutes!!! Was probably one of the most effective haunts in the entire park. You hold a rope with your right hand, while you navigate with your left in a dark maze that occasionally flashes with non-seizure inducing lights. Loved it. -We saw Wolf Pack had no line and quickly ran to it. The actors really tried in there and got my friend a good number of times. Really good visuals and jumpscares. -To close out our trip, we made our way across the park to ride The Beast one last time. We went slowly because my feet were screaming at me by this point. We got in line 15 minutes before the park closed and were probably the 6-7 car before the last ride. We saw The Slaughterhouse close up shop at 2 while still in line. The Beast is a pain in the back, too rough for my tastes. I tried to wedge my arm between the edge of my seat and me to lessen it, but it barely worked. -The walk back through the park to the car was sad, and a bit tough with my hurt feet after doing more than 50k steps that weekend. But we made it and I fell asleep very soon after we returned to our room.

Sunday -Another good breakfast before we relaxed a little before an easy checkout. The ride back was tough on me, felt a bit sleepy until my friend dug out some cookies and chocolate milk from the cooler to keep me awake. Once I put on Critical Role, it became much easier for me to stay awake. -Noticed some grinding when I had to brake during traffic. Turns out my brake pads were in pretty bad shape. Got them fixed this week, but it still cost a LOT. Considering I’ve had that car since 2009, they held up pretty well. -Took a nap as soon as I got home. Had plans with my boyfriend, but we ended up doing something different, but still had a good time with another friend.

Good trip overall. We hope to return next year with more of our coaster-loving friends. We also hope to see our new friend sometime before then! I’d say my first trip to Kings Island was a lot of fun, and a great contrast to Cedar Point, my home amusement park. Sad to say the only things we didn’t hit were Flight of Fear and Firehawk, and we could have done so at the start of Saturday or just after Board to Death, but we all decided against it. Top of the list for next time!

[6ix-dragons]

Fairy Tail Fan Impressions (FTFI): Chapters 540 AND 541

(Be aware; spoilers for the latest FT chapters can be found below!)

“Dude, where were you, when the last chapter hit?”

Me: Oh, I don’t know...but I can tell you that I didn’t end up in the same place, as where those Seven Dragon Slayers are, right now!

“Anyway, did you check out the latest chapter, by any chance?”

Me: Yeah, I did. 

“Man, the beginning of the battle between them and Acnologia was awesome! Oh, and how ‘bout Lucy, there? She’s finally getting the spotlight of her own!”

Me: I know! Hey...do you think she’ll be the next Guild Master?

“Lucy? Pfft, no way! I mean, she’s smart, and all that...but what truly significant things has she done all by herself, recently?”

Me: (gives a dirty side look)

Before I begin this post, I just want to apologize for not making an FTFI on chapter 540. I happened to be busy with other things in my life...one of which, was having to draw a couple of sketches that will celebrate a significant holiday/milestone (which will be explained further, closer to the end of this post). However, just because I didn’t cover chapter 540 in my FTFI series of posts (not by itself, at least), it doesn’t mean that I won’t make quite a mention of it, in this post! I’ll get to my whole impressions of the latest chapter, after I briefly discuss about the chapter before that. 

Alright, so...chapter 540. What can I really mention about it? Well, for starters, it’s the chapter that has a lot of people talking about it. For quite some time, fans of this series have been clamouring for a huge battle between the Seven Dragon Slayers, and Acnologia. And now that the story is coming to a close, we finally get what we wanted all along! 

As I mentioned from above, I wanted to keep things brief for this particular chapter. So, to summarize: Natsu and the other Dragon Slayers are caught in a different world, in which it is host to the Black Dragon himself. All the other Dragon Slayers are trapped in some crystal chamber-like prisons...presumably, so that they would be harvested of their magic by Acnologia. Natsu, himself, is about to fall victim to this, as well. 

Elsewhere, we see that Ichiya and Anna have fallen from the Ravines of Time/Timelapse—and this will please some people, maybe not so much for others. Then, we get an explanation from Anna, about something important going on with Acnologia. Apparently, because of how much magic that Acnologia consumed, while he was trapped in the Timelapse, it resulted in him being present in both worlds; the one where he is currently confronting the 7DS, and the one where everybody else is. However, everybody who isn’t a Dragon Slayer, finds out in horror—(dramatic gasp)—that Acnologia (in his physical dragon form) is headed to Magnolia. And, so, all the others in that world must try to stop him, as much as they can.

Fortunately, Erza and the others are able to get to the rest at Magnolia, through quite the convenience: yes, Doranbolt comes to their aid! No, seriously, he does. I mean, it’s rather kind of surprising that he’s still here, after all those chapters. 

Meanwhile, Natsu is in the process of being absorbed. However, it doesn’t work. Why? Well, probably because the other Dragon Slayers somehow managed to escape! And, just like the Power Rangers...all Seven Dragon Slayers assemble—ready to take on the biggest meance of their lives! 

Alright, so what do I think about this chapter, overall? I think it’s kind of okay, I guess. I mean, don’t get me wrong, but I think this really sets up nicely, for the inevitable final boss battle. Also, it’s worth pointing out that Lucy’s reaction to the news that Natsu isn’t dead, is actually absent from the chapter. Now, I’m not sure if this is intentional, or if there’s some kind of reason that’s either valid (or not)...but, I honestly think that her reaction should be included in the third series of the anime adaptation. Aside from that, it’s kinda heartwarming to see that Erza has realized of Makarov’s recovery, before her eyes. 

On the other hand, what I didn’t like about this chapter, was mainly on the logic, and wasted potential sides of things. First, what bothers me about this chapter, is the logic that happens earlier on. We see that Natsu can’t use one of his arms to use a fire attack, as it’s still badly damaged, understandably enough. What I don’t get about it, ‘though, is why he doesn’t use his other arm, instead. Maybe there’s something that I missed about this, but there doesn’t seem to be a good reason, as to why he isn’t using that other arm of his. 

The other thing that bothers me, aside from the logic, is the wasted potential...or the lack of focus that resulted in it. This is also what I didn’t like, from the previous chapter, as well. We don’t get to see what happens to all the other characters involved in the entire war, such as the rest of the Sabertooth and Mermaid Heel groups (after they took on Larcade). On top of that, we don’t get to see stuff like Millianna being surprised that the former Oracion Seis members were indeed the ones from the Tower of Heaven, or Kagura being able to meet Erza again. Things like that. 

Okay, so, with all of 540 being covered here...let’s get to the latest chapter, shall we?

Ohhh, yes...chapter 541. This is the chapter where we finally see the Seven Dragon Slayers actually taking on Acnologia, in his world!

Rrright off the bat, the first few Dragon Slayers step up to the forefront! And, just like one of those JRPGs, Wendy enchants all the other Dragon Slayers, with a spell that increases their overall abilities. Then, we have Sting, Rogue, and Gajeel, charging straight towards the Black Dragon himself, aaand...they all get blown back by him. 

Oh, alright, that’s no biggie. Why, in fact, here’s Laxus and Cobra, coming in to the—uhhh...welp. They also got blown back, by him. 

Only Natsu and Wendy are left standing on their heels, after all this. Then, we see Acnologia going about boasting how he’s still the strongest Dragon Slayer. Pretty typical for a main villain, who isn’t as developed as the others. 

Meanwhile, in the other world, the whole crowd is trying to figure out how they can defeat Acnologia (in his physical, full-on dragon form). It doesn’t take much more than a moment, before the actual Black Dragon comes swooping in, and attacking the town’s center! People are panicking, screaming, and scrambling around, as he starts wrecking stuff over there. Who, on Earthland, would know something about how to defeat this meance, before he continues on with his destructive rampage?

And here’s the answer that, I think, will please a lot of people out there. For all the flak that’s given to Lucy—especially so, as a major protagonist of this story—one thing that’s certainly a strength for this Celestial Spirit mage, is her intelligence during combat situations, and the role it plays for solving those sorts of situations. I would also have to mention, another strength that’s been emerging for her, for quite some time, and that would be her leadership. That kind of strength (along with the other, aforementioned strength)  is on full display, in this chapter here, as Lucy figures out how they can defeat Acnologia in their world. 

Now, the way they can defeat him, will sound a little bit familiar, to those who have been reading the manga for a long time. Recall back from the time, when Acnologia invaded Tenrou Island, and tried to destroy it. What was holding it back from his attack? Why, of course, it was the Fairy Sphere that prevented him from destroying it! 

As a result, Lucy devises a plan to have Acnologia be trapped in the Fairy Sphere, somehow. She orders Gray and Juvia, to get a boat from somewhere, while having Levy, and Freed, to come with her to the guild’s libarary. 

Back in the world possessed by Acnologia himself, the villainous Dragon Slayer reveals that he’s motivated (simply) by destruction. Well, alright, I guess. /s

Then, we return to the other world again—this time, in Hargeon. We see Lyon, and the rest of Lamia Scale over there. Lyon’s having tea with them, when they encounter Gray and Juvia, who have just arrived, with the help of Doranbolt. Aside from a minor Gruvia moment there, all I have to wonder about Lamia Scale was: ‘What the hell were you guys doing down there? Don’t you notice all that destruction coming across from where you all are? Really?’

Anyway, Gray and Juvia warn them about the impending danger that Acnologia is coming their way soon, and that they need a large boat. Elsewhere, in Magnolia, Minerva, and the remaining members of both Sabertooth and Crime Sorciere guilds, are preparing to lead Acnologia into Hargeon. How will they do it? Well, as one blogger around here will put it: have Orga use his pinpoint blasts to get his attention, have Racer use his magic to distort Acnologia’s perception of time, and maybe have Midnight use his reflecting abilities to agitate him further. I would agree with that suggestion; all of this doesn’t seem too hard.

We finally conclude the chapter, with Lucy, Levy, and Freed, who are all looking for a book that contains the magics needed for Fairy Sphere. They’re joined by Carla, Happy, and Makarov. They must find the book somewhere in the library, if they want to make the plan work. 

Alright, speaking of which...here are the Questions of the Chapter: How does this plan actually make sense? Do you think this plan will actually work?

I mean, sure, Lucy and the others don’t know for one thing that Acnologia can gobble up just about any type of magic. That’s a given. However, it also gives me concern about the plan that Lucy has devised. 

First, as I’ve already mentioned it above, Acnologia can consume just about any type/form of magic. What are the chances he’ll still be able to eat away the magic that’s used for Fairy Sphere? And, even though he may not be able to consume this kind of magic, his dragon scales are inherently immune to just about any sort of magic. Then, you have to consider the way Fairy Sphere works. It’s a spell that freezes anybody in time (like what we’ve seen to the S-Class Trials participants in Tenrou Island, from much earlier). After gaining time magic, by eating up the particles in the Timelapse, Acnologia has gained control of time itself (seemingly). How would a spell that freezes one in time, would work against someone who controls time itself?

Furthermore, how will they even get Acnologia onto the boat, to begin with? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see, about how all this will go. Maybe it’ll all happen with fewer ass-pulls than needed—buuut that’s just me hoping for the best case scenario. Let me know what you think!

So, what do I think of this chapter, overall? Well, I thought it was good...for the considerable part. The start of the battle between the 7DS and Acnologia went out the way I expected it to be—nothing much more, than the Dragon Slayers trying their best, only to be repelled by the Black Dragon. It just goes to show how powerful Acnologia is...and he really demonstrates it, in the start of his encounter with the 7DS. Oh, and I also did enjoy Lucy taking the lead role, too. All by herself, I must say. I always thought it would be really spectacular, to see her shine in the spotlight, and do whatever it is that would not be overshadowed by any other character. It just goes to show that great things happen, when the focus is turned more to the other protagonists. 

Now, here are a couple of things that I didn’t like about this chapter, and they mainly have to do with logic (again), and Acnologia’s character. 

Let’s start off with Acnologia’s character, first. I only have to mention about how one-dimensional he is, in the more recent chapters of the story. As described earlier, Acnologia always talks about destruction—how motivated he is, by it, and how much he always wanted to destroy the world. While it’s a given that these can be one of the qualities of certain antagonists/villains, it’s actually not the only quality that an antagonist/villain can run by. And, while the explanation is given to his background—through the Dragon Cry movie (spoiler alert)—it really doesn’t help much for his own character. 

With that aside, there’s also the logic that I didn’t like. I mentioned above that I didn’t like the logic of the plan that was devised by Lucy (moreover, I didn’t like how Lucy went off with Levy and Freed, when she should be the one looking after the others, instead). I also didn’t like the logic of having Lamia Scale being somewhere else, away from the battle. They should have joined the rest of the guilds at Magnolia, earlier...instead of sipping away on tea, elsewhere. And then, there’s the discovery of a book that would provide the ability to cast Fairy Sphere, somewhere. 

The issues that I have with this, is: firstly, there was no mention of a book, at any point, earlier in the story! No, really, where did the book come from? What should have been done, was that the book should have been introduced somewhere in the main story. And, secondly, the Three Fairy Magics can be transferrable! Just ask Cana, when she received Fairy Glitter from Mavis. Or, ask Makarov, when he came back to life. My point is, this whole situation could have been solved easily, if the Three Magics can be used by those means. 

Otherwise, there's something else I noticed in the chapter, that was quite interesting. There’s all these rumblings about how Lucy’s leadership moments in this chapter, parallel to that of those moments involving Mavis. In fact, there’s all this hubbub about how Lucy should be the next Guild Master, based on what was seen in this chapter alone. Ehh, I’m a little bit mixed on this one. While she does have the intellectual strength, and determination, I don’t see much that would suggest she should be the next Guild Master. I mean, she has done some significant things that have helped her, and her other guild-mates, in the long run...I just don’t completely see it, like that. Who knows? Maybe Mashima will surprise us all, by actually making her the next Guild Master, instead of Laxus!

Also, speaking of Dragon Cry...looks like it was mentioned by somebody, in this chapter! Unless I’m wrong, then that means everything about the Dragon Cry movie is considered canon. Whoaaa!

Alright, so that is it, for this one; thank you very much to those who have read this, from the top! Click like, if you like this post; follow my blog, if you like my content; reblog this post to all of your friends...and there’s now only FIVE chapters remaining (if the chapter cover for 541 is any indicator of such). Let’s wait anxiously, and see what happens to the 7DS—and the others in Earthland.

Oh, and I almost forgot! I mentioned around the top, about a couple of things I’m making right now. Currently, I’m drawing two sketches to celebrate Canada Day, and Canada’s 150th anniversary. Before anybody asks, yes—these sketches will feature your favourite characters from FT. Which ones? Well, you’ll have to wait ‘til July 1st, to find that one out! Also, I’m still in the process of typing out the actual chapters for my upcoming fanfic, Center Ice. I’ll probably provide an update on how that one goes, at some point, very soon. 

Anyway, stay tuned for the next FTFI!

Peace out!

[stompsite]

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So normally, I wouldn’t do so many of these in such short order, but I’m moving at the end of the month, and I’m moving to a place where the internet’s gonna be wonky, so I’m trying to store as many games on my hard drives as I can. As a result, I’m going through my “definitely not gonna play these again” games as quickly as possible. So, hey, here’s another one.

LOVERS IN A DANGEROUS SPACETIME is a 2d metroidvania, I guess? Except you pilot a spaceship with a partner. It’s fun enough, but metroidvanias and I don’t get along super good. It looks nice and plays okay, but I feel like it’s meant to be played with multiple people, rather than solo. I played it on Xbox, since I got it free on Xbox Live at some point. NAH.

MAX: THE CURSE OF BROTHERHOOD is a sidescrolling platformer about a boy who wishes his brother away. Kinda like Labyrinth, but, as far as I’ve played, without the brilliance of Henson or Bowie present. This isn’t to say it’s a bad game at all, but it’s not really gripping me. But it is a platformer, and I’m someone who’s been trying to figure out why I don’t like platformers for a long time.

I think I’ve figured it out.

One of my least favorite things to do in a video game are forced racing sequences. In these sequences, you mostly have to learn where everything is, memorize it, and repeat. I’m not one for memorization. It’s fundamentally uninteresting to me on a basic level. A good racing game involves some degree of skill; most races in games not meant to be racers rely more on simply memorizing the track.

Most platformers I’ve played don’t involve any kind of interesting or meaningful decision making. Sometimes you’ll get some puzzle solving, which can be enjoyable, but more often than not, platformers are about simply reacting to what’s there, and nothing more than that. See the path, follow the path. The enemies aren’t super intelligent; Goombas march back and forth, and that’s about it. These are games about memorizing the path and timing your button presses perfectly.

In a Sonic game, you might get a few choices, but that’s about it. Played a bit of Mario 3D Land lately and it’s the same thing; at its most difficult, it’s just a game about memorization.

I value a game like DOOM or Halo, where you get to look over the environment, plan your route, and act accordingly, reacting to changes in the situation as they arise. There’s a nice mix of “doing interesting things” at work in these kind of games.

I value improvisation. 

That’s why platformers aren’t very interesting to me.

Oh, and Max has a magic marker that changes the environment. It’s a rule that all platformers have to have A Gimmick, and that’s what Max’s gimmick is. SEE YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE, BROTHER.

SPEEDRUNNERS, because it’s a platformer (a racing platformer, but a platformer nontheless), definitely can be SENT TO LIMBO.

SUPER DUNGEON BROS: claims, on its store page, that it is a rock-themed dungeon brawler. Basically it’s kinda like Diablo, I guess, except that I wasn’t really having much fun, and I forgot to take a screenshot. I DECIDED TO PASS ON IT.

BONEBONE: RISE OF THE DEATHLORD sure seems like a mobile port to me. You shoot arrows at skellingtons. YAWN.

BRINE seems like one of those Fallout mods you get for someone who offers “realistic nights,” but it’s so dark that you begin to wonder if the person making the claim suffers from severe night blindness. Seriously, the ground is just, like... totally black.  It’s some kind of survival game with a 24% positive rating on Steam. I’M STEERING CLEAR.

BROADSWORD: AGE OF CHIVALRY is like, I don’t know, if Civilization were incredibly low-res? I’ve really struggled to enjoy hex-based 4X games. For some reason, Stellaris is my drug of choice, but even games like Civ are hard for me to enjoy. AWAY WITH YOU.

This is what screenshots from BULLET LIFE 2010 look like. Yes, they did misspell “Resume.” Reviews are about half and half positive/negative. I’m surprised there are positive reviews at all, but what do I know? It’s a 3D bullet hell shooter that doesn’t feel super... bullet... hell-y. But I didn’t spend a lot of time with it because the controls were a nightmare. Took way too long to discover that “W” was the interact button and “X” was fire. Oh, and by switching to full screen in the pre-load options menu, I booted up the game. Here I thought I’d be able to edit multiple settings. Silly me. DUMPED.

BULB BOY is an aesthetically wonderful point and click adventure game, which I may come back to some day. The problem is that, well, it’s a point and click adventure game, another one of those genres I really struggle with. If platformers bore me because it’s about reaction time and memorization, point and clicks bore me because they’re about clicking on everything you can until you figure out in what order a bunch of interactive objects are supposed to be placed. It’s a genre that can be brute forced in a way I personally find dissatisfying.

But.

Don’t let this dissuade you from checking out Bulb Boy, a game that has a 91% positive rating on Steam, which, last I checked, is the same as DOOM. So, if you’re into the genre, you’re probably in for a treat. DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS.

What did I just say, CAPTAIN MORGANE AND THE GOLDEN TURTLE, about adventure games? Also, I have no idea what’s going on in the graphics here, but this sure doesn’t look like a three year old game. Also, it runs awfully on my GTX 1070, and there’s a review on Steam that makes the same complaint, but for a 1080. NOPE.

I was bummed out that Steam wouldn’t let me take screenshots of CARRIER COMMAND: GAEA MISSION. It’s not a great game from what I’ve played so far, but it’s interesting. Lots of little tweaks that Bohemia Interactive could do to make it play way better than it does. Maps feel huge. It’s neat. Obviously ARMA is their bread and butter, but... this has me intrigued. FINALLY, A GAME THAT STAYS.

Apparently there are earlier Deponia games, so I probably shouldn’t be testing CHAOS ON DEPONIA right now, but I went through the tutorial. Seems like an adventure game, made me chuckle. I’LL KEEP THIS ONE AROUND. FOR NOW. 

CITIES XL PLATINUM is a city builder, so you’d think it would stay on my list, but it won’t, and here’s why: city builders come in two varieties. There’s the Extremely Popular SimCity style, where you just kinda build a town and keep things running and that’s that, and then there’s the Less Popular But The Kind I Like games, like Tropico, The Settlers, and Anno. These games take you to different maps where you have specific objectives you need to complete. I find operating within those constraints much more enjoyable than the open-ended sandbox creation aspect of things. That’s just not my thing.

Cities XL Platinum is in the former style, unfortunately, which means I’m... like, I’ll give it a shot, but I’m not super into it. The performance issues I experienced weren’t great either, and Cities Skylines, which is from the Cities in Motion developers, is a much better game in this specific city-building subgenre. Forgot to screenshot. KICK IT TO THE CURB.

CLOUD CHAMBER is an online game that was, as best I can tell, removed from Steam. If you have it, you can... like, click on stuff, but you can’t play it, because apparently it, whatever it was, was an online game. WHAT’S THE POINT?

CONTAGION sounds cool, but I didn’t really enjoy the time I spent with it. A review says “it’s like No More Room in Hell, but costs money, and is worse,” and that seems about right. PASS.

COGNITION: AN ERICA REED THRILLER is a game I took a screenshot of, because I hadn’t been doing it or it hadn’t been working in the past few games. Apparently I ended up in Episode 2 even though I told it to go to Episode One. As you can see, people’s faces look... odd.

It’s a point n’ click where you spend like ten minutes in three different camera angles (one shot of two people talking, two closeups of their faces) where they mostly just talk about things that could’ve been said in far less words. It has 199 reviews on Steam, and the reviews are mostly stellar, so... hey, make of it what you will. The genre’s not for me, so I’M BANISHING IT TO OBLIVION.

DEADBOLT reminds me of Gunpoint. Like... uncannily so. This is fine, though, because I really liked Gunpoint. Now, you might be going “hey, Doc, I thought you hated sidescrolling games as evidenced by your above remarks about platformers!” Well, kinda. Deadbolt, like Gunpoint, keeps me engaged by letting me plan things. Observe. Strategize. Engage. That’s what makes it such a fun game. Best way I can describe this is if Gunpoint and Hotline Miami had a baby. The game wears its influences on its sleeves. I LOVE IT.

Word of caution: it gave me a black screen on Windows 10. I had to edit the ini, then it worked properly. Solution was located in the Steam Discussions.

BROKEN DREAMS wouldn’t let me take screenshots of it, probably because it was running in flash. It’s a quirky indie puzzle platformer, with an art design that I find distinctly off-putting. NAH.

DRAKENSANG refused to boot up at first, which is a bad sign, but I finally got it to work, and I was rewarded with a nice classic 3D PC RPG. It feels great to play, very Dragon Agey, if you’ve played that, though it’s got less “AAA Bioware” vibe and more of a “mid-00s German RPG” thing going on. Cool stuff. I had to reinstall the directx executable that came with the game and add “-windowed” to the launch options to make it work. NEAT STUFF.

I’m genuinely unsure where or when I acquired CLOSE YOUR EYES, but it’s definitely not my thing. It’s one of those games where the default controls are Z/X and Arrow keys. Close Your Eyes claims to be a horror game, but this RPG Maker-esque game did nothing to evoke any response in me as I played. I have no idea if it’s good or bad, but the genre and gameplay did nothing to draw me in. I was bored. AWAY WITH YOU.

Well, that’s 20 games. Of those 20 games, 4 of them stayed on the backlog.

The main thing I’m getting here is that genre’s pretty important to me, especially when it comes to being able to make plans. Adventure games and platformers tend not to emphasize strategizing, which is something that’s important to me when playing games. So games where you don’t do that, where you just react to stuff, that’s not as interesting to me.

Until next time.