#I say as I am 10 cm shorter than him

[japeneselunchtimerush]

Me about Akashi: 🤏🤏🤏

[physics-of-one-piece]

Hello Physics! I can’t get enough of our feathered friend and would love to request Doffys Leg to torso ratio!

Thanks so much xo

I have been waiting for THIS ONE! Same here, I can never get enough of our pink feathered menace friend.

First, disclaimer. His size varies based on the panels he is in, but the most accurate ones are those from afar rather than the up-close ones.

I got a LOT of results since I used 3 panels, 2 from manga, 1 from anime.

Okay, for this we need (groans) pixels. Ugh. Ugh.

I’m not on PC right now so we’ll do it the more basic way of cutting the image into the height to fit Doffy.

Beware, most images I found of him are very very traumatic pages of the manga.

Like this one! 😊

Haha…ha… aaaaaa 😭😭😭😭

He is 254 pixels tall here. So that means 254 pixels = 305cm here.

Now we cut his torso off.

(Wheezes) Oda really fckn drew him 100% flamingo dear god.

His legs are 171 pixels. Ooh boy.

So his legs are 171 pixels tall, his upper body = 83 pixels

Hm, I can already do the ratio with this. I tried to do pixels to cm but it just wasn’t working out, even though it should have. I was getting too small numbers for his leg height in cm. So we’ll stick to pixels and then when we get the ratio & percentages, we’ll go into the cm to get his torso+leg length.

Ratio, basic one, we go:

171/83 = 2.06

83/83 = 1

So his legs to upper body ratio is 2:1.

For his torso, we gotta do his TORSO, that means waistline to shoulders.

Torso = 59 px.

So, we do same thing for legs to torso ratio.

171/59 = 2.89

Legs - Torso ratio = 2.89:1

Now we’ll go into percentages bcs I do not like ratios.

171/254 = 0.67 × 100 = 67%

Legs = 67%

Upper Body = 32.68%

For his body, it fits. The average torso length is 26-30% of a male’s height.

And NOW WE CAN GO INTO CM HALLELUYAH!

Legs = 205.36 cm

Upper Body = 109 cm

This fits. It fits for how tall Law is compared to Doflamingo, and it fits to how tall Smoker is compared to Doflamingo. Smoker’s head is reaching to Doflamingo’s stomach, and Smoker is 209 cm tall. It fits.

YES! YES! YES! HAHA! YES.

Sorry. I wanted to know how much LEGS this man has for AAAAGES. I always circled it to be 60% but by Oda… it’s a bit more.

Let's do North Blue Doffy in his Red Suit 😍

Here is North Blue Doffy. This image is a bit bigger since the panel itself was bigger. He’s 503 px tall. Yeah, I lowered his hair, he ain’t fooling his height with that updo.

Let’s see his leggies.

Legs = 301 px

(Spits out my hot chocolate) HOLY ONE PIECE.

301/503 = 59.8 %

Aaa, see here his legs are 60%. This is a more realistic proportion while still keeping his legs tall as fuck. And this was my initial guess.

Okay, 60% of 305cm is… also, before anyone says, "oh only 6% difference"… 1% of 305 is 3.05 cm. Each percent is 3.05 cm taller. Within only 3% he’s reaching 10 cm taller, and that’s nothing to scoff at — HE’S ALREADY HUGE WE DON’T NEED HIM HUGER!

183 cm

Maybe... Too short? Luffy (174cm) would then… wait.

Oh.

Hmmm…

Huh.

HUH.

HUH?!

This is getting too accurate regarding body proportions. Not surprising, since Oda uses different distances in panels to get different vibes.

This… actually fits, then? Huh.

I think Luffy needs about 10-20 cm more to be at waist height, so we should add that amount for the legs…

194-197 cm

You know what, we’ll round it up to 183 (60%)-200 cm for his leg height. My bet? Somewhere in the high 80s. Mostly because from what I think, Law (191cm) should be at his waist, Smoker (209 cm) above his waist. Did we seriously, in all of Dressrosa, NEVER get Law standing in front of Doffy with Doffy also standing? 😭🤧 If Doffy’s proportions were normal, his leg would be 50% of his height but since he has flamingo ass legs…

We gotta find Law. We gotta. (Opens my Dressrosa manga folder)

I am so sorry, Law. I am so sorry.

Final verdict.

Doffy's Leg Length: 185-205 cm

60 - 67% legs

My take… 195 cm (63% legs)

Makes Law just a tiny bit shorter and feeling small cus he could never get over Doffy’s waist - how about that trauma and feeling like he is still a kid being scolded by his captain. Haha. Ha…

I really like suffering, huh? Prob why Dressrosa is my favourite arc.

It really depends how long you wanna understand his upper body is, but I think the 2:1 ratio is fine for that.

I’m done. Doffy has huge limbs and is too tall, someone shrink him.

Wait. Wait.

FOUND YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT. THIS PIC. WE’RE USING THIS ONE.

1978 pixels tall. This time we’ll do upper body first cus big boy can’t stand normally.

His waistband is drawn taller here for the intimidation factor so we’ll follow the length of his shirt. It’s longer than his upper body so we shorten it slightly to get to the waist

Upper body = 541 px

😭😭😭 THAT GIVES HIS LEGGIES 1000+ PX 😭😭🤧🤧🤧

Legs = 1430 px

Nah, this is too much at this point. This is exaggeration. This is… (wipes nosebleed)

72% legs!

HAHAHAHA. HAHA. NO. NO. NO NO NO NO NO. NO!

I’m done! I’ll bleed out from my nosebleed. I need to get some bandages! Bye! Thank you for the ask!

Taglist: @fanaticsnail @ohnomyhooves (bcs I think you'll be interested)

[dragonmarquise]

Silly BRC Headcanons: Heights!

The hyperfixation continues, here's some heights for some of the BRC characters. Mainly did this since I am planning to do more proper arts of some of the characters later, so I wanted to have a solid idea for some of their heights now. And then I ended up doing heights for all of them actually, lol

Red is supposedly around 180 cm in canon? At least that's what I've seen a few people say. I'm assuming it was some sort of calculation using the in-game model. Even if that's not the case, I'm accepting it as my headcanon anyways, and used that height for Red as a baseline for the rest of these.

Also I decided that I wanted Red to be the shortest of BRC and even the gangs in general, with the Flesh Prince being the only one shorter than that. Because why the hell not, these are headcanons, not like anyone can stop me. :P

Though in doing so, I realized I ended up making just about everyone very tall. Oh well! :u

I'm putting these in cm, but also with very approximate feet-inches for convenience of anyone who doesn't want to convert these over! That being said, I'd consider the cm heights to be more accurate/specific.

Starting off with BRC:

Red = 180 cm / 5' 10"

Tryce = 186 cm / 6' 1"

Bel = 182 cm / 5' 11"

Vinyl = 184 cm / 6' 0"

Solace = 181 cm / 5' 11"

Rise = 185 cm / 6' 1"

Rietveld = 186 cm / 6' 1"

Felix = 182 cm / 5' 11" (essentially, I'm imagining Red is only slightly shorter because he has Faux's body. Clearly, Pretty Boy should've eaten more veggies, loool)

The rest of the crew in my mind are somewhere in the range of 181 cm to 185 cm, I just can't decide on specific numbers for them right now. ^^;

I am making DJ Cyber 188 cm / 6' 2" because honestly, he really does give me that vibe of being taller than most of the other characters. :P

Then there's Devil Theory (see here for a quick who's-who in my headcanons of them, lol):

Sai = 193 cm / 6' 4"

Daishō = 187 cm / 6' 2"

Bō = 183 cm / 6' 0"

Nunchaku = 185 cm / 6' 1"

I imagine all of DOT EXE being different heights as well, basically being whatever height they had before going full-cyber. Cueball is around 190 cm / 6' 3", and is the median height of the group. I'll have to decide on the others later, sorry. :u

As mentioned, the Flesh Prince is the shortest one, I assigned him to 167 cm / 5' 5". Which is just short compared to the rest of these character, that's still fairly tall compared to the average person. But most importantly, it means I still get to be taller than him by like one or two centimeters, mwahaha!! >:D

The rest of the Franks are probably like, around 200 to 202 cm? Roughly 6' 7". I looked it up, the average heights for basketball players in the NBA right now is around 6' 6", so that sounds about right for them imo.

Eclipse are all around 195 cm / 6' 5" in my mind. Tall ladies! And then the rest of FUTURISM are between 181 cm and 185 cm like the rest of BRC.

Bonus, Escher gets to be 195 cm / 6' 5" too, his in-game model is definitely a good chunk taller than the player models. Hopefully the tall man returns from his bus trip soon. :P

[estelofrivendell]

Hi! Here's my description for the matchup trade, thank you so much again for doing this!

I’m Tori, a 20 year old autistic girl (pronouns she/her) who would prefer a ship with a man. Also, I tend to prefer the humans in middle earth (so like Aragorn, Faramir, Boromir and Eomer) so if you could kindly ship me with one of them specifically I’d be very grateful.

I’m really short, only like 4’ 10” (142 cm) with wild, long and wavy auburn hair and really light blue eyes. I’m slender but very toned, and I also wear glasses. I'm pretty neutral about both my appearance and myself in general and I don't think I genuinely hate anything about myself. I'm generally neutral about most things actually, it takes a lot to make me mad and even then I'm good at controlling my emotions. I have chronic joint pain all over, scoliosis and some other illnesses but I stay very active regardless. I’m really polite and try my hardest to be nice to everyone, but if you cross me or give me a bad vibe I can be a little cold and aloof. I’m a tad awkward, but I’ve been told I can be charming and I’m really good at making others laugh with witty comments. I tell amazing stories because I've had a lot of experience with different things during my life. I’m very generous and don’t mind helping others or doing nice things for them. I’m also extremely energetic and always have to be doing something, to the point where I’m honestly not sure I really know how to rest. My friends say I give really good advice and am very wise, and also that I have warm, inviting energy. I could lowkey befriend anyone if I really tried. Though I'm also very sensitive and don't enjoy being teased too much, so I don't tease others either. I also hate seeing people, or really anything, upset.

Where I really shine is with my large number of hobbies and interests. Because I always like to keep busy, I have a lot of different activities and side gigs to keep me occupied. In Middle Earth, I’d probably be some sort of ranger who picks up a bunch of odd jobs here and there. I currently work as a librarian but my other hobbies include:

🦉 Falconry & befriending crows

🦉 Caring for horses (I've always been a horse girl lol)

🦉 Cheesemaking, Cooking and Baking

🦉 Gardening and Plant Identification

🦉 Writing, Journaling and Drawing

🦉 Sewing

And a couple other things. I’m generally a very skilled, knowledgeable person and I’m very proud of it. I love being outside and can’t stand being cooped up indoors for too long. However, I do enjoy having somewhere nice to return to when I get tired from being outside all day.

Alright, I think that’s about it! Thank you so so much, take care of yourself and drink lots of water!

I ship you with Faramir!

If anyone is going to be understanding of a chronically ill S/O, then it is Faramir. He's very patient and overall a wonderful human being. You still trying your hardest to remain as active as possible despite the difficulties makes him appreciate you more since that is certainly not an easy task. He finds your auburn hair very fascinating since it's a rare colour regardless of country and how wild it is. Gondorians are taller than average so he finds your short stature intriguing because the shorter end of their people are most likely taller than you. What he loves about you the most is not your appearance but your gentle heart; he loves how generous you are and that is the trait he values the most. He believes selfishness and lack of patience will not get anyone anywhere and seeing you helping others even if they did not ask for any help is when he discovered your good heart. He is as wise and knowledgable as you are and also gives good advice that it is no surprise to anyone to learn you two tend to go to each other first for counsel instead of anyone else.

He's more reserved than awkward nor does sound to be a very humourous person so your relationship would bring jokes, wit and laughs that Faramir never knew he needed and Boromir makes a comment how his brother is starting to gain a good sense of humour. Your approachability and unwillingness to tease others also puts him at ease as he is the kind to avoid anyone that proves to be completely unapproachable, and has had a lot of experience with others berating him. He asks a lot about your hobbies and skills (especially befriending crows) not because he knows nothing about them but because he wanted to see and hear about it from your perspective. He shares all the hobbies you listed (except for falconry, befriending crows and caring for horses) and he would ask for permission to read your stories and even help you with it. I think he's into poetry and would share his own with you, and maybe some of them are even about you ;) I also can see him helping you with cooking and baking especially for a really big meal, and is genuinely interested in learning about gardening and identifying plants. All in all, he only seeks a simple life away from war and destruction and he believes he can have that with you since what you do reminds him of the good things life has to offer.

[the-invisible-queer]

do you ever get annoyed at how short the seasons with Matt Simmons are? Like s14 had 15 episodes and s15 had 10, whereas previous seasons were 20-24 episodes long (except for s4, which had 26 episodes)

Sorry this took me so long bestie! I got home and had dinner and I just got back to my room.

This got so much longer than I was planning and I am sorry.

I am super bummed that Matt's CM seasons are shorter. I think that there was so much more they could have done with his character. I think that he could have gotten some more big storylines. Matt and Luke are the most swept-aside characters (and don't get me started on Stephen). And I wish they didn't do that.

But I am grateful for the storylines we do get.

Also besides the fact that I am head over heels in love with Danny and Matt, his role as Matt was important.

In an interview, Danny said "This is the character that's been built for the American public to fall in love with. He's the muscle of the show, the ex-soldier, the family man (which has traditionally been played by Caucasian actors). I think it says a lot for CBS and my team to give this role to me. You've never seen an Asian-American or Asian man playing that role. That's why I took the role. I want to prove that an Asian man can be that person in people's eyes."

And he is so right. I'm glad that he got the chance to do this role and represent his community. As a Puerto Rican who grew up watching Latino roles be mainly stereotyped as drug dealers, gardeners, and maids. And for me when Luke joined the team, that was a HUGE deal (besides the fact that I'm a big Adam fan).

Positive representation in media is always important.

I guess I can make up for his lack of time on Criminal Minds with the two seasons of Beyond Borders, where they do dive more into his past. There is an episode where he seeks out his maternal grandmother in Korea. We learn that his paternal grandparents couldn't see past their racism and treated him poorly for being half-Korean.

I do appreciate in CM that we do get to see moments with his family. I loved the side plot when David got in trouble at school for blowing up about being scared of losing his mom after Kristy was held, hostage.

Absolutely love the episode when Matt is on dad duty and tells the kids they're gonna cook something they've never cooked before.

I wish that with the Simmons stories coming into play in S15, we could have seen it, because the only time we did see him tell a Simmons story was in BB when he tells David the story about the dragons that was unfortunately cut too short.

I do wish we got to see more of him focused on some of the other kids. David is the second oldest, and he's the only Simmons kid we get to see have one on one time with Matt.

I would LOVE to see Matt return to Evolutions but it's so unlikely. If he was to return, I would love to see some side plots with a focus on the other Simmons kids as well.

I will say if you're bummed at the lack of Matt in Criminal Minds proper, I recommend watching Beyond Borders! It's 2 seasons, with 13 episodes per season. And it was so good I don't understand how it got canceled. If you can't find it anywhere I will gladly share my sources if you DM me.

[ririsann]

「 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 」

asking your boyfriend to reach something on the high shelf for you.

𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠... matsuno chifuyu, sano “mikey” manjirou, mitsuya takashi x gn!reader (separate)

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 - reader is shorter than their bf!, sarcasm (not indicated), 

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 - i thought of this simply because i am also short as hell (~156 cm/5′1) also mikey is lowkw kinda ooc???? i shld know how to write him well (as a mikey kinnie 🤪 yes i have problems) i have no idea why i cldnt do that

𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐅𝐔𝐘𝐔 would try his best to be one of those main love interests in a shoujou manga he’s read. a handsome, gentlemanly boy, though there was one problem - he was a little vertically challenged. maybe a little more than just a little bit. 

at a whopping 168 cm (~5′6″), he was obviously very tall. which gave you an idea. you weren’t as tall as him at a giant 160 cm (~5′3″), i know, so tall.

him being short didn’t bother you at all, really. it didn’t change that he was really sweet at all, and you found him adorable. so adorable that you just wanted to mess with him all the time.

“fuyu! can you get the cereal from up there?” he looks back at you from his manga that he was so engrossed in and sees you struggling. this was the ideal time to show his skills as an ikemen*.

*ikemen (イケメン) : term for pretty boy! that’s basically what it is. i’m not sure if it’s technically slang tho tbh

his determined face as he stood up and walked towards you said “let me show you how it’s done,” and it was kinda cute. it looked very similar to a pout. 

he struggled for a minute, and for another, and another. he did not want to stoop as low as climbing onto the countertop or using a stool. god forbid he use a stool.

“don’t-- hrg-- don’t worry babe! i-- hrmph-- i got it!” you giggle at his little antics to try and impress you. 

“yeah, whatever you say, ‘fuyu.” the box would come forward little by little as your boyfriend tried to grasp it. 

needless to say it took a while and you got your share of entertainment by harassing chifuyu for the day. 

as you started to walk away and look for a stool, he turns and points at you.

“don’t you dare try and get me a stool! i can do this without one!”

“it’s been five minutes. i want my cereal.”

“I SAID I CAN DO IT!!”

with 𝐌𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐘 being your boyfriend while also being busy with touman, you rarely played around or pranked your boyfriend as other couples would.

he was such a man-child that he would get mad at you for “committing such a heinous crime,” when you had just distracted him by saying “hey is that emma with a different dude?” when that was completely false.

he was so adorable when he got mad over these small things from you, but he could never keep those feelings because he knew you were just having fun. he would try and ignore you with a pout on his face but it was impossible to completely ignore you so he always caved in after less than 10 minutes of pestering him.

“mikey, can you come get this for me? i can’t get it right now,” you call. he was hanging around your place since he didn’t want you straining yourself so much after getting in a bicycle accident and breaking your arm. yeah, you broke your arm. like, shattering the bone.

you hear footsteps coming closer to you quite quickly, being greeted by the blond boy to your right. he looks like you like a puppy who had just been summoned, awaiting your next command.

pointing at the high shelf that held your incredibly precious handcrafted figure that you made yourself, he understands that he needs to get it. what he didn’t understand is that it took you several weeks to get it to where it was now.

“now, don’t drop--”

CRASH.

“--it.” 

the both of you stood in silence while looking at the shards of porcelain shattered on your floor. now this was a big mess that you could not entrust your boyfriend to clean.

mikey doesn’t say anything, completely in shock while also processing your words. “don’t drop it”, and he drops it.

he lets out a small string of curses under his breath, just quiet enough not to hear the profanities coming out of his mouth. he walks out of the room to grab a broom and a dustpan to clean up the mess.

“i’ll clean it up. don’t sweat it, manjirou.” the words that strung out of your mouth were sickly sweet, like they didn’t belong.

you didn’t even realize how mad you were until you really thought about your hard work over the past few weeks being completely destroyed in just a few seconds because of someone’s helpful intentions but harmful actions.

he didn’t say anything to you, with no other feelings other than pure guilt filling his being. you calling him manjirou, you telling him not to drop something when you usually wouldn’t give instructions to do something, you taking over the job he explicitly told you that he could do (taking care of you).

he was terrified.

you heard no response for a while and he hadn’t come back for a little while so you went out of the room and saw him sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.

“hey, manjirou? you good there?” he doesn’t acknowledge your existence, which only happens when he’s mad at you. you could tell he’s more distressed and guilty than pettily mad at you. you sigh and take a seat next to him.

“look, if you’re worried about the figure you dropped, it’s fine. i can always make another one--”

“...but you worked hard on it.” you let out a small laugh, making him lift his head and look up at you.

“that figure’s replaceable, don’t worry!” you look at him with a close-eyed grin. “besides, i’d rather have you, an irreplaceable thing, versus that little porcelain effigy.”

he shows you a small smile before resting his face again.

“yeah, that little porcelain effigy.”

𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐒𝐔𝐘𝐀 loved to do things for you. it was his inner caretaker, especially after taking care of his little sisters for as long as he could remember.

now, he wasn’t very short at 170 cm (~5′7″), but he wasn’t exactly tall either, so you took advantage of this fact very often, maybe a little too often.

“takashi, can you come get this for me?”

“what’s up?” he peeks out of the corner of the room he was in. “oh, you want my sewing materials?”

you nod, holding a ripped stuffed animal in your hands. he guessed that mana accidentally ripped it and asked you to fix it for her, despite her brother being right there. (favouritism)

“the seams seem a bit loose too, so i need more material than just my bit of thread,” you explain as he tries to reach up for the tin of pins, needles, and lots of colours of thread. for some reason he couldn’t reach it today.

“yeah, i’ve been meaning to do that! i don’t have nearly as much time as i used to so i can’t really do as much anymore,” he struggles to explain. 

mana comes out of the bedroom and sees her brother reaching up to something but also pinpoints that his shirt lifting from the reaching has also exposed a bit of his back. and from his exposed back, she sees the opportunity to pull his pants down.

she waddles over to him while the two of you were in the middle of conversation, so neither of you notice the toddler coming over.

“do you need help?”

“nah, i’m almost there--”

your boyfriend suddenly feels his legs exposed to the cool air in the apartment. of course he had to see what you were up to, since he was suddenly pantsed.

“mana, you goofy little girl,” you coo, picking the young girl up into your arms. the lavender-haired boy sees this and just smiles. 

“mana, you can’t just do that!” he scolds. mitsuya wasn’t mad, he just had to teach her a lesson before she did that to him in public.

“takashi, chill. she’s not gonna know what that means, teach her later.” you look back at the girl in your arms, and back at him. “she didn’t mean anything from it.”

his heart felt so warm.

you were definitely gonna be the one he would marry one day.

[quackcito]

Summary of the Fornite Spanish Stream [02/14/22]

It was a pretty funny stream with lots of anecdotes. sadly I couldn't find a twitter thread that did the full translation, so I'll try to give more details. They decided to make a dynamic about asking questions to learn more about each other, so there were interesting details

Elementary School Stories

He told Pauline's story[Link] again as a failed date when it wasn't even a date at all. LMAO

He talked about how his craziest party was a kermesse he had in middle school because there was a DJ playing David Guetta songs.

But later he mentioned about how in Mexico he went out to clubs with his friends but didn't know the songs, so one of his friends made him a playlist with the songs that are normally played, there he found out about Bad Bunny.

When he was asked about his biggest fight he mentioned that in elementary school he had a friend who pushed him during recess, he fell on the lunch of a group of girls, so he got up upset, they both held each other's shoulders while staring at each other, then quackity opted to headbutt him which made his friend cry. He was proud that it didn't hurt to do his headbutt however during class his friend kept threatening him with signs and a pen.

His friend wanted to fight with him outside the school next to the moms and other children who were outside, quackity mentioned that he had friends in common who kept saying not to fight. Then quackity as he was ashamed to fight outside (with the moms) explained to him that it would be better to fight in a nearby square but before that, he pulled a trick in which he told him that he didn't want to fight with one of his best friends, but if he wanted to come in and fight he would gladly do it, his friend began to cry for his touching words to end it with a hug. [I laughed so hard, what a touching story! xD]

Fun facts about Quackity

Some of the curious answers that he mentioned:

Quackity told about how he finds songs, first he listens to one song then starts listening to another, until he gets to what he calls '4 songs' , so he doesn't pay much attention to album titles.

In one of the questions Juan asked him about what differentiated him from other creators, he mentioned his creativity.

He talked about how he has a personal project of 'collecting' bald people, on his list is:

Pitbull

Bryan Cranston

The Rock

Komander

Vin Diesel

Hank

El Babo

JuanGuarnizo

Quackity could finally feel happy to find someone shorter than him, he is 172 cm (5'8) while Juan is 169 cm (5'7) approx.

When he feels stressed he sings corridos.

His favorite beers are 'Corona' and 'Millers' and in the case of tequila he likes '1800'.

He hasn't even had his first kiss yet.

He wakes up at 9 or 10, depending on how he feels, sometimes it's AM or PM, but now it's AM.

Quackity responded that he would like to go on a date with ''the bald guy from breaking bad''.

His favorite movies are 'Goodfellas' and Fast and Furious Brazil although he has not seen the latter one. [Yes, he likes a movie he hasn't seen yet, only he is capable of such a feat.]

About his new partnership with Juan

During the previous stream of the [MC] building competition and this stream, their interaction improved and brought a lot of fun things.

At the beginning after Juan died they began to pray and dedicate prayers to each other.

Juan's nicknames for quackity were quackitys, quackyris, quacketas, my love, mamacita and at some point he was 'nalgón'(big bum?).

Quackity imitated Tom Holland's voice[Timestamp(1:23:16)] for Juan, as that was his answer to the question about who they would like to date.

At a very crazy point they decided that they would be partners to buy a hamburger restaurant to sell their own hamburgers, Juan proposed the idea that the Quackity hamburger should have snot* on it.

*I think he implied the idea that he is 'meco' whose closest translation would be: brat? goofy? annoying ipadkid? idk but they were just kidding. [Side note: The restaurant they're talking about is called Butcher's.]

As you can see it was a varied stream full of a lot of fun, it has become one of my favorite streams. At one point I don't remember very well... George sent him a message in which I think he mentioned that he knew Spanish, which Quackity denied, because according to him, he is the one teaching him Spanish [qnf crumbs] EDIT: He also mentioned the possibility of doing a roblox stream with Juan.

Other summaries made by me: Mario Kart + DSMP[01/31/22] [MC]SquidGames[01/30/22]

[shit-talk-turner]

hear me out everybody, someone asked the girl that took the photo with Alex about her height and she said that she’s 5’6 (170 cm) and Alex looks significantly taller than her (i would say he’s about 3-4 inches taller than her “about 8-10 cm”) so that means Alex is probably like 5’8 (178 cm) and idk about y’all but 5’8 IS NOT SHORT AT ALL 😭😭😭 i know im a little overreacting but honestly idc lol// his shoes might contributed a few centimeters. rumors say he is about 171cm, i guess he is 172-3cm then. either ways i am still shorter than him

Either way he’s still 🥵

[rhyselinn]

Gather round folks, it’s time to talk about Shovel Knight characters’ canon heights!

First things first, let’s talk about our friend Reize Seatlan.

His creator, Seizui, has been building canon around this character for years, and this link tells us that Reize’s canon height is 160 cm (5'3").

Let’s take a look at this boy’s sprite: (complete with blue Photoshop rulers in case you want to see where I measured from)

*caveat: Reize’s hair is extremely fluffy. It runs in the family, so I counted his height as being shorter than the height of his hair. It makes sense and it makes the math easier

Counting the pixels in Reize’s sprite, we can see that he is 32 pixels tall. So when we divide 160 cm by 32 pixels, we discover that each pixel in the Shovel Knight universe is 5 centimeters in real life.

So, what does this mean for the rest of the Shovel Knight cast?

Great question: I’ve got the rest of the math (with screenshot proof) under the cut:

Alright, in no particular order, let’s talk about Plague Knight next.

--Worth noting that I’m using playable/Showdown sprites as opposed to boss sprites when possible. This helps keep characters proportional to each other

--Plague Knight is 31 pixels tall = 155 cm tall = 5 foot 1. Tiny plague knight, but as we’ll see later, not the tiniest member of the cast

Tiniest member of the cast, you say? Could you mean... Tinker Knight?

--Tinker Knight slouches in almost all of his sprites, so I tried to find a sprite of him NOT slouching. That extra pixel makes a difference for this tiny character lol

--27 pixels tall = 135 cm tall = 4 foot 5. tiny tinker. But still not the tiniest member of the cast, believe it or not!

Shovel Knight:

--fairly straightforward. i did wonder if his victory pose was any taller than his regular pose, but it's not

24 pixels tall = 120 cm = 3 foot 11. tiny. tiny shovel. the average 9 year old child is between 120-145 centimeters. So not only is Shovel the size of a 9 year old, but he might actually be the shortest in the class...

Black Knight:

--there are interesting things i could say about the bird feather situation but eh. imma go with eh. bird feathers do not count as height, final answer --other than that, pretty easy here

24 pixels tall = 120 cm = 3 foot 11. same size as shovel, aka also the size of a 9 year old. adorable

Propeller Knight:

--slouches REALLY BAD. ALL THE TIME. --his least slouch-y sprite is his tuxedo sprite from the end of Plague of Shadows, so I used that initially... only to realize that he's the exact same height in his other sprites as well. How about that! Maybe he has some kind of a battery pack for his propeller hat in the back of his shirt. It would explain his terrible posture.

--39 pixels tall = 195 cm tall = 6 foot 4. Tall, but not unreasonable.

Mole Knight:

--has some fascinating squash and stretch in his sprite sheet --fabulous from an animation standpoint. difficult from a math standpoint --i refuse to count his fire-hair as height lol

Squash sprite: 32 pixels tall = 160 cm = 5 foot 2 Normal: 36 pixels tall = 180 cm = 5 foot 10 Stretch sprite: 46 pixels tall = 230 cm = 7 foot 6 (!!!)

I have no explanation for this other than artistic liberties lol

Specter Knight:

--i'm so glad player sprites exist lol. Specter's boss fight sprites are just piles of cloth with him slouching underneath. I will gleefully ignore them for this exercise --that said, even with player sprites, specter knight is HUNCHED OVER ALMOST ALL THE TIME. AUGH. --fortunately, cold shoulder sprites exist, and a few other action-y type poses. they’re pretty consistent with each other (within a pixel or so) --how much of Specter's hood is fluffy cloth vs actual height? good question. I compared to one of Donovan's sprites to give us a good estimate, give or take 1 pixel or so

37 pixels tall = 185 cm = 6 foot 0. Pretty average here.

Treasure Knight:

--also slouches in a lot of his sprites, but at least has a few non-slouchy sprites for us to examine. I chose the taller of the two for consistency (difference of 50 vs 51 pixels)

Treasure Height: 51 pixels = 255 cm = 8 foot 4 (!!!?!) This man is huge!

King Knight:

--his normal standing sprite met my requirements, so I used that --I included his boss sprite without the crown for comparison, because a crown does not actually make one taller lol (sorry not sorry, king) --this also shows the importance of using player sprites vs boss sprites. the difference between the two is pretty obvious here

32 pixels tall = 160 cm = 5 foot 2. tiny. tiny king

Polar Knight:

--hunched over. like, all the time. --there aren't really any sprites of him not hunched over, but the least hunched over is him doing his shovel up attack, so I'll use that, and his normal sprite for comparison

Normal sprite: 47 pixels tall = 235 cm = 7 foot 8 (!!!) Tall sprite: 58 pixels tall = 290 cm = 9 foot 6 (!!!?!?!?!) tl;dr polar knight is a beast of a man and we all knew that already hahaha. the tallest man on record in medical history was 8 ft 11. This is absolutely bonkers

Shield Knight:

--while she does have hunched over sprites, i simply avoided them lol. --how tall is her head inside her helmet? great question! the world may never know. Since our only reference for this is concept art (which does little more than tells us her head is shaped like a human’s and not, say, a squid’s), I kinda winged the exact pixel count. --also worth noting is that she grows a few inches when she sticks her leg out lol

Normal sprite: 35 pixels = 175 cm = 5 foot 8 (tall but normal height for an adult woman) Tall sprite: 40 pixels = 200 cm = 6 foot 6 (!!!!) (hOLY MAMA beautiful big buff lady)

And just for fun, I added a few other important characters from the main stories:

Mona:

--we know she is a tall lady, but exactly how tall? --all of her sprites seem pretty consistent in height, which makes my job easy!

48 pixels tall = 240 cm = 7 foot 10. (???????!!!?) She is the size of Shovel Knight and Black Knight stacked on top of each other. Amazing. I have nothing but awe and admiration for this incredibly tall lady

Luan:

--He has a bunch of funky tumbling/hunched over sprites and very fluffy hair. like father, like son. I did my best to pick the most reasonable sprites of the bunch --after that, I decided two pixels of hair is enough. voluminous hair is impressive but is not height --similar to Shield Knight, he grows a few inches when he sticks his leg out lol

Normal Sprite: 39 pixels = 195 cm = 6 foot 4 Tall Sprite: 43 pixels = 215 cm = 7 foot 0 (!!) All the better for reaching those hard-to-reach platforms in the Tower of Fate, I guess?

King Knight’s Mom:

--last but not least, the best character in king of cards (you know it's true lol) --she also has somewhat fluffy hair. i'm not counting her bun as height.

41 pixels = 205 cm = 6 foot 8 (!!!). It's not Mona tall, but it's still very tall. Tallness may run in the family, but King Knight seeems to have missed out on all of those genes hahaha.

Special thanks to https://www.spriters-resource.com/pc_computer/shovelknight/ for having all the sprites in one easy place! Thanks for reading!

*disclaimer: I am only human and if I flubbed the math or measurements on any of this, I hope you’ll forgive me. I promise I didn’t mean to slight whichever character was affected

[myfriendsarerealidiots]

Comparing Adaptations

‘Kay so I went on one of my whims again and did something stupid. Couple weeks or so ago, I wasn’t really in the mood to watch anime so I opened up Netflix and watched a Cdrama that I wanted to watch for a while now.

That Cdrama was ‘The Untamed’ which, prior to me watching it and doing said whim, I thought was just your typical historic Cdrama. Oh boy I was wrong. As I was watching it, I was thinking to myself, “This show’s really selling itself off as BL.” Which, I found out after finishing it was because it is BL. Hah...and that was just the start of it.

As I was doing my ‘Post-show research,’ I found out that it was based of a novel, called ‘Mo Dao Zu Shi��or as translated by the people on the internet as ‘Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation.’ Said novel had 2 more adaptations along with ‘The Untamed’ which were a manhua and a donghua. So me being me, I decided to watch the donghua adaptation and read both the og novel and manhua.

So how I went through this was...

The Untamed (2019)

The Donghua aka Anime I guess

The Manhua which I read while having class (such a responsible student aren’t I)

The original novel

All hail this person who has too much free time on her hands.

Anyways, as it says on the tin, I’ll be comparing the 4 adaptations/versions of the story and see what changes between them as well as the pros and cons. (Wow I sound so professional)

Some background of myself just to avoid confusion

I am not a mega hardcore Fujoshi. I don’t really enjoy reading smut, nor am I old enough to do so bear that in mind

I have 7 years worth of Chinese lessons under my belt which means I barely understand a thing and that I can get some of the jokes like how Wei Ying’s sword is called ‘Sui Bien’ and it’s funnier to hear in Chinese. In other words, compared to like actual Chinese people who live in China, I pretty much have the knowledge of a 10 year old.

The versions of the Manhua and Novel that I read were translated in English so somethings might have been lost in translation.

I have a bit of a goldfish brain so forgive me if I wrote something wrong or forgot the name of a certain character, most likely I will look it up to correct it but if I don’t...well sorry.

I am writing my opinions on each version as I finish them, so if they don’t link up to the original that’s the reasoning behind it.

All of these are my opinions and thoughts on the story. You are not entitled to follow them if you disagree. I personally believe that everyone has a voice of their own and they should use it. (Even though I don’t half of the time.)

Slight Spoiler Warning

I will be breaking down some of the scenes and characters for my comparisons so please keep that in mind.

The Untamed (2019)

As this was my first exposure to the story, I didn’t know what to expect. I loved everything about it except for the fact that literally half of the show was spent in the past, building context for what was happening in the present.

The characters were lovable and all had distict personalities, especially Wei Ying and Lan Zhan which I guess makes sense since they’re the main characters (their actors are also cute and have good chemistry.) Speaking of characters, Yanli has a more forward role in the story here compared to the other versions. The way certain characters were introduced was different too. Since it’s live action, it’s also harder to show things like extreme blushing and such so it makes Lan Zhan look very stoic and way more unexpressive here than in the other versions.

The soundtrack is nice to listen to, especially with the 2 mains singing the theme song together it’s so cute and gives it another meaning in itself. Although, I do wonder how that poor bamboo flute Wei Ying made in like 2 mins plays decent sounding music. Chen Qing(is this the name of it?), the flute he uses after his trip to the Burial Grounds has the same sound quality as that bamboo flute which is just, “how???”

They took out most of the extreme BL!!! I feel like that is the biggest difference between this version and all the rest. I know they did that to appeal to more people but it does remove some of the context to things. That doesn’t mean the moments that were kept in weren’t cute though. It did make the pair look more plantonic than romantic.

As for the story itself, as a story on its own, it’s nice, as an adaptation that’s where the line gets blurry but it leans more towards the good side. They did indeed change some things, made them work better with the medium than if they didn’t.

An example I can place is the mask. Where the other versions used white make up with oddly placed red circles around the eyes, this one used a mask instead. I agree with the choice they made, seeing as they removed the fact that Mo Xuanyu was homosexual and so the make up wouldn’t make sense. It also looks nicer than what I imagined what could’ve happened with they kept with the make up. They do make a reference to this in the show when Jin Ling and Wei Ying have a conversation in Carp Tower. “You’ve seen my face right?” “How do I know? Your face is always caked in make up or covered by that mask.”

Another issue I had which I’ll touch on later was the first episode—I had no idea what was going on for those 40 minutes of screentime.

Donghua

As of writing this post, season 3 of this has yet to come out.

My first reaction to this was “Man, the animation’s pretty, and they made Wei Ying look scarier.” Watching stuff at 12 in the morning isn’t the best thing but that’s what I do.

Anywho, this version made Wei Ying really attracted to going down the path of ‘evil’ compared to the other versions. I don’t really understand why they made this change...but they did so we have to deal with that. And his eyes glow red!! It makes him look scary and cool at the same time. I love it!!

The transitions between certain events were a bit weird to say the least. For example, at the end of episode 2/3 Wei Ying gets forcibly dragged into the Cloud Recesses and the episode ends there. By the next episode, we’re 16/23/13 however many years in the past. This makes it really confusing for someone who hasn’t watched or read any other version of the story. It definitely made me confused and I already finished one.

While ‘The Untamed’ told us everything in one long flashback, the donghua broke it up into small chunks placed whenever information was needed. I don’t think that was a good idea, but then I also think it was a better decision than what they did for the Cdrama. As I watched this adaptation, I found myself confused from time to time because what happened in the prior episode didn’t always match what happened in the current episode like I mentioned earlier.

As for the artstyle, personally, I think some of the characters look similar minus the hair. However, I do like the little ways they made Lan Zhan express his feelings towards Wei Ying.

Speaking of which, when I first saw them together in this version in the forest near the Goddess Temple, I had to do a bit of a double take because of the height difference which wasn’t so evident in ‘The Untamed’. I soon found out that Lan Zhan was taller than Wei Ying before and after he gets reincarnated(?) Prior, it was just a small gap of 2cm which later turned to 6cm after possessing Mo Xuanyu.

I didn’t notice their height gaps while watching ‘The Untamed’ because Wei Ying’s actor, Xiao Zhan, is taller than Lan Zhan’s actor, Wang Yi Bo by about 2 inches which is like 5 cm? and so they had to do some weird thing with platforms to make Xiao Zhan look shorter in comparison.

Soundtrack wise, I personally think that ‘The Untamed’ was better in that sense. Where it had an amazing souding flute, this one had minor earrape in a nutshell.

This version made itself, in my eyes look more like a historical fighting anime as opposed to the BL vibes I was getting from ‘The Untamed’ and the other versions. They added a lot of action scenes and made the mystery more interesting for me. Along with this, the overall look and feel of this made it seem like it came from a completely different source material.

Manhua

Small FYI, as of writing this post the Manhua is at 147 Chapters.

(I should’ve kept up the trend and got a screenshot from that scene in the Manhua but I didn’t so here we are with gay rabbits.)

As your local internet friend who reads more manga than normal books nowadays, I enjoyed reading the manhua and finished it in a couple days.

Compared to the first 2 versions here, these last 2 are both things that you have to read to get through, albeit one has pictures and one doesn’t.

While normally, one would read silently, I like listening to music while I do. And seeing as the OST of ‘The Untamed’ sounds really nice, I listened to it while reading both the manhua and novel when I could.

This one brought out the BL elements that were missing from the first 2. They gave Wei Ying and Lan Zhan a lot of kissing or just straight up affectionate scenes which I think ties in with the general theming of the original novel more.

As this one is probably the closest of the adaptations to the original, it’s the least confusing to read, although that might’ve been influenced by my experiencing the story for the third time at this point. I say that, however, there were many story elements that weren’t present in either one prior to this.

Examples this can be seen with their collecting of body parts that belonged to the former Nie Sect Leader. In ‘The Untamed’ they find the sword spirit which guides them through the rest of the story. In the Donghua adaptation, they get the arm, but also get the head of the the Jin with the hundred holes curse which was an original addition. Here, they get the arm from Mo Manor, find the other one then find the torso and so on before finding the head in Jin GuangYao’s possession.

The flashbacks in this version were also executed really well, in my opinion, as it doesn’t feel super confusing while reading it and it gives just enough information to help the events unfold. It also gives us a chance to see how much of an ass(sorry) Wei Ying was when he was the Yiling Patriach from his own perspective as well as give us a moment of WangXian in the middle of all that chaos.

Novel

Here’s a picture of gay rabbits for everyone.

At this point, I was switching between the novel and the Manhua to read whichever one I wanted at any given time which might have blurred my sense of what belonged in each one so I’ll try my best to make sure.

Since this one is the original source material, it was clear from the get go that this will be the one with the least confusing version of events and the most amount of detail.

I was surprised on how close the manhua and ‘The Untamed’ was to the novel. Although, the former condensed the mystery to fit within the timeframe while the latter hasn’t finished just yet.

Personally, I like this author, and will probably read more of her works further down the line. Even though the version I read was in english, I still could feel the meaning behind certain aspects which I think shows her skill as an author.

The novel clearly shows the mischief that goes through Wei Ying’s head and their gradual (I say gradual but I think Lan Zhan just snapped) change of attitudes towards each other.

Arc One- Mo Manor

Past here I’ll break down the first arc of each one because I think all of them did it in relatively different ways. Be warned for spoilers if you haven’t watched or read all of them.

The Untamed (2019)

Out of all of these versions, this one definitely had me scratching my head in confusion the most even after watching it a second time once I finished the entire show.

As the only version that had the curse issued at the start as a moving factor of the story as well as the Yin Iron which was specifically made for this version, it didn’t explain enough at the start.

There were many things I could say were wrong about this beginning, from starting at a flashback to not properly introducing us to our characters but the biggest problem in my mind was the lack of explanation at the present.

Like I mentioned, starting at a flashback is a terrible idea as it gives the viewer high expectations only for it to be crushed the second it ends. Here, it shows a small portion of the battle at the Nightless City without much context then it quickly changes to 16 years later with a seemingly random group of people.

Another issue is the amount of useless characters who were introduced. In the other versions, there were only 2 Lan disciples who were given names and were introduced properly while here there were more than I want to count. Add to that the one telling stories about the YiLing Patriarch and the weird guy walking around with a flag, and you got yourself total confusion.

Donghua

This one was slightly less confusing to watch. As it starts with a clip of Wei Ying commanding corpses which matches the overall feel of the donghua. The rumors that he died stretched over the time skip and we meet this version of Mo Xuanyu who is caked with make up, whether or not he was a cut-sleeve (gay) in this version, I forgot.

It fully explains the curse and instead of having a couple of Lan disciples just standing there watching, we get to focus on the 2 important ones, Lan Sizhui and Lan JiYing. It gives us a slightly deeper insight into Wei Ying’s mind, as he states ‘you got the wrong one,’ just after being reincarnated, indicating that he isn’t as vicious as painted by the first few minutes of the show. Like the other versions, they also show how he considers the cons of using his demonic abilities and that Sizhui would probably tell on him to Lan Zhan, meaning that Sizhui was a keen, observant young man.

Manhua and the Novel

As for the introductions, these two were very similar. Both have the rumors of the Yiling Patriarch across the screen as we get further down the story and meet our main character.

It gets the details from the Donghua adaptation and mixes it with more information to create a more detailed account of what was happening, also making this Wei Ying seem smarter compared to his counterparts in other versions. He also hesitates more on showing his abilities, knowing that he’s going to be caught if he does.

Final Thoughts

As of writing this, I’m only halfway through the novel but it covers the portion until where the manhua is currently at. I would finish reading it before posting this but it would take too long and probably make this post even longer than it currently is, which isn’t such a good idea. If I had much more patience and effort I would really like to break down each arc and their differences from one another but I can’t be bothered right now. (Sorry)

I can safely say that in terms of adaptations, ‘The Untamed’ is relatively close to the novel, albeit a very condensed version. As flashback filled as it is, it wasn’t very confusing to watch past the first two episodes.

The Donghua adaptation takes several liberties, going more of an action oriented route instead of the calmer more, I wouldn’t say love but character oriented novel.

The manhua is definitely the closest to the novel, so if you really don’t want to read a lot of words, and I mean a lot of words, then go ahead and read it.

What else do I have to say...if you’re new to the story, welcome, if you’re a veteran who’s been here longer than me, sorry for taking up space on your feed. And congrats for making it to the end.

[vanillann]

flashback v (spencer reid x f.reader)

warning: swearing, mentions of crime, metaions of verbal and light abuse(nothing major i promise) and slow burn

word count: 1.8k

flashback masterlist

Penelope and I stood outside the steel doors of Star Chambers, both of us looking back at the black van parked a decent distance away.

“Okay, hit the blue button now,” Penelope spoke to the two men inside our ears, literally.

“Okay baby girl, you both stay safe in there.”

I went to open the door, Pen placed her hand over mine. I looked over at her counting out loud. After seeing said 10, she nodded to me to open the large door.

As soon as the doors opened, the light from outside flooded the dark room. Computers sat around the entire room, a small laughing sugar skull on each one.

Pen and I marched in, confidence in our walk. I felt like I was lying because there wasn’t a bit of confidence in me. Shane stood at the end of the room, his face morphing into a proud smirk.

The sound of Beyoncé played in the background, Pen and I stopped in front of Shane.

Suddenly Pen snapped her fingers and the doors behind us close. I forget how good at this shit we used to be.

Everyone in the room sat quickly, watching us from their seats. Suddenly Shane started clapping, his smirk growing as he walked closer to us.

“Wow, you lost weight.”

The first thing that Shane said to us and I was already going to knock his brains out.

“Nice one.”

Shane turned to look at me, his smirk growing larger which I didn’t think was possible.

“Little step-sissy hasn’t changed one bit, typical.”

“You wish I was typical.”

He turned back to Pen, walking closer so he was right in her face.

“Miss me?”

Pen paused, waiting a few seconds before she spoke.

“No.”

I felt my hand fly up to the end of the sweater, trying to remember the feeling of safety.

“Then prove it.”

Shane went to grab Pen chin, she started moving her face closer until she turned her head at the last second.

I didn’t move, but I was definitely doing a happy dance in my head.

She walked closer to a nearby hacker. As soon as she stood in front of him he stood up.

“I’m going to kiss you,” Pen spoke as she put her hands on either side of his face. He only smiled and nodded quickly.

She then gently placed her red lips on his, the sound of a light moan fell from his lips.

I suddenly felt bad for Morgan and Spencer, since they were closer to the action than I was and they weren’t even in the room.

She then forcefully removed her lips from the shorter boy, his face held nothing but bliss.

Shane tapped his foot, looking at the two un jealousy. I looked back at the two to see the hacker boy watching me closely.

“Not look at me, I’m not getting mono.”

I heard a loud cough in my ear but I ignored it, turned back to look at Shane.

Pen stood up straight, getting back into Shane’s face.

“Us three have a lot to talk about.”

Shane looked down at her lips before looking back into her eyes.

“Yes we do.”

I walked up to the two, throwing my arms over their shoulders.

“Then let's get to talking kiddos.”

Shane nodded his head, every hacker in the room left. I sat down in the chair the hacker boy Pen made out with just had. Once every one left Shane pulled up a seat while Open sat in one not far from me.

“Why’d you take the Sam Russell file?”

I didn’t waste any time, wanting nothing more than to be in the back of the van listening to Pen crazy metaphors and Spencer new facts. I wanted to hear Derek making fun of me in a sweater and plaid skirt.

“That stupid profile thing that you do was wrong.”

I felt myself roll my eyes, him looking at me like we used to when we were kids.

Those memories came flooding back quickly. The way we used to throw lamps at each other, brushing off as a basic sibling fight.

The way he used to look at me in my room until I “figured out how to stop being a brat”.

The way he used to playPen for everything that happened, then as soon as she started crying he took out his camera and recorded.

I felt myself pull harder on the yarn at the end of my jacket, my foot tapping on the stone floor.

“Just give us back the file,” I heard Pen yell, but she sounded so far away.

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, watching Shane quickly stand from the chair. I felt myself pull closer into myself, scared what might happen next.

“I refuse to work with the FBI,” Shane said, walking behind his desk.

“This isn’t about Sam Russell, this is about doing the right thing,” I spoke softly, the old me was taking over again.

“Shut up, the adults are talking,” Shane yelled, gripping onto one of the metal tables.

I wanted to hide, I wanted to run out of this room and into that black van outside.

“This is sure to give me a lot of flashbacks.”

I didn’t even think before the word fell out of my mouth, needing some familiarity to overthrow everything.

I heard shuffling my ear, and suddenly the sound of Spencer clearing his throat brought me back to reality.

“Did you know the only letter that doesn’t appear on the periodic table is J.”

I watched a Pen didn’t make any more or a reaction to Spencer speaking in my ear. I knew he must have shut it off so only I could hear, which made everything feel so much more intimate.

I smiled to myself, Spencer waiting for a sign to stop.

I whisper so quietly I didn’t think Spencer could hear, but once I heard a “anytime” I knew he understood.

“I took the file because your little friends missed almost everything, maybe like the silent partner.”

Shane spoke quickly, pointing his finger in between the both of us.

“We’ve already gone over that theory.”

I knew I was lying, I knew everyone threw that away as fast as it came through the door, but I also knew Shane was a narcissist and if I gave in, I could get somewhere.

“Bullshit sissy,” he gritted his teeth as he walked closer to me. I stood up from my chair, brought to him.

“You didn’t know shit about the inside killer, I know you couldn’t figure that out.”

Shane was swinging his hands all over the place, drawing pictures in the sky.

“You wouldn’t know, you’re stuck in an underground lair like you’re a Disney villain or something.”

Suddenly a hand grabbed my shoulder, pushing Shane and I away from each other.

“Can we all talk like normal people for a minute.”

Shane only nodded, walking to the other side of the room as me.

“How’s your birth dad doing?”

Pen looked him up and down, sympathy in her voice.

“He died seven years ago.”

I hated Shane, but I felt my heartbreak for him a little. I knew he loved his father, he meant a lot to him.

“I posted about it, neither of you said a word.”

I looked down at my flats, the guilt seating in quickly.

“When we both joined the FBI they told us we couldn’t have contact with you anymore,” Pen answered, placing a light touch to his arm.

“Then why didn’t you do it.”

Shane stepped back into her face, I felt myself walk closer to him.

“I got us caught,” I spoke, his eyes turning from her to me.

“You got caught? Come on I know we don’t get along but I know you are smarter than to get caught.”

I felt myself roll my eyes, the whole situation was getting to me again.

“I didn’t know the FBI would show up, they tracked Pen through my phone.”

“Actually, I went to the station,” Pen turned to me with soft eyes.

“Huh?”

Shane smirked while he looked me in the eye.

“She was too scared to stay with me so he ran after you, knowing she’d get caught.”

“I wanted a different life, I wanted my best friend and I to be able to do something that was illegal all the time.”

I felt myself laugh, the memories of everything we needed in those years were illegal, but we alway made it work.

“Well aren’t you both doing better, baby girl.”

I felt myself step back as she walked back to his desk.

“Oh and let’s not forget Mr. “Did you know”, I hope your kids don’t come out wearing sweater vests.”

I felt the anger boil inside me, the idea of him talking about Spencer made me want to go back to throwing laps.

“Shit.”

I heard Morgan's voice in my ear, the realization of everything was kicking in.

“It’s not like that, you don’t understand the phrase,” Pen was quick to jump at Shane, trying to make him understand.

“It’s a friendship, all of it was.”

I felt my heart break, even saying those words in a dangerous situation felt wrong.

“Oh I saw text, it seems the guy you both are sleeping with are miracle workers.”

Shane slammed his hands on the table in front, looking over both of us.

“Because he somehow broke the strongest and smartest woman I ever met in my life and ruined her.,” he said pointing his finger at Pen.

“And Mr. Smarty Pants managed to turn my sweet step-sister into a cold blooded bitch.”

“Oh you want to see a bitch,” I started marching to him before Pen grabbed my upper arm and held me in place.

“We aren’t sleeping with them.”

“Well then I guess you vandalized yourself, which is ten times worse.”

I felt Pen's grip tighten one my, her eyes from liking with tears.

“You aren’t the two I saw as my family.”

“You don’t treat people you see as family like shit, get it right.”

I turned around and stormed out the large building, the sun shining down on the thick sweater. I didn’t wait for Pen and I threw the back of the van open and sat on the bench.

I didn’t do anything as Morgan or Reid spoke to me, the anger building up inside me was too much. I saw Pen join us in the back of the van, her eyes overflowing with tears.

She closed the door behind her and fell into Morgan’s arms, he sobbing took the back of the van.

“You aren’t a bitch,” Spencer said gently from beside me.

“No I am, but that’s the exact trait that's going to let me catch this asshat.”

part iv part vi

cm tag list:

@itsarayofsunshine

flashback tag list:

@summer-writes @snitchthewitch @mortallythoughtfulgurl @l0ve-0f-my-life @101donuts @siwiecola @eldahae @hot-mess-express99 @itlittlefangirl @afuckingshituniverse @mollygetssherlockcoffee @tinylumpiaa @kermitsaysgayrights @matthewreid

[yandere-wishes]

Genie and the Savanclaw boys

So this was someting I wrote to get me out of my sour mood. Latly I haven’t been feeling to great. So I decided to wrote some platonic scenarios between my persona Genie and Jack, Ruggie and Leona, please let me know what you thought of this, I spent roughly six hours on it.

A quick recap of Genie's powers

Vision--  Genie can see small glimpses of a person's past. "Past Vision 2/4" occurs when Genie comes into direct contact with a person's possession (it could be inanimate or their darlings), this allows her to see a quick "video" of their past which can last up to 2 minutes. "Past Vision 4/4" is a longer version of the previous power. For her to be able to view an in detailed vision of a person's past, she must first have experienced a "Past Vision 2/4" of them and this power can only be unlocked while she's in her lamp. Think of it as downloading a video and only being able to watch the first two minutes until you're in "a room with a sort of significance to you." Due to this power also affecting her, Genie is sometimes forced to relive traumatizing events that have occurred to her in the past one thousand years.

Maniacal File-- Note that all of Genie's powers are based on manipulating the "yandere side" of people and or events. Maniacal file lets Genie create multiple scenarios or events for how a person under a yandere influence may act. Think of this as someone having a multitude of one-shots or stories about one particular "character". Now, these "files" allow her to do two different things. One being able to manipulate the person to commit various acts, such as murder, kidnapping amongst other macabre deeds. Two, she's able to mimic almost anything a that a person who's file she "owns" can do. Of course for this to work, the files first have to be shrunk to the size of a USB and inserted into her encephalon manually (or with the use of a bit of magic). The more files she has on someone the better she understands them and the better she can help them with their "wishes", there is also a sentimental viewpoint to these "files". Since Genie is very anti-social and withdrawn these fils are sorta like her "friends". For her to obtain a person "files" she will need to either see them perform a sort of "yandere like" act, stalk them to better understand them or/and have a very in-depth and detailed conversation with them.

Bloody Background-- Certain environments (like the entirety of the Savanclaw dormitory) trigger "bloody background" which always Genie to see multiple "escape routs" or "attack routs". These routes can be used for hiding, stalking and multiple other things.

Jack Howl

Genie’s eyes landed on the warn out beat up door. Scratch marks ranging in size, were left on the wooden entrance, each one a declaration of war. The purple-haired Jinn traced her long slender fingers over a random set of claw marks, debating whether or not to enter the Jackel’s den. For a split second her vision flashed, the ground morphed from marble to rough rock, bones of wild animals littered the ground, the door had disappeared and in its place was the mouth of a pitch-black cave. Screams of terror scorched the air followed by maniacal laughter… She'd seen this place before, stood on the very same flooring and heard the same disparate cries o despair.  “Ten more seconds and then the roar” she whispered. But the visions never last that long, it shattered into a thousand tiny shards and scattered away. Genie once again stood in front of the battered door. Inside she could hear the low grunts and huffed breaths of the ill-tempered first year that resided within. There was no reason for her to enter, she had no need nor business to invaded his privacy like this, her intentions boarded on plain rude…but the curiosity of the matter was eating her alive. She had to know!

Jack Howl first year Savanclaw student with a knack for getting into fights. He had no friends, never showed interest in a darling and the only words he ever spoke where curses and threats. Due to his harsh and brutish manner, Genie had never been able to receive a type three profile on him. Sure she knew all his attack moves and strategies by heart and could predict any action he would partake before he even knew it himself. But that left the biggest question unanswered...what kind of darling did he desire?

Based on pure analysis she could take an educated guess and say a darling whose temper was even shorter than his and who would beat up a defenseless person for kicks. But there were so many "what ifs.." maybe he liked a girl who was the opposite of him. Or maybe someone brave enough to stand in his way and tell him to stop his meaningless fits of rage. All these questions made the young girl's mind race with potential suiter for the boy.

Hesitantly the Jinn pushed on the door, it creaked as it was shoved out of her path. "Um...J-Jack", she counted her heartbeats a thing most Genii tend to do to pass the time. One heartbeat, two--

"GET OUT!" A water bottle flew in her direction, hitting the left side of her face. Ok so maybe she didn't know every move as confidentially as she had thought. "Ow!!" a court whine came after, followed by a stream of tears. Before Genie knew it she had fallen to the floor legs splayed to either side of her and loud sobs escaping from her mouth. The bruise on her head where to waterbottle had hit her pulsed with pain each time her heart beated. She frantically tried to dry the tears with her wrists to no avail. This was not what was suppose to happen, but then again had she expected anything better?

"Hey cut that out" Jack kneeled next to her frame, roughly grabbing both her wrists in one large callused hand. She tried to wiggle out of his grasp for a second debating wheater to kick or headbutt him. Slowly her white hair aggressor lifted his other hand to her face and wiped away her tears. "hey hey no more crying ok? You're going to be alright got it?" His voice was rough and demanding but it held a gentle undertone.

It took a while but eventually, Genie's tears stopped and her sobs died down. When the room had fallen into a semi-comfortable silence jack spoke again. "What the hell was up with barging into my room? Are you trying to get beat up?"

Genie casted her gaze downwards and took in a shack breath. 1 heartbeat, 2 heartbeats, 3 heartbeats...

"I wanted to...to-to talk to you..." Her voice shook with uncertainty and cracked from the strain the crying fit had left on her vocal cords.

"What for?" Jack glared at her, a snarl spread across his lips and his grip on her wrists tightened. "Don't tell me a useless pipsqueak like you want to pick a fight with me?"

In that second a strategy started to map out in her brain, Millian old gears turning and formulating words, tailoring them together to generate sentences. She swiftly lifted her eyes and locked her blood-red orbs with his golden ones.

"I-I've seen you fight, multiple times actually and I...I um came up with some strategies and suggestions for how you can improve...not that you're not tremendous I mean sorta good, already but...but um I can help you improve...if if you want that um that is."

Jack's eyes bore into her soul for a solid moment, he tossed her hands aside savagely. Getting up he stomped in the opposite direction, his bushy snow-white tail smacked her beauty in the face. He paused for when he reached his punch bag, grabbing the role of hand wrap, reapplying it to his bloody bruised knuckles. Finally, he barked out an answer "Meet me by the elephant skull at twelve am sharp, got it!"

feebly Genie stood up, using the wall as a support. "S-sure thing" she replied, surprise evident in her tone "You g-got" a large triumph smile graced her tanned face.

"Oh and bitch?"

Too happy to register the insult Genie cheerfully responded with a chirpy "yes".

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM!"

Ruggie Bucchi

Booted feet pounded on the rough uneven ground. Heavy breathing filled the air. Behind her, Genie could hear footsteps chasing after her. Panic crawled into her mind, stretching its self thinly over her mind. It's ok she mumbled to herself, just realize you've done this a billion of times before.

"Bloody Background" she whispered under her breath. Genie blinked, hundreds of tiny blue circles appeared in her red orbs. A full layout of the land before he appeared in the far left side of her sight, multiple little notes flashed in bright shades of blue and red. navigating through the notes and maps, Genie finally made heads and tails of the situation. Quickly mapping out the most deceitful rout.

--Run 10 meters then take a left, lean to the right there is a 16 cm deep pothole in the middle of the path.--

Accelerating her pace she took a sharp turn, behind her she heard the squeaky raw sound of shows scrapping rock. followed by a few curses. She kept running, watching as a blue circle highlighted the promised pothole. She aimed right, hissing as the rock wall bite into her skin. when she was a good few feet away she heard a scream and 'thump', her pursuer had hit the fallen that should give her a head start of approximately three minutes.

--with a three-minute head start run straight ahead, you'll come to a cliff jump and role down. The current calculations do not predict any major damages to be inflicted, fractures and momentary body shutdowns are not guaranteed to be avoidable.--

Her body was feeling numb, blood rushing to her fingertips. A warm dusty wind hit her face, small bits of sand sticking in her eyeballs. "Thank you Arabian desserts" she mumbled, there really were some benefits of being born in the 8th-century middle east. In front of her the earth seemed to disappear, she braced her self for the jump. Leaping into the air she curled her body into a semi-oval like shape. Upon impact, with the rugged ground, she curls her self further. She finally used the tip of her boot to dig a slow her down. Getting up again she started to run trying her best to ignore the immense pain in her right arms and the various bruises and blooding scratches over her body.

--The skull on an elephant in approaching, hid in the inside of its hollow cranium.--

No, no hiding Genie thought to herself. This whole chase -although exhilarating- was starting to get boring. She scanned the ground, reading the comments trying to find something that might help. The blue comments kept highlighting potentially useful objects and hideouts. Swiftly Genie picked up two rock shards. Holding them tight she switched her path and dashed for the elephant skull in the far right.

She entering through the mouth, quickly taking in her surroundings. Using the jagged bone matter, Genie pulled her self up climbing until she reached the window of the empty eye socket. Looking out she could see Jamil, so he'd been her mysterious stalker. Racking her brain for a second Genie tried to find a reason why Jamil of all people would be after her. Did he need something? Was he having trouble with his darling? Or did he need her for something else?

The second-year Scarabia student was only a few meters away from the skull, his back turned eyes darting every which way trying to find the Jinn girl. Swiftly Genie positioned her self, one foot resting on the opening of the eye, the other ready to push her forward. One arm held her still while the other gripped one of the shards.

One heartbeat, two heartbeats, three heartbeats...

She leaped forward, crashing into Jamil's back. The third dorm's vice president landed face first in the dirt, Genie straddling his back. She raised her hand with the rock, balling it into a fist and slamming it down on Jamil's head.

"Ouch, cut that out you rouge Jinn!"

Genie didn't respond she struck him again and again. A sickly smile spreading on her face.

"Aw look at you little bunny, trying to beat a man to death."

Turning her head Genie glared at the source of the voice. Her eyes immediately widened. They're on top of an elephant spin sat the savage gluten of savanclaw Ruggi Buchi the vice dorm leader.

He leaned his head onto his hand and smirked down at the two. At that moment Genie noticed just how dark the sky had gotten and how many glowing eyes were watching her. She gulped and rolled off of the boy. Landing on the ground in a w sitting position. Jamil also got up, he placed a hand on the back of his head covering the bleeding wound. With his free hand, he grabbed Genie's wrist. "Listen here you useless genie.." Before he could finish Ruggie had landed next to him, claws leaving deep scratches in his arm. With a painful hiss, Jamil retracted his injured arm. Ruggie walked behind Genie placing a protective hand over her shoulder. "Get off our territory before Leona arrives."

Jamile sent one last glare towards the duo before returning from which he came.

"thanks" Genie mumbles

"Don't mention it, that's what a pack is for" Ruggie flashes her a predatory smirk

Leona Kingschalor

Genie leans over Leona's shoulder, arms loosely wrapped around his shoulders. A few centimeters in front of them a blue port screen is floating in the air. pictures of multiple girls rotating with their bios on the side.

"We really need to find you a darling big brother" Genie mutters as she nuzzles the crook of his neck. Leona simply takes another bite of the beef jerky in his hands, he chews slowly, relishing the feeling of his beloved "sister's" warm breath over his exposed skin. "Why are you in such a rush? Despreat to have me occupied with someone else so you're all alone and abandoned again?" He could feel her body tense, her breath hitch, and the nervous tick as she dug her long nails into his shoulder.

"N-no you're just getting older and we need to find the future king his queen. That-that's all"

Leona huffed and glared at the screen, there was something rather monotonous about these girls, they all lacked a certain "spunk" to them. Plus how did she expect him to concentrate when she was right there.

Leona didn't know when the entirety of Nightraven had decided that the naive little psycho jinn would become his "little sister" or even why for that matter. If it had been up to him he'd declare her as his darling the moment her lamp had been tossed through that magic mirror in the director's office. But something had happended, some choices, something! What that something was he did not know...only that it kept them apart.

Genie straightened and walked over to Leona plumping down on his lap and grabbing the screen, scrolling through some names and articles mindlessly. Automatically Leona's hands when to her head patting her softs then braiding a section of their hair to match his own. It was the brotherly thing to do, but when had it become so natural? "Look big brother.." Genie turned the screen and showed Leona the "file" of a round-faced hyena girl. She looked cute, maybe even try worthy...just not right now. "She's cute," he mutters turning his emerald eyes to Genie's face. No, he though her Genie's cheeks where come how rounder and puffier.

"I could set up a date if you--"

"NO!" Leona flinched he hadn't meant for it to come out so harsh. He cleared his throat and gently caressed the "young" girl's face, started pulling both her cheeks. "Why don't you give me her number and I'll give her a call after my nap...how's that?" The purple-haired girl tried to nod despite her flesh being pulled in opposite directions. "Good" Leona let go of her face and got up, lifting Genie up in the process. He walked over to the door of his room kicking it open and letting her fall on the bed, not a second later he plumped down on top of her. Genie let out a giggle and squirmed under him until she had some breathing room. "Get some rest  Ruggi tells me you haven't slept in a week." This was concern, it was how an "older brother was supposed to feel for his "little sister". "But I'm not sleepy-" she tried to protest. "Don't care, do that counting thing you do sometimes maybe that'll bore you enough to drift off."

She obeyed like the good little sister she was supposed to be. As sleep took over his sense Leona heard her tiny voice barely above a whisper.

one heartbeat, two heartbeats, three heartbeats, four heart--

[saikostories]

Nanbaka - The Peculiar Guard pt1

Nanba Prison…

Ever heard of it?

It’s one of the most classified, if not the only, secretive prison in the world. It is the hardest prison that anybody in the world could break out of. It is built on an isolated island, floating on sea.

No one can get in or out of it.

Equipped with the latest technology and guards recruited around the world give it Japan’s largest, and the world’s highest-level, security network. Even the famous Alcatraz Island is full of holes and opportunities to escape when compared to this place.

The full truth of this place will never be revealed to the world. That is because this is Nanba Prison. No one has ever escaped successfully from this prison.

Except one…

The Warden of Nanba Prison is known as Momoko Hyakushiki. She is in charge of it all. The main tower, you could say. And, being a Warden of Nanba Prison, she usually handles large piles of paperwork daily. Those papers vary from inmates, to paychecks, to ministrations in the prison, and guards. At this moment, she was going through papers of guard requests.

There is technically an academy for training to get into the Nanba Prison as a guard, but sometimes the warden herself will gain administrations or requests from people. Going through each paper, one caught her eye.

“Hm…” She picked it up and eyed the paper. ‘I recognize this name…’

Name: Theodora Nicci

Sex: Female

Age: 20

Ethnicity: Italian

Nationality: American

Height: 177 cm (5'10")

Weight: 65 kg (156 lbs)

Blood Type: AB negative

Background:

Has a family of both parents and three younger siblings. Lives in America. Has a criminal record of multiple misdemeanors; vandalism, resisting arrest, petty theft, and Grievous Bodily Harm. She began at age 10, admitting to knowing what she was doing and “simply not caring for the consequences.” She has done her multiple years in different prisons, but has escaped a few because she couldn’t stand their health treatments, or because she got “bad vibes” from them. She was sent to Nanba Prison at age 12, but has been passed through multiple buildings and wardens from her supposed wide “variety” of talents.

Health History:

Has been diagnosed with Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy (HSAN). States that she cannot feel or sense things like the normal human can. She has the inability to sense pain unless it’s severe, like slicing her hand open, all the way through the muscle. Even with this handicap, she she has strong senses of sight, taste, and hearing. She tends to be unaware of injuries on herself, but is usually sharp at catching them.

Request:

“I wish to be apart of the jail guards in Nanba Prison. Finding jobs are hard and sustaining a house, much less an apartment, is practically impossible. From being in Nanba, I have found a way to clean up my act, and have sworn to myself and others to make a new beginning for myself. I know that I can be of service to this prison. If I am given the chance, that is. All I ask for is to be a guard. I am willing to go through the academy if I must. All that I ask for is a chance to prove my worth. ~ T.N

The blue haired warden gazed through the paper again. Placing it down, the woman stood from her desk and began opening files until she found the one she wanted. Once found, she went back to her desk to sit down while reading the inside of the envelope. She compared both files before placing them down. She put her finger against her lip as she thought about this file.

"How strange…” Muttered the Warden.

Knock knock. A knock could be heard from the door. Snapped out of thought, the woman raised her head up and gazed at the door.

“Come in.” She instructed.

Opening the door and peeking their head in was none other than Building 5’s Supervisor, Samon Gokuu. He stepped into the room and greeted the Warden with respect. The last thing he wished to do was anger her, especially so early in the morning…

“Hello, ma'am. I came back here with those papers of the new inmates you wanted.” Said Samon.

“Bring them here, then.” Momoko said with her hand raised out for the papers.

Samon quickly walked to her desk and handed her the papers. She took them carefully and gazed through a few while Samon talked.

“Each new inmate in alphabetical order, just like you asked for, ma'am.” He said. “I made sure that each one was accounted for as well.”

“Good.” Momoko looked away from the papers and to Samon. “May I ask you a question, Samon?”

“O-of course, ma'am!” Samon nervously replied, trying to act calm.

“Tell me what you recall from this past inmate.” Said Momoko as she twisted the file on her desk so it faced Samon. “Inmate No. 7, Theodora Nicci.”

“Ooh, her. I had almost forgotten about her…” Muttered Samon as he glared at the file. “Everyone, including her past prisons, thought she was really a he. She was taller than the average woman and stronger than most men. She got away with being a male for a long time. That is, until she came to Nanba.”

“She became our very first female inmate, correct?” Asked the warden.

“Yes, but nobody but us knew of her true gender.” Samon said before gazing back to the Warden. “She… wasn’t always the calmest person at times… Got into fights pretty easily and lost her temper a lot… but nonetheless, she did a damn good job at keeping who she was hidden. She continuously hopped from building to building until she was finally placed into Building 5. Her ability to watch someone and copy them is unique in itself, but she couldn’t master it completely. If anything she just found her own in making it look professional when in reality she was pulling at straws. But her acting saved herself plenty of times. Trained with me pretty much all the time since it took her mind of things and she thought it was fun. Like to think it was a successful rehabilitation.”

"Is there anything else about her?” Asked the warden. “Did she have any grudges with any of the inmates?”

“Actually, no. Though I can’t say she liked everyone. There were some that annoyed the crap out of her.” Samon answered as he thought carefully. “She actually got along with many people. Once placed in 5, she kept to herself and fights stopped. She respected us guards and in turn earned respect from her fellow inmates. It was pretty weird, how she could make almost anybody her ally by just talking to them.”

"I see…” Muttered the warden as she gazed at the picture in the file.

“If I can ask, why did you ask me about her?” Samon questioned his superior. “She’s been gone for at least 2 or 3 years by now. Don’t tell me she’s being brought back here…”

The warden’s mouth twitched upwards at Samon’s concern. She gazed up at him as a smirk graced her lips.

“Not quite the way you would imagine it…” She replied. She then closed the request paper and handed it to Samon. “Please give this to the Supervisor of Building 4, Kenshirou. Tell him that I ask for this request to be given, and to bring the person here to my office immediately.”

“Uh, alright.” Samon took the file from her hands. “I’ll head over there right away.”

“Thank you. That will be all.” Replied the Warden before turning around in her chair.

Samon eyed her for a moment, wondering if she would ask him anything else. When a response wasn’t given, he turned and walked out of her office. Once he was out, he was very curious about why the sudden mention of one of his past inmates. When the door closed behind him, he took a peek at the request file. As soon as he saw the picture he couldn’t help but exclaim in shock.

“NO WAAAAY!”

***

Theodora Nicci.

The female warden gazed at her desk in deep thought. Ever since the request paper she was given, she couldn’t help but think about the person. Momoko remembered this prisoner well because of the strange occurrences that happened with her.

’…Why would a request come from you of all people…?’

Knock knock.

“Come in.” Instructed the warden as she lifted her head up.

The doors opened to reveal the intruders. The Supervisor of Building 4, Kenshirou Yozukura, was standing there with his hand firmly placed on the person in front of him.

“Excuse the intrusion, ma'am. I retrieved the person you asked for.” Kenshirou said.

Momoko gazed at the person standing in front of Kenshirou. They looked very uncomfortable and never took their eyes off of his hand.

“…Could you… ease up on the grip…?” They asked softly.

“No.” Instantly stated Kenshirou as he gazed down at them harshly.

“Good to know you’re the same as always…” Mumbled the civilian.

The Warden couldn’t help but examine the person she asked be brought in. Standing under Kenshirou’s firm grip on their shoulder was a female. She wasn’t that short compared to him. I’m fact she was almost just as tall. Her skin seemed pale. She wore a white shirt that had the sleeves hang just past her wrists. She wore black skinny jeans that were tucked in to what seemed like black riding boots.

Compared to how she used to look, she seemed a lot more different. If she had to pick her in a crowd, then she would hardly recognise her. Her cheekbones stood out more, as if she had lost weight on her face. Her silver hair was definitely shorter than last time, and more boy-ish too as it stopped just after her ears. Her ocean blue eyes were looking as calm as they always do. She was a lot thinner than before too… yet the way she stood, anybody could tell she was strong. But Momoko frowned when she noticed that her hands were cuffed in front of her, making her look like an inmate. But, with a record like hers, it was to be expected.

“She isn’t an inmate anymore, Kenshirou. The least you can do is release her shoulder.” Momoko said, sharply eyeing the man.

Without argument, he took his hand off of the woman’s shoulder. She seemed to relax as her eyes now gazed at the Warden. Momoko gestured for her to come forwards.

“Please come closer.” Momoko asked her.

With her head slightly down, the woman walked over so she stood in front of Momoko’s desk. Kenshirou, who kept his eye sharp on the woman’s back, eyed her carefully in case she tries something. Momoko held a slight smirk as she recalled the woman’s familiar face.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve seen your face.” Spoke the warden. “You haven’t been causing any problems, have you?”

“I can’t necessarily answer that…” Mumbled the woman.

The warden chuckled slightly, knowing quite well of what the answer is. Her eyes examined her again and stopped at her hands. The skin looked rough and had her white sleeves had traces of dirt. “…Where did all that dirt get on you?”

“Oh, that…” The woman gazed down on the ground, wondering if she was leaving a mess. “I’ve been working on a local farm. Helping with all the heavy duty appliances and all. If it pays, it pays, I guess…”

“I see…” The warden’s eyes stuck to her hands. “Did you get those scars from the farm as well?”

The woman looked down and rolled her sleeves up slowly. Scars littered her skin. She frowned slightly and gazed intently at her hands and arms.

“…Maybe.” She replied with a shrug. “Some of them came from fights, others from mishaps. I probably caused a few of them by accident…”

“I see…” Muttered the warden before looking towards her face. “It’s been awhile since you’ve seen Nanba Prison, correct?”

“Not really…” Replied the woman as she gazed around the office. “I mean, from when I was around, things have definitely changed. I’ve noticed you created a few new centers as well…”

“Nanba Prison is always improving, after all.” Replied the warden.

“When isn’t it?” Said the woman as her eyes came back to the warden.

Momoko’s lip twitched in amusement. “I see your emotionless sarcasm still remains.”

“I…” The woman flinched, probably not expecting to hear that. “…didn’t mean anything behind it, ma'am…”

“I know you didn’t.” Momoko said. She put her arms on her desk before placing her lips against her entwined fingers. “Now, let’s get down to business… You sent in a job request to work here in Nanba Prison. Specifically, to be a guard… Why’s that?”

“Nanba Prison is honestly a lot nicer than the outside.” Replied the woman without hesitation. “The food is nice, making friends isn’t that hard, the place is super clean compared to other prisons, and comparing my pay to here, this place is like a sanctuary. With the jobs I have now, I’m barely making enough to sustain a roof over my head, much less covering for my health insurance and having left over money for food. Nobody in a business industry wants some woman with a criminal record, especially when she has a genetic disorder…”

“Then why do you believe that we would take you in?” Sharply spoke Kenshirou. “You were our prisoner, after all. Why come back?”

“Because…” She turned and looked him in the eye. “This place is full of a variety of strange and unique individuals. Why pass down an opportunity of working in a place full of misfits when you’re a misfit yourself…?”

“Why you…” Kenshirou growled at her before Momoko gave him a sharp glare.

“She means no harm, Kenshirou. There’s no need to be on the offensive.” Said Momoko.

“…Yes, ma'am.” He muttered and stepped back, showing he was backing down.

“Now, why specifically a guard?” Asked Momoko as she looked back to the woman. “Why would you want that instead of an easier and safer job? Like working at the mall or even the theater?”

“Because… I know I can be of use as a guard.” Replied the woman. “As a guard, I can gain the trust of the inmates easier. By doing that, I can gain information other guards usually can’t. Plus, when it comes to stopping fights and taking down runners, I’m one of your best options. Even as an inmate here, I still did all those necessities for you guys, so…”

“You believe you can do it again…?” Finished Momoko.

The woman gave a curt now. Momoko held her gaze for a while, seeing a determined expression in her eyes. It was clear that this woman wants nothing more than to help. Momoko couldn’t help but smirk at her.

“You honestly haven’t changed a bit, huh?” Asked the warden.

The woman gazed to the side, almost in an embarrassed manner. “I… wouldn’t exactly say that.”

“Let me ask you this, Theodora.” Momoko spoke sternly, grabbing the woman’s attention. “From your time here in Nanba Prison we had to specifically be careful of your identity of being a woman. Even though no one but us faculty found out about your gender, I can’t accept you. You are a female after all, and with a criminal record. Yes, you have helped in multiple cases with befriending the inmates and handing us the intel, and you have stopped multiple fights, but I still can’t accept you…”

The woman tilted her head down, gazing at the ground. A mix of emotions flooded her eyes as her face still remained calm.

“But…”

Hearing Momoko drag out the word, the woman picked her head up and gazed at the warden in curiousity.

“…The only thing stopping you is your gender.” Said the guard as her lip twitched upwards. “But, you know how to manage with that well.”

“So, does that mean…?” The woman’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You can’t be serious…?!” Exclaimed Kenshirou.

“You can be a guard of Nanba Prison, as long as you remain male.” Stated Momoko as she smirked. “…Of course, with you being a former inmate, you have your own restrictions as well. You aren’t an inmate here, but you aren’t exactly a free citizen guarding the place. Do you understand where I’m getting at…?”

“Yes, ma'am…!” Nodded Theodora.

Momoko kept her smirk as her eyes narrowed at her. “Welcome back to Nanba Prison, No. 7. I hope you get along with everyone…”

***

“To think you of all people would come back…”

“And as a guard, too…”

“You look so different!”

“I hardly recognised you…”

“This is gonna be good!”

The Supervisors of all buildings were talking with each other in the meeting room, gazing at the person before them. They couldn’t help but feel uneasy with the Warden’s sudden decision. But nobody would question her decision, especially when she was sitting right before them.

Standing before multiple supervisors was Theodora. She had cleaned herself up and put on the given uniform of the Nanba Guards. She didn’t have to do much. Since working on the farm, she had built up enough muscle, yet she was as skinny as a rake. Her robust chest from three years ago had gone and instead had just a much smaller chest. Once every button was in place, she then placed the black officer hat over her hair, securing it carefully on her head. Since her hair was so short, she didn’t need to hide it. Gazing in the mirror, she looked anything but female.

She looked like an ordinary, American man.

“Whoa, she changed so quickly too, I’m impressed.”

“Wait, that’s a 'she’?!”

“Weren’t you listening?”

“My, my~” Sang the Supervisor of Building 3, Kiji Mitsuba. “I’m impressed. She didn’t even have to use cosmetics to look manly. But, she still has that girlish look to her. But, she does make for a handsome fellow!”

“Hi, Kiji.” Greeted the girl in a casual but monotone manner.

“That’s Mitsuba to you.” He quickly said, his eye twitching slightly.

“Oh, right…” She mumbled to herself in thought. “A lot of you guys are Japanese, and this prison is Japanese themed, so I have to use everyone’s last name from now on… Very different from America…”

“Ah, who cares about that.” Samon spoke up, waving his hand as if to shoo the thought away. “He knows all the guard routines anyways, so he’s not exactly a newbie at this.”

“But, isn’t polite to respect someone’s wishes?” Theodora turned to him and asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Eh… I forgot about that polite side of you…” Samon muttered, recalling his past encounters with her. “Just, don’t do everything someone asks you to do, alright? You’re not an inmate anymore, you’re a guard. Remember that.”

“Okay…” She nodded to him in understanding.

“You’re never going to fool anyone if you keep talking like that.” Kenshirou intervene, grabbing their attention. “If you speak so softly and in that high of a pitch then you might as well be saying goodbye to your job.”

“Always so strict…” Murmured Theodora as she deepened her voice slightly. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t underestimate my acting abilities, Kenshirou. I was able to fool your eyes and ears, or have you forgotten…?”

“That’s Yozakura to you,” growled the man.

“Sorry…” She instantly mumbled, dropping her act and apologizing.

“Don’t apologize!” Samon exclaimed at her. “You don’t always have to apologize for something you did, Nicci! Don’t let everyone step on you so much!”

“Okay…” She mumbled and nodded to him.

Samon could only sigh and put his hand on his forehead. 'She really hasn’t changed…’

“That’s right,” Mumbled Kiji as he looked at Samon. “After her multiple Cell Hopping from building to building, she was originally placed under your building, correct? So you know her better than any of us here.”

“Yeah, so where are you getting at here?” Samon asked.

“She, or shall I say 'he’, is a new guards after all.” Kiji smiled at him. “He should be placed under your care, shouldn’t he?”

“No.” Quickly spoke the Warden.

Everyone stiffened and looked towards her. She was so quiet the entire time they accidentally forgotten she was still in the room. Silenced, Momoko spoke up again.

“These are the guidelines you will be instructed under, Theodora.” Momoko said sternly. “Because of your past record, you will not be authorized into certain places. You will stay in one building unless given permission from your building Supervisor, understood?”

Theodora nodded.

“This is the male ward, so you have to be careful.” Momoko instructed her. “I could send you to the Nanba Female Prison, but from your past complaints, you just wouldn’t 'fit in’, correct?”

Theodora nodded again.

“We can’t have you get caught…” Muttered Momoko. “If somehow an inmate does find out, then we might just have to let you go. You know very well of how dangerous this prison is. Once a month, you will report to my office and give me a report on how you’re doing. And don’t make up any lies. I’ll be talking with your Supervisor as well for a behavior check. Step out of line in any way and I won’t hesitate taking your job away and kicking you right back into those cells. Your pay will be just like anybody else’s, but I will be giving it to you by hand.”

“My, my! That’s a lot of guidelines for a newbie!” Exclaimed the prison’s broadcaster, Mitsuru Hitokoe. He frantically patted her shoulder. “Shouldn’t you be a little bit easier on 'im? He just got here, after all! Plus, look at this face!” He grabbed Theodora’s head and began smushing her cheeks. “Ain’t she adorable, whether it be boy or girl!?”

“Hey, stop messing with that handsome face of his!” Kiji yelled and kicked Mitsuru away from the girl, only to hug her in a protective manner. “You might just ruin his adorable face with your disgusting hands!”

Theodora whined softly, not enjoying the tight space in Kiji’s arms. She may not feel many things, but she definitely didn’t enjoy the sensation of being restricted. Momoko slammed her hand on the table, silencing everyone quickly. She eyed Kiji, signalling him to step away from Theodora. Frightened, he complied and stepped a good few feet away from her.

“She isn’t someone we can just shrug and take for granted.” Momoko said sternly. “There’s a reason for why she was directly placed into Building 5, or have you all forgotten that? She may have stopped her criminal doings, but she still has that record. She is to be watched, not adored like a doll. Theodora will work as a guard, but only with this restraint on…”

Momoko lifted something from under the table. She firmly placed the box on top of it, looking straight at Theodora. She then pushed the box, causing it to slide across the table top, right towards the girl. She grabbed it as soon as it came to her, not wanting for it to fall off. She opened the box and picked the item up, trying to understand what it was.

“Is that one of those weird ninja movie masks…?” Samon questioned.

“It’s a human muzzle.” Momoko answered, surprising the group. “This mask is a sort of… restriction. It will hide your lower face well, concealing you feminine features. Not only that, but it will react if you try to yank it off. The parts that wrap around your ears will dig themselves through your ears if you try pulling it off. If you try punching, scratching, or ripping of the mask without properly taking it off, it will cause you harm.”

“Isn’t that a bit brutal?!” Asked Mitsuru.

“She can handle it.” Momoko said. “If not, then she can just give up her job…”

“You purposely planned this, huh…?” Theodora questioned her, gazing up from the mask. “You want to make sure I’ll be taking my job seriously, right? So you loaded a bunch of guidelines and gave me multiple restrictions to see if I can really handle this job…”

“Perceptive as always…” Momoko smirked.

“But wouldn’t that be dangerous?” Questioned Kiji. “What if a prisoner were to act out and punch her mask? It would cause her double the pain. Is it truly necessary?”

“I-I’ve got to agree on this!” Samon spoke up himself. “I understand where you’re coming from, ma'am, but isn’t that a bit too cruel for him?”

“It’s alright…” Muttered Theodora. She placed the mask on and wrapped the hooks around her ears, hearing a clicking sound to signal it’s in place. She lifted her head up towards the Warden.

Being muffled, she still spoke clearly through the mask.“…What else is there?”

Everyone couldn’t help but stare at her. She was very much serious about this job. Samon couldn’t help but sigh again and rub his head. Just her being there was giving him a headache…

“Is there anything we should know about that isn’t on your record?” Asked the Warden.

“…I don’t believe so.” Theodora answered, putting to where her lips are and tilted her head. “Besides the HSAN, I’m just a normal human being…”

“Bullcrap!” Samon instantly shouted, clearly surprising Theodora as her eyes widen. “Don’t tell me you lost that ability because I know you didn’t! You’re still freakishly strong, aren’t you?! No wonder you worked the heavy lifting on that farm you were working at before!”

“Oh, yeah… that…” Muttered Theodora as she had a deadpan expression. “I thought that would be in the files, though…”

“Do you know how hard it is to write down your freakish strength on paper?!” Samon stomped his foot on the ground. “Don’t even get me started on how you almost destroyed one of your buildings because of two inmates fighting!”

“I thought we agreed to never mention that again.” Theodora said quickly, sweat beginning to form on her neck.

“Like hell I wouldn’t!” Samon said, pointing his finger at her. “I know you better than anybody here, so if I get any complaints from the Supervisors then I’m going to have to punish you myself, got it?!”

She gave him a harsh look, annoyed that he was now pressuring her as well. Samon wasn’t affected by it since he knew she was just annoyed. The warden gave out a sigh, causing everyone to look at her.

“You can’t go by your full name.” Momoko stated, getting everyone back on track. “For now on, you’re Theo Nicci. You will remain under this Supervisor unless I say so. Please get along with them him…”

The room became silent. Everyone kept shifting glances, wondering who will get the extra work of a new guard. Theodora just remained stoic, wondering who she will be put with. 'I hope it’s Samon… Over half of them hate me, and the others just want me for looks and what I’m capable of… Only Samon really knows me…’

“Your Supervisor is… Hajime Sugoroku.”

“Huh…?”

Everyone’s head turned towards the man named Hajime Sugoroku. Theodora knew who he was since Samon always ranted and raved about him before. She recalled seeing him in action before. It actually made her nervous. She tried to conceal her shock as she gazed at the older man. He looked at the Warden in surprise.

“Wait, why me?” He asked her.

“Because, Theo has a thing for troublemakers…” Replied the Warden. “I’m sure he’ll be of great use for you. It’s only been two years. I have faith that you can handle him on your own.”

Hajime could only shift his attention onto Theodora as she stood there. She held his gaze, neither backing down for a solid minute. Theodora backed down, gazing at the table, and shifting the hat’s visor to hopefully hide her eyes. Hajime could only sigh.

This was going to be rather troubling…

***

How annoying…’

Hajime Sugoroku, Superviser of Building 13, could only sigh in annoyance. He glanced at the woman, now man, standing beside him. They were on the Nanba Loop Line, trying to get back to building 13. After being dismissed by the Warden, Theodora, or Theo, had been following him like a shadow. It honestly creeped him out from how silent he was. He really was a shadow…

'The guy doesn’t talk at all… You would think she would at least say something, or ask a question…’

It took an hour before getting off of the transportation. The walked through the building, passing a few cells, and traveling through the long hallways. Theodora kept gazing around, amazed with how much the place had actually changed.

“…Got any questions?” Hajime asked her.

“…Not really.” She said. “But… Do you know anything else about this muzzle? The Warden said no harm will come to me if this thing isn’t harmed…”

“Well, you won’t be able to take it off yourself.” Hajime said. “The thing’s thumb printed, so only your Superiors can take them off. That would be me…”

“Wow, I’m impressed.” She said and gently touched the mask. “This place is always advancing… It’s actually startling…”

“I know I’m not supposed to, but…” Hajime looked over his shoulder and at her. “When night time comes, and when you leave the island, I’ll take that mask off of you. It’s bad enough they’re pressuring you because of your past record, but that mask? I can’t have my newbie unable to fight simply because of pain.”

Theodora smiled at him, not like he could see, but she was pleased. “Thank you. But, don’t worry. Pain will be the last thing to stop me from fighting…”

“Uh, right, that HS… whatever you have.” Muttered Hajime. “What exactly does that do? Do you need prescriptions and stuff?”

“No, not really.” She replied. “HSAN prevents me from feeling things. I can’t tell the difference from hot or cold unless it’s extreme. Pain is a thing I can hardly feel. In order for me to actually feel pain, I would would either have to be punched so hard my organs are crushed, or I would have to be stabbed.”

“That bad, eh?…” Hajime looked at her in surprise.

“Yeah, but, it’s not totally bad.” She shrugged casually. “If I could feel pain, I wouldn’t quite be able to have the abilities I have now… My hearing’s sharp, as well as my eyes, and I can taste poison if somebody tries anything. It’s neat…”

“What about smell?” Hajime asked.

“Actually, my sense of smell is quite terrible…” Theodora admitted. “I believe it’s because of my condition…”

“But yet you can taste and hear?” Hajime raised a brow at her.

“Well… My sense of taste is good, but not extremely great.” The woman tried explaining. “I’ve trained myself to recognize poison when I eat it. But, it’s still tough compared to other people. My hearing… It’s very possible that I may lose my hearing because of HSAN. So, I’ve trained myself so it’s sharp, so that hopefully it won’t completely disappear on me… That’s just how it works…”

“That is pretty bad.” Hajime nodded to her in sympathy. “…Will it affect your ability to run and fight if you must?”

“Not at all.” She said, her voice becoming light as if enjoyed. “Fighting is all that I’m good for. I remember being in one of these cells… Some guys tried escaping but I broke my door down and stopped them. I remembered you got angry with me and hit me, heh. You guys didn’t know about my identity then.”

“Yeah, I remember that…” Hajime sighed deeply. “You gave me a heart attack…”

“Sorry.” She said, her eyes showing amusement.

They kept advancing through the building. Once they got to the headquarters, or faculty office, Hajime opened the door and entered. Alloisia followed him, gazing around the room carefully. But her eyes stopped and landed on a blue haired boy that was sitting at a desk. He turned and greeted them with a smile.

“Oh, hello Supervisor! Was the meeting well?” He asked in a childish way.

“I guess you could say that…” Grumbled Hajime. He then jutted his finger at Theodora. “This is a new guard that’ll be working with us in the building. But they’re on heavy restrictions, so don’t allow them to access high status papers and files.”

“Oh, okay…” Muttered the boy as his smile fell. He stood up and put he hand out to her. “I’m Seitarou Tanabata. Nice to meet you.”

“Uh, you too.” Theodora said, her voice sounding very boyish, and shook his hand carefully. “Theo Nicci.

"Just let me know if you have any questions.” Seitarou said and smiled again. “I hope we get along.”

“…Yeah.” Theo nodded to him since she couldn’t show a smile.

They released hands and Seitarou turned to get back to work. Hajime had already taken a seat at his desk and began to light himself a cigarette. He puffed out a bit of smoke before pointing to a very unoccupied desk.

“This’ll be your desk.” He told her. “Take a seat and begin going through those stacks of paper. Divide them into three piles. One for guards, another for inmates, and the last one for garbage. You can do that much, right?”

“Understood.” Theo nodded his head.

He walked over and took a seat. He grabbed a packet of clipped paper, his eyes skimming and scanning the pages. As he did that, Seitarou couldn’t help but eye him. There was just something… unsettling about the newbie. He figured it was the mask, but it didn’t help him calm down. Seitarou went over to Hajime and decided to ask a few questions about the new guy.

“Excuse me, sir, but…” Seitarou grabbed his attention, trying not to grab the guy’s attention. “What’s with that mask on Theo’s face? It’s kind of… scary looking.”

“What? It’s just a black mask.” Hajime said, looking at Theo.

“Yeah, but… isn’t it a bit strange?” Seitarou asked.

“It was given to him by the warden.” Hajime stated. “That mask restricts him from doing things he’s not supposed to. He has a criminal record, but was allowed to become a guard anyways. He can’t take that mask off. If he even tries, the mask will activate and harm him. Only the Supervisors of Nanba can take it off.”

“S-seriously?!” Exclaimed Seitarou. “I-is he s-safe…?!”

“Of course he is.” Hajime said calmly. “He willingly asked for the job and proved himself to the Warden. He’s got a lot of pressure on him because of his criminal record, but he can be relied on.”

“O-oh… I see…” Seitarou relaxed.

Suddenly, a small beeping could be heard. Theo turned around, confused to what the noise was. Seitarou walked to his desk and picked up his phone and stopped the beeping.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized to them. “Looks like I have to do my rounds.”

“Actually…” Hajime placed his pencil down. “Seitarou, wait. Take Theo with you. Show him around the place and warn him about a few of the inmates. He needs to see the rest of the building, after all.”

“A-are you sure, sir?” Seitarou asked, nervous about being alone with a criminal.

“Yes I’m sure.” Hajime stated bluntly before looking at Theo, who was staring at him. “Theo, follow Seitarou around. You need to be shown around the place.”

“Alright…” Mumbled Theo as he stood from his seat.

“J-j-j-just f-f-follow me…!” Stuttered Seitarou as he stiffly walked out of the office.

'Is he okay…?’ Wondered Theodora.

Either way, he followed behind Seitarou. As he followed him through the building, he noticed how nervous and jumpy Seitarou was. He was literally shaking as he walked. Theo wondered if her was okay, concerned if he should call for Hajime. He easily caught up with Seitarou and placed his hand on his shoulder. Seitarou yelped and jumped away from him, clearly startles, as he was still shaking in his place. Theo was surprised by this and was confused for his fearful expression. Isn’t he a police officer?…

“U-uh, you okay, Seitarou…?” Theo asked him.

“U-u-um, y-y-yeah, I-I-I’m f-f-fine…!” Seitarou stuttered.

'He’s anything from fine.’ Theo deducted. He sighed softly at him. “Calm down. I don’t know why you’re so jumpy, but you should take a breather. None of the inmates are going to respect you if you show them fear. You should calm down before we continue on.’”

“N-no, that’s okay…” Seitarou said as he appeared to relax.

“Do some of the inmates make you nervous?” Theo asked.

“W-well, sorta, but that’s normal for me…” Seitarou admitted, not gazing at his eyes.

“Then why are you so nervous?” Theo asked with a raised brow.

“I-it’s just…” Seitarou fidgeting with his hands, not locking eyes with the new guard. “Y-you make me nervous… having a criminal record and all…”

Theo sighed softly. 'I knew it…’ Pushing away the sad little feeling in his chest, he lifted his hand up and gently patted Seitarous shoulder in a slow manner. Seitarou hesitantly looked up at him in confusion of the gesture.

“Don’t worry, I’m on your side.” Theo said softly as his eyes seemed to smile. “I’ve done my time and I’ve corrected the error of my ways. You might not trust me, and I understand why, but… please trust me enough to have your back. My goal is to be a guard, not an enemy. Please believe that…”

Seitarou stared at him for a moment. He smiled again and nodded. “Alright. I apologize if I caused any offense to you.”

“Not at all.” Theo lifted his hand and waved, as if to shoo the thought away. “I understand where you’re coming from…”

“Now, let’s go back to looking around the prison.” Seitarou said. “There’s still a lot for you to learn here. Just ask me if you have any questions, okay?”

Theo nodded to him.

Seitarou continued to lead the way around. Theo stayed behind him, just like he did with Hajime, and basically followed him like a shadow. His eyes kept looking at the cells, sometimes seeing the inmates. It made him recall his time here in Building 13 when he was a prisoner. 'It’s changed, but at the same time it hasn't…’

A loud sound of banged metal snapped Theo out of his thoughts. He also heard Seitarou yelp right after. Theo looked at him, startled from his scream, confused to why he screamed. He looked to his right to see four inmates at the bars, making scary faces, hissing and glaring at him. Already understanding the situation, Theo narrowed his eyes at the group.

“P-please… stay back…!” Seitarou said, his voice soft and full of fear.

The four inmates dropped their scary expressions and began snickering like a bunch of school girls. Theo crossed his arms, wondering why they had bones to pick with Seitarou.

“ 'Please… stay back!’ Haha!” Mocked one of the inmates.

“Five bucks he peed his pants!” Betted another.

“Layoff, would ya?” Theo spoke up, glaring at the bunch.

“Y-yeah!” Seitarou said as he tried to collect his confidence. “I don’t have to take this!”

In a blink of an eye, the tallest inmate hit the bars and began yelling at Seitarou in an attempt to scare him. Needless to say, the poor guard fell backwards in fear. Theo could only sigh, wondering how on earth he became a guard.

“Knock it off!” Theo turned his head and yelled at the four, his voice being loud and deep, despite his mask.

“Who the hell’re you?” Asked on of them, specifically the one with blond and pink hair.

“I’m on of the new guards here. Mind giving me your names?” Theo asked, eyeing each of them carefully.

“A newbie, eh?” Said the same inmate while smirking. “How about we play a round of poker and we can tell ya all you wanna kn—”

“No thanks.” Theo instantly shot down without hesitation.

“You didn’t even let me finish my sentence!” Yelled the inmate.

“I’ll just ask Hajime for you files when I get back to the room.” Theo said and gazed up at the plate above the cell door. “Cell 13, eh? I’ll make sure that it’s memorized…”

“What’re you even doing following that wimp?” Asked an inmate with black hair, pointing at Seitarou.

“You insult him one more time and I won’t hesitate to shut your mouth.” Theo threatened, not at all liking their attitudes.

“I-it’s fine, really!” Seitarou jumped his his feet and began to frantically wave his arms in front of Theo to distract him. “L-look, let’s just ignore them and continue on, okay? There’s still a lot for you to see…”

Theogazed over his head and locked eyes with each inmate. He gave them one last glare before asking Seitarou to lead the way. The blue haired male turned and briskly began walking in a very stiff manner. Theo, dropping his glare and watching Seitarou, could only sigh at his figure. He could only stuff his hands into his pockets and begin following him while in thought. 'He’s a complete scaredy cat… I wonder how long he’ll last in this Prison…’

“You need some confidence.” Theo stated as they were in a different hall than before.

“I know…” Seitarou muttered. “I can’t help it, though. Those four are the most troublesome inmates we have here in the building…”

“Why’s that…?” Theo asked, raising a brow at him.

“They try escaping whenever they can.” Explained the guard. “The big guy is No. 69, the short one is No. 25, the guy with the hat is No. 11, and then there’s No. 15. Each of those guys are known for escaping their cells and past prisons. It’s the very reason for why each of them are here. They’re nothing but trouble…”

“Each of them are known for escaping, huh…?” Mumbled Theo before speaking towards Seitarou. “So, have they tried escaping from their cells?”

“Plenty of times.” Admitted Seitarou. “They escape and try escaping the building constantly. But they’ve never been able to get past Supervisor Sugoroku. We never tell the Warden, though. If we did it would be our paychecks on the line if we did that. So, it’s best if you don’t either. Our Supervisor might punish you for it.”

'Sounds like Hajime…’ Sighed Theo. 'This might be bad… The warden threatened to strip me of my job if I lied to her. But, since Hajime will be asked the same, he would be lying as well. But still…’

“I’m sure you’ll do fine here.” Seitarou said, catching Theo off guard. “You seem to know what you’re doing. Sugoroku has a lot of confidence in you, so I believe I should as well. You faced against those four when they were mocking me, so I know you will do fine. Like you said, you just need confidence…”

Theo felt his eyes soften, feeling rather sympathetic towards Seitarou. He reached his hand out and gently wrapped his arm around his shoulders to hopefully cheer him up.

“Yeah, well…” Muttered Theo. “You’re still pretty cool, Seitarou. You’re technically my superior, and you’ve been around longer than me. Yet, even though you’re scared, you still stay and do your job. That’s an impressive right in itself. Don’t let those guys get to your head, alright? They’ve got nothing that you have. Just believe in yourself sometimes, alright…?”

“…Yeah, thanks.” Seitarou smiled up at him.

Theo smiled, not like he could see, but laughed lightly to hopefully cheer Seitarou up. They continued down the hall as the mood seemed to lift. 'All you need is to believe…’ Theo thought to himself while frowning. His fist tightened without Seitarou knowing. 'Believe… Yeah, right…’

***

Poke. Poke.

Poke. Poke. Poke.

'Huh…?’

Theo, who has been peacefully asleep, woke up to his forehead being poked. He opened his eyes to see Seitarou squatting down before him since Theo was sleeping on the couch. Theo grunted softly and sat up, now realizing that he passed out without taking any of his clothes off.

He placed his hands on his face to rub his eyes. But he noticed the absence of a certain object. He touched his lower face, only to realize the mask was gone. He doesn’t remember taking it off, so he wondered if Hajime did it when he was asleep?

“Hey, did you stay here all night?” Seitarou asked.

“I… guess I did. Sorry.” Apologized Theo. He glanced around the room. “Where’s uh… Hajime?”

“He called in sick.” Seitarou said.

“Sick?” Theo questioned in surprise. 'I hope he doesn’t have the mask… The Warden might screw me over if I’m seen without it…’

Looking back and forth, he spotted it right on the table in front of him. He grabbed the mask as Seitarou walked away and towards his desk. Carefully placing the strange yet cool material against his mouth, he carefully wrapped the hooks behind his ears, stopping when he heard the loud click. He sighed softly before look to Seitarou.

“So, if Hajime isn’t here, who’s taking his place?” Theo asked.

“Oh, that would be Yamato.” Answered Seitarou. “Do you know him?”

“Yamato…?” Theo questioned as he thought. “That… sorta sounds familiar…”

Suddenly the door was kicked open, startling both men. They looked towards the door to see a very tall man in it’s place. He stepped right into the room and began laughing. Both younger men sweatdropped at the very sight of the guard.

“Ha ha ha ha! My apologizes!” Bellowed the man in a friendly tone. “I tend to forget how strong I am once in awhile!”

“W-who…?” Theo could only stare at the man in shock.

“Yamato, this is our newest recruit, Theo.” Seitarou said and then looked at him. “Theo, this is Yamato. He’s our superior, and is temporarily replacing Hajime for today.”

“Greetings! It is a pleasure to meet you!” Exclaimed Yamoto and jutted his hand out to him, grinning widely.

“U-uh, yeah, you too…” Mumbled Theo.

He grabbed his hand, a bit overwhelmed by his enthusiastic energy so early in the morning. Yamoto roughly shook his hand up and down, causing Seitarou to fear he might rip Theo’s arm off.

“I’m glad we have a new pair of hands on deck!” Yamato exclaimed before finally releasing his hand. “Could you do me a favor?”

“U-uh, sure…” Theo muttered, staring at his hand. 'My hand feels weird…’

“Could you go around the first section of cells and wake everyone up, please? It is almost time for breakfast!” Yamoto exclaimed.

“…Okay.” Theo nodded.

“Here!” Yamoto grabbed a clipboard and jutted it out to him. “These are the names and cell numbers of each inmate! Please make sure they’re all accounted for!”

Theo nodded again, carefully taking the clipboard. 'I guess I have no choice now…’

Just as he heard Yamoto say something else towards Seitarou, Theo quickly escaped the office and stepped outside. He looked at the clipboard and sighed, feeling his breath bounce back at him thanks to the close contact of the mask.

Doing as Yamoto asked, Theo walked to each cell and made rollcall to each inmate. He made sure each one was accountable for before moving to the next cell. Most of the inmates didn’t seem to care about him, but a few cursed at him. Theo wondered if they were doing it because they knew Hajime wasn’t here. Not being affected by their crude language, he continued on. When he soon got to Cell 13, he couldn’t help but eye it carefully.

'These are the jerks who mocked Seitarou…’ He recalled as his eyes narrowed. 'I’m sure they won’t hesitate to try and irritate me. I have to remain calm, no matter what…’

Taking in a deep breath, he stepped towards the cell. Using his outer fist, he banged against the door to grab the inmate’s attention and, hopefully, wake a few stragglers.

“Rise and shine, boys.” Theo called through the bars. “Roll call time!”

He heard a few groans, but continued on.

“No. 69!” He called.

“Here…” Groaned the big guy with the mohawk.

“No. 25!”

“Hehehe…” Giggled the smallest one, who still appeared to be sleeping.

“Please wake him up. It is close to breakfast after all. No. 11!”

“I’m here!” Yawned the guy with a gigantic braid. “No need for shouting…!”

“No. 15!”

No response came. Theo raised his brow in alarm.

“No. 15!” He called again, this time using more aggression.

A soft groan came from inside as his head popped up into Theo’s sights. “Too loud… What’s your deal Haji—”

The inmate’s eyes shot open when he realized what guard was waking them up. The others, seeming to now realize this themselves, all gazed at her wearing the same expression of shock. Only No.15 snapped out of it quickly.

“Well well, looks like the newbie’s back.” He said and crossed his arms. “Is Hajime sending you out to do his dirty work?”

“First off, as a 'newbie’, it is required of me to do morning roll call every now and then.” Theo stated and he switched the papers. “Second off, Hajime is absent today. He’s sick.”

“Seriously…?” No.15 groaned and flopped back into bed.

“Aw, man. It’s no fun when Hajime’s not around…” Muttered No.11.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Theo said as he turned to the next cell. “We got a guy filling in for Hajime who’d be happy to pummel you guys if you do anything naughty.”

“And who might that be?” Asked No.69 who seemed to almost sneer at him.

“His name is Yamoto, or something…” Muttered Theo while simultaneously reading the paper in his hand. “He’s basically my higher up, but is ranked under Hajime. He’s in charge for today.”

“Oh god, not him!” Groaned No.11. “I swear if he makes us do morning training again I swear I will beat him myself! My arms can’t take his hardcore training!”

“…Training…?” Theo questioned, gazing at No.11.

“Yeah, he’s really serious when it comes to training.” Spoke No.25, who now looked awake.

“He makes us do one thousand push ups, then one thousand sit ups, and then he makes us run around the track until we hit one thousand km…” Grumbled No.69

Theo stiffened in shock as chills went up his spine. 'I recall him now… No wonder he was so familiar…’

“It’s terrible, am I right?!” Exclaimed No.11 who noticed Theo’s expression.

“Yeah… It sounds it…” Theo agreed, secretly knowing first hand of his harsh training. 'That man made me do fifty times the amount that he regularly does because he figured out my ability… Needless to say, he made me experience a new type of pain…’

“So, you gonna tell us your name or what?” Suddenly asked No.15.

“Huh…?” Theo looked at him in confusion since he snapped him out of thought.

“You said you were going to go into our files and figure out our names, right?” No.15 spoke again, looking almost annoyed. “You figure out our names. Mind giving us yours?”

Theo’s lips pressed together in a flatline. As he thought about answering, he sighed softly and got himself to relax.

“Theodore Nicci. But, you can call me Theo if you want…” Theo said, holding their gaze.

“Knee-sea?” No.15 tried pronouncing his lastname. “The hell is that from?”

“It’s Italian…” Theo stated.

“Sounds like a type of bread…” Muttered No.69.

“…Heh.” Theo smiled lightly in amusement. “Yeah. I actually get that a lot…”

“Wait, you’re Italian?” Exclaimed No.25 as he came up to the bars, grinning. “That’s pretty cool! I didn’t know the name Theo was Italian!”

“It’s not, actually.” Theo corrected him in clear amusement. “Theo is more or less an early British or Celtic name. But, Nicci is totally Italian. I’m actually American like my father while my mother is Italian.”

“Now that’s a pair of genetics!” Exclaimed No.11.

“Tell me about it,” Theo said and laughed lightly. “I basically know every Italian curse word thanks to them. Holidays are great. A gigantic Italian dinner while we drink until we’ve emptied the bars. But, that is until you start a bar fight. So many angry Irish guys, ugh…”

“That sounds awesome!” Exclaimed No.69.

“Sometimes it is…” Theo shrugged. “It humorous, actually. My dad gets drunk every holiday, and he’s gotten drunk so much, that all of the local police stations know his name to heart. Not the greatest way to get the Police to know your family, but it’s pretty hilarious sometimes.”

“So your dad’s a bit of a criminal while his son’s a cop?” No.11 questioned before letting out a laugh. “Now that’s hilarious!”

Theo nodded his head as he thought about it. “Not only that, but he was a cop himself, so it’s double the hilarity.”

“Seriously?” Asked No.15. “That's… pretty ironic.”

“Yeah, my siblings get a good kick out of it.” Theo smiled as he thought about his family. “We’re not the greatest family in the world, and we’re pretty big nutjobs, but we make it through just fine…” Theo then put on a poker face and hit his clipboard lightly. “Now, that’s enough talk about myself. I need to finish up rollcall. You four wait here and we’ll get out when breakfast is ready.”

“Okay!” Happily exclaimed No.25.

Theo turned and went to the next cells. He smirked to himself as he walked. 'Even though they aren’t exactly fond of me, I at least got them to enjoy a bit of my story. Slowly I’ll gain every ounce of their trust. Until then… I have to do my job.’

***

“Wow, he’s really making them go at it.”

“Yeah, he is…”

Theo shivered at the sight of Yamoto forcing the inmates to do an extraneous amount of exercising that’s practically inhuman. Seitarou and Theo was outside in the training area with them since they had to keep an eye on the other inmates. From what Theo understood, the four from cell 13 tried to escape but Yamoto caught them since he was literally in front of the door.

'At least it explains the bumps on their heads…’ Theo though as he watched them.

“Hey, Theo, are you okay?” Seitarou asked him. “Your face looks pretty pale, are you alright?”

“U-uh, yeah…” Theo nodded before glancing back at Yamoto. “Yamoto’s training looks pretty terrible… I wouldn’t want to be victim to that…”

“Yeah, I can agree with you there…” Seitarou nodded as he looked at the inmates. “But, those four deserve it for being naughty like usual. They should just stay in their cells…”

“Hm…” Theo was now staring at Seitarou. “Have you guys figured out how those guys continuously keep escaping?”

“Well, we know who, but we’re not quite sure how.” Admitted Seitarou. “No.15 has the ability to unlock any sort of lock possible. Shackles, chains—he can unlock them all. It’s impressive if he only used it other than breaking out…”

“Really…?” Asked Theo in surprised. “That’s impressive… I want to see hat for myself, but maybe another time. I’ve read his file and all, but I had no idea that could be a talent of all things…”

“Yeah, it really surprised us the day he first tried to escape.” Seitarou said. “Ever since then we’ve never really had a break with their jail escapes…”

“Have they ever tried releasing other inmates?” Theo asked him.

“No, never.” Seitarou shook his head. “But, they do sometimes escape into other cells to play with them or just be social. Supervisor Sugoroku always gets angry whenever they get out of their cells without permission…”

'Yeah, I figured as much…’ Thought Theo. “…Guess we should be more alert for today with them. But, with Yamoto’s exercises, I doubt they’ll have enough energy left to even try and run…”

“True.” Seitarou nodded in agreement.

'Those guys are real troublemakers, huh? What else is there to expect when it comes to Building 13…’

***

“Ow ow ow ow ow…!”

“My everything hurts…”

“Yamoto’s so cruel…!”

'I can literally empathize with them even with my HSAN…’

As soon as lunch came around Yamoto ended their exercising. Now it was Theo’s job to get these four to the cafeteria without any trouble. And through the entire time, they did nothing but complain. But Theo wasn’t annoyed, though. He honestly knew where they were coming from, and even he complained when he spent his time here.

“Yo, Theo,” called the familiar voice of No.11.

“Huh…?” He looked over his shoulder to him.

“Have you ever done training that extraneous before…?” The long haired male asked.

“Oh yeah, totally…” Theo nodded and paled, sweat dropping as he recalled the memory. “Yamoto is a very brutal, brutal man…”

“Wait, how would you know that?” Asked No.15. “You’ve only been here for a day, right? You make it sound like you been through it before.”

“That’s because I have.” Theo stated bluntly. 'The Warden said that they couldn’t know I was a woman. Never said anything about being a criminal…’

“Really? When did you do that?” Asked No.25.

“Well…” Theo looked over his shoulder as his eyes shined in mischief. “Let’s just say I’m not your average jail guard…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” No.15 asked, looking unimpressed by him.

“It means…” Theo looked in front of him. “I was a prisoner of Nanba Prison myself.”

“SAY WHAT?!” All of them exclaimed.

“Ha ha, funny joke, dude.” No.15 said, clearly doubting Theo’s claim.

“Yeah, that’s hilarious!” No.11 began laughing a fake laugh. “I mean, having their own prisoner become a guard? Isn’t that illegal, hehe…?”

“Why do you think this thing’s on me?” Theo turned his head towards them, gesturing to his mask. “This isn’t a regular mask. It’s 'special’…! Punishes me if I break any of the harsh guidelines given to me.”

“What you’d do to get placed in Nanba?” Asked No.69.

“Plenty of shit, to be honest.” Theo stated and shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve stolen stuff, vandalized some stuff, fought the officers when being arrested, Seriously harmed a few people—there’s plenty of stuff I’ve done. But the main reason I got kicked into Nanba was that I broke out of jail…”

“How’d ya do it?” No.25 asked. “Did you pick the locks?”

“No…” Theo replied as he thought back to it. “After a day of being there, when the clock hit lunch, I knocked the guards out and stole their keys… But, I had to break the doors down because the surveillance cameras caught me, putting the security bars down to prevent my escape. I eventually made it out and ended up on the run…”

“But you got caught.” No.15 stated bluntly, causing Theo to nod.

“Yeah. Damn hounds got me, heh.” Theo let out an amused huff. “I was… In a really dark place back then. I was twelve then. Once I was recaptured, they put harsh restrains on me and sent me to Nanba. But… I was more trouble than I was worth…”

“What happened?” No.11 asked.

“Sorry, that’s for another time!” Theo turned to them, appearing to smile, as his emotionless tone became light hearted. “I can’t let the readers learn about me on the fifth chapter only! That’s poor writing. Gotta keep them wanting more, after all!”

“C'mon, man!” Whined No.11. “It was just getting gooood!”

“Yeah, well, we’re already at the cafeteria.” Theo stated as he went back to his usual monotone self. “You guys are still on a bit of a timer, right? Back when I was here they only allowed us an hour to eat before kicking us out.”

“Only an hour?!” Exclaimed No.69 in shock. “That’s horrible! It takes that long to just get our food!”

“Wait, they extended the times…?” Theo asked, looking surprised. “Wow, this place changed a lot…”

“I’ll say!” No.69 said and held his fingers up. “We’re only allowed a maximum of three hours if we wanted. But there’s so many inmates here that it’s more like one and a half.”

“Are you serious?” Theo’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wow… That’s a lot more than my time here. Wonder if the chief’s turned soft…”

“You’re a guard here yet you don’t know that much?” No.11 said, causing Theo to frown at him.

“I’m a guard with high restrictions. Plus, Seitarou trusts me a little bit, but he’s still pretty fearful of me.” Theo explained. “I would ask Hajime, but he’s sick still. And Yamoto's… eh… Yamoto. He’s not a bad guy, but he’s got way too much energy for me to handle…”

“My condolences.” No.11 put his hand on Theo’s shoulder as if he understood.

“Anyways,” No.15 walked by them, hands behind his head, as he looked bored still. “We only have so much time in the cafeteria. Let’s eat something, I’m starving…”

“Oh yeah, I think we’re having ramen today!” Excitedly exclaimed No.69 and quickly followed him in.

“Yay! Japanese ramen!” Cheered No.25 as he skipped on in.

“Hey, Rock, if I can beat you in a round of poker I get your bowl of ramen.” No.11 called and followed them in.

“Like hell I’d agree to that!” Yelled inmate No.69. “I’ll never bet my food on ramen day!”

’…What a strange bunch…’ Theo thought and watched them walk in.

Theo stepped into the cafeteria and stayed against the wall, watching the inmates carefully. The staff of officers was very minimum, which was very surprising. Before there used to be guards all over the walls, sometimes even walking in between the aisles to make sure no funny business was going on. Now there was only a maximum of four, and that included himself.

'What’s with this prison…?’ Theo asked himself. 'Giving more lunch hours, having fewer guards around—seriously, what the hell. Is Nanba becoming soft…?’

A loud bang caught his attention.

His head whirled around, startled out of his thoughts from the sound. Standing at one of the tables was a very, very, large man. He had slammed something down on the table before looking down at the inmates and nodded to them.

The man walked away, revealing he had placed a large bowl of icecream in front of one of the inmates. Even the inmate’s eyes were wide in shock. He then called out to the guy, who apparently looked like a chief, and thanked him for the desert.

'So that would explain why…’ Theo realized until he caught sight of the guy’s face. 'Hold up. Is that…?’

A smile took place on his face in realization. He quickly left his post and rushed towards the man who was multiple times his height and size. He stopped once he got into his view, standing in the man’s way. He gazed down at him, his looming form rather intimidating, as he looked almost pissed off. Theo took his hat off, revealing his short silver hair, and greeted the man.

“Sorry for stopping you when you probably have plenty of work on your hands.” Theo said to the man. “But I just had to see that familiar face of yours. Would the lastname Nicci ring any bells, Shiro…?”

The large man’s eyes widened, breaking his normal stoic expression. He lifted his hand up and patted Theo’s head, causing the guard to laugh.

“I look completely different to before don’t I?Man, I forgot how huge your hands are!” Theo exclaimed when he drew away. “Never thought I’d see you back here. Let me guess, you came here because of Old Man Chief, right?”

Shiro nodded his head, huffing in contentment.

“That’s awesome, man!” Theo said, sounding like an excited little kid. “I never thought a fellow prisoner would come back here. Guess I was wrong. If it isn’t obvious, I’m here for being a guard, too. Give the Old Man my regards, 'kay? I bet with your help around here the foods been turned up a notch, eh?”

Shiro nodded to him again. Theo stepped out of the way, allowing the older man to get back to his job. He watched him walked back into the kitchen and quietly snickered to himself.

'I’m glad he got the job! Good for him!’ Theo thought before calmly placing his hat back on his head.

Turning around, he began walking back to his post, unaware of all the burning gazes of the inmates. They all seemed a bit surprised and curious by that 'friendly chat’ the new guard had with Shiro. But the inmates of cell 13 couldn’t help but stare at him in shock.

“Did… Did Shiro just show that guy affections…?” Questioned No.15, who’s known as Jyugo.

“Y-yeah, he did!” Softly exclaimed No.11, also known as Uno.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shiro look so surprised before!” Said No.15, or Nico.

“He sure seemed happy about that guy.” No.69 added with a grin. He was called Rock. “Shiro never really touches anybody. It’s rare to see him touch anybody else they’re causing trouble. He must really like that guy.”

“If Shiro knows him, then I guess he wasn’t lying about being an inmate here…” Murmured Jyugo, looking over his shoulder at Alan. “What’s up with that guy? I guess I can understand Shiro’s reason, but what’s his?”

“I’m wondering that myself.” Uno said before grinning. “Guess we just have to find out. That guy’s pretty talkative for being so soft spoken. Shouldn’t he be more defensive about giving his personal life to the inmates?”

“Yeah, that is kinda weird.” Rock agreed. “Think he’s up to somethin’?”

“I like him!” Nico said with his usual grin. “He’s a lot nicer than Hajime, and he isn’t easy to scare like Seitarou. Plus, from what he told us he sounds kinda like us, don’t you think?”

“What? As if.” Jyugo said before giving the group a mischief smirk. “Say… He’s new, right? So he shouldn’t have a well enough knowledge of the place. Why don’t we have another breakout and see what this guy can do.”

“But Hajime isn’t back.” Uno stated. “It’s not fun without him around, though. Plus, thanks to Yamoto’s training I can barely feel my legs…”

“Yeah, my arms are still throbbing.” Nico added, looking at his arms.

“Aw, come on!” Groaned Jyugo as he place his head on the table.

“How 'bout tomorrow?” Rock suggested. “Hajime will be back and we won’t be so sore by then. I hope this new guy knows how to take a punch.”

“Let’s see if he can get past my gambles,” smirked Uno.

“He read our files, but I bet he doesn’t know enough about my diseases!” Nico added, grinning with everyone else.

“Let’s see what this newbie can do…” Jyugo lifted his head, his smirk now on his face, as he gazed back at the unsuspecting man.

’…Hey, I still have that new chief’s clever!’ Theo thought to himself silently. 'I can give it to Shiro as a present! Man, this day just keeps getting better and better…!’

***

“Oh, good morning Hajime. How’re you feeling?…”

“Better than yesterday, I’ll say that…”

“That’s good…”

The Supervisor of Building 13 of Nanba Prison had finally returned from his day away because of a cold. Seitarou already greeted him, and Theo just spoke up. Yamoto, well… He has yet to be seen, but Hajime could honestly care less. When he put his bag down he looked back at Theo, seeing the mask still tightly on his face.

“Did you just put that on?” Hajime asked.

“No. I placed it back on yesterday as soon as I woke up.” Theo answered before turning in his chair to look up at Hajime. “I apologize for falling asleep here then. I should’ve just went home but I didn’t because of my first day…”

“It hasn’t been hurting you, has it?” Hajime asked.

“Not in the slightest.” Theo shook his head. “I kinda forget it’s there…”

Hajime hummed and nodded. But his eyes didn’t leave the mask. Sighing to himself he walked over to Theo. He just gazed at him, wondering what he’s doing. Hajime bent down, being as tall as he was, and put his hands carefully on the mask.

How the mask was is that it is made from a special type of metal that was flexible, but was hard to pierce. It resembled a type of 'ninja mask’ as Samon had questioned at the meeting. But, at the very end of the sides of the mask was a circular contraption that was located just before the tragus of the ear. The circular contraption was technically the main core of the machinery and had an electronic blue outline that glowed a bit. From the circular piece had the hook attached to it. When taken off, the hook curls into the thick circular piece.

Hajime pressed his hands against the circular piece, waiting until he heard a loud clicking sound. He watched as the hooks lifted off of the back of Theo’s earlobes. He took the mask off of Theo and saw his surprised expression.

“You had this thing on all day and night, yeah?” Hajime placed the mask down on his desk. “Figured you could take a break. Put it back on when you have to leave the office, alright? Both of us will get in trouble if it’s seen off of you.”

“Right… Thank you…” He thanked Hajime and nodded his head in gratitude.

Hajime sat back down at his desk without another word to him. He gazed at a few of the papers, wondering how much he had missed. He looked up at Seitarou, who was basically right across from him, and spoke up to him.

“Did anything happen while I was gone?” Hajime asked.

“Well, not anything bad.” Seitarou answered. “The inmates from Cell 13 tried to escape, but Yamoto caught them and punished them like you do. They trained for five hours before Theo took them to lunch. After that he brought them back and they stayed in their cells. Other than that, they behaved well for once.”

“At least they didn’t escaped any farther than their cells…” Hajime sighed deeply. “Even when I’m away they cause nothin’ but trouble…”

“I can at least say I think they kinda have a liking to me.” Theo spoke up as he walked by Hajime with a bunch of papers in his hands. “They definitely don’t trust me yet, but I’m slowly gaining their trust…”

“I’m unsure if that’s a good or bad thing…” Hajime muttered.

“When have I ever betrayed you, Hajime?” Theo asked in a joking manner, but it sounded like he was serious.

“Ever since you broke a door down in rage and tried to hit me with it.” Hajime stated with an agitated undertone.

Theo flinched at his statement, recalling the memory. He felt embarrassed at the thought of it. He looked back at Hajime, pouting slightly, as he looked rather guilty.

“T-that was a dark time for me back then, alright…?” Theo softly mumbled.

“Yeah, yeah, I know your story.” Hajime waved at him to signal to leave it alone. “You forget that I was the one to actually figure your background out back when you were in my cells.”

Theo was silent after that. Hajime did have a point. But he wasn’t too fond of the memories. He placed the papers down before grabbing a new stack and returning to his desk. Once he sat back down he wiped his lower face with the upper sleeve of his jacket. Have that mask on for more than 24 hours left his face with sweaty residue from breathing, talking, and almost caused him to drool a few times. It was like having foggy water goggles on for too long. To be honest, it was pretty gross.

Taking in a deep breath, finally being able to breathe properly, he began his new stack of paperwork. He was like that for a while until he heard the sound of the door opening and closing. Gazing over his shoulder he could see it was Yamoto who entered, not wearing his usual uniform, and looking very sweaty.

“Good morning, sir!” Greeted Yamoto to Hajime. “Good to see you back to your usual healthy self!”

“Same to you, Yamoto…” Murmured Hajime as he lit up a cigarette.

“I just finished my morning exercises, so I will take a quick shower and get back to work!” Promised Yamoto as he marked merrily towards his lock.

Once he gathered his needed items, he marched out of the room. When he opened the door he stopped and greeted someone at the door.

“Oh! Why hello there, No.15! If you will excuse me, I must take a shower!” Yamoto said.

“Yeah, okay.” Replied a familiar bored tone.

Instantly the other three guards became alarmed by what Yamoto said. Theo whirled around in his seat, quickly becoming on guard. As Yamoto walked out, walking into the office was inmate No.15. He had his signature hands behind his head, looking bored as ever, before turning to a shocked Hajime.

“Good to see you back, Hajime. It’s boring without you around.” Spoke the inmate.

“WHAT’RE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR CELL?!” Screeched Hajime in anger.

“I wanted to see if you were here today, you should be grateful.” No.15, or Jyugo, answered with a smirk. “Escaping with you gone is useless, so I had to make sure you were here for today.”

In a flash Hajime shot up from his desk, dashed towards the inmate, and punched him right in the head. Jyugo groaned loudly, now lying on the ground in pain, as a clear bump quickly formed on his head. Theo was startled by the action, forgetting about Hajime’s infamous hair trigger temper.

“I DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT’S BORING! YOU’RE SUPPOSE TO BE IN YOUR CELL AND STAY THERE, YOU DAMN BRAT!” Bellowed the Supervisor. “IT HASN’T EVEN BEEN AN HOUR OF ME BEING HERE AND YOU’RE ALREADY CAUSING TROUBLE! AT LEAST WAIT UNTIL THE AFTERNOON, IT’S TOO EARLY FOR YOUR TROUBLE MAKING ANTICS!”

“Yeah… Good to have you back…” Groaned Jyugo as he got back onto his feet. “I definitely didn’t miss that inhuman strength of yours, though…”

“You annoying little…!” Hajimed growled and got the inmate into a headlock. He turned to his other guards as both of them had sweatdrops on their heads. “You two stay here. Check the surveillance and see if the others are gone. I’ll be taking this little shit back to his cell…!”

“Y-yes, sir!” Replied Seitarou.

Without another word, Hajime stomped out of the room with a struggling Jyugo. Theo slowly turned back to his work, still semi in his frozen state, as he tried processing what happened. ’…Maybe I should’ve stayed on the farm…’

It was quiet in the guard’s office.

Too quiet…

Hajime was suspicious of the quietness of the place, but he tried to shrug it off and label him being paranoid. But still… It was just strangely quiet. Periodically he would get up from his desk and walk the halls, specifically keeping an ear out for Cell 13. But whenever he walked by he usually heard their usual obnoxious banter. He would keep in the cell every now and then, seeing that each inmate was accountable for. He would then proceed with his parole, only to find himself seated back at his desk while the suspicion was eating him away.

Eventually he sighed again and tried to coax himself to relax. He just got back from being sick, he told himself repeatedly. He was probably just feeling uneasy because the remanence of the bug is still there in his stomach. He just had to breath and calm down. There’s nothing to worry about…

“Greetings, everyone!” Exclaimed none other than Yamoto as he came back into the room. “I have taken care of the much needed attention to the problem with the Cell door 17! On my way back I greeted the boys from Cell 13! Ha ha! Such young men. I think I’m finally turning them into gentlemen!”

“Really? What makes you say that?” Softly asked Seitarou.

“Because the boys informed me that they were going on a wonderful walk to stretch their legs!” Informed Yamoto. “I believe my training has finally gotten ahold of them, haha!”

“WHAT!?” Shouted Hajime as the other guards stiffened at the news.

“They were out of their cell?” Theo asked as he was clearly alarmed.

“Why, yes, yes they were.” Answered Yamoto. After a moment his smile fell as if realization finally hit him. “Wait… Those boys aren’t authorized to leave their cells, are they?”

“NO!” All three of them shouted at Yamoto.

“I knew the calmness was too good to be true!” Hajime exclaimed as he began typing away at the computer. “Seitarou, get to the surveillance cameras and figure out where they are!”

“Yes sir!” Exclaimed the officer as he disappeared from the room.

“Yamoto, it’s your fault those brats escaped.” Hajime growled at him. “Go apprehend them at once!”

“Of course, sir!” Saluted Yamoto before rushing out of the room.

“Theo, get to your feet!” Hajime ordered as Theo already was standing. “Looks like you’re going to be seeing some action for today. We can’t allow those four to get outside, especially since the sun is still out! Follow me.”

“Yes, sir.” Theo nodded.

Hajime marched to the camera room where Seitarou was while Theo followed closely behind. They entered the dark room while Seitarou just finished giving instructions to the officers of Building 13. Theo’s eyes gazed at the multiple cameras as he wondered where those four were.

“Where are they?” Hajime growled.

“They’re past Block 11. I’ve already closed Block 12 and trying to get them towards Block 17 instead.” Informed Seitarou.

“They’re fast…” Theo commented as his eyes kept darting towards different screens.

“Yeah, well, we’re faster…” Hajime muttered at him as he glared at the screen. “There they are…”

They all looked towards one of the center screens. The four inmates were running through the hall, only for No.11 to stop the group. He took out a type of card and flung it, revealing the hidden electric floor. No.15 walked over to the wall, tracing his hand around it. Suddenly a control panel revealed itself and his hands flew across the keys. He looked at his accomplices and smirked, giving them a thumbs up. All four of them advanced, getting past the security.

“A-are you kidding me…?” Theo gaped in shock, stepping forwards as they appeared on another camera. “How the hell did he figure that out so quickly?”

“Beats me.” Seitarou said and he began to flip switches. “They’re entering into an open area around Block 18. Thankfully a lot of the guards are there so they should be stumbling upon them at any moment.”

“That’s your queue.” Hajime ordered and placed a hand on Theo’s shoulder. “Get in there and stop them. Knock 'em out if you have to. We can’t allow them to advance any further. Just try not to bring the building down with you…”

“Got it.” Theo nodded curtly and turned towards the door. “Leave it to me…”

As soon as he was out of the office he began running down the hallways very quickly. He was sprinting through the place, trying to get to Block 18, and hopefully in time before those four get through. Seitarou kept his eyes on the monitors, but was surprised with how fast Theo was hopping from monitor to monitor.

“W-whoa, he’s fast…!” He said in surprised.

“There’s a reason for why the Warden trusted him enough to become a guard.” Hajime said and smirked. “Looks like he hasn’t changed a bit from his time in Nanba…”

It took a while, but Theo found his way in Block 18. He entered into the room, just in time to see the last guard get knocked down by No.69 aka Rock. Theo growled softly under his breath, annoyed that they got through the guards. He walked into the room, his echoing footsteps grabbing their attention, as he began adjusting his gloves.

“Well, well, looks like they sent the newbie.” No.11, Uno, spoke up with a sly grin on his face. “Are they even trying anymore?”

“I was hoping we’d bump into him soon.” Said No.15, or Jyugo as he’s called. “It wouldn’t be as fun if they didn’t send him…”

“Looks like you wanna brawl too, eh?” Challenged Rock as he held his fists up.

“Hi Theo!” Greeted No.25, known as Nico, as he waved at him. “Could you let us go by?”

“You four have caused quite a stir tonight, don’t you think?” Theo spoke in a deadly calm voice as he advanced slowly towards them. “It’s the middle of the sun setting, you know. Don’t you think it would’ve been smarter if you waited until midnight…?”

“We got impatient.” Replied Jyugo as he shrugged. “You’re a pretty strange guy, you know. You made us so interested in you that we just had to come and see you for ourselves.”

“Yeah. It’s pretty interesting for a former criminal to become a guard, you know.” Uno said and made a face at him. “If you couldn’t stay away then why couldn’t you do more crimes, eh? Where’s that mask of yours anyways? Don’t tell me you’re 'getting serious’.”

“You boys don’t know anything, do you…” Theo scoffed at them as he began pulling his gloves off. “How sad. If you did I bet you would’ve thought twice before acting like you did.”

“You act like such a big shot after just being here for only three days.” Jyugo rolled his eyes at him. “You might’ve read our files, but that doesn’t mean you know the whole show.”

“I think I know plenty enough.” Theo stopped walking and dropped his gloves on the ground. He rotated his neck, hearing the satisfying cracks. “You’re morons for believing you can escape Nanba Prison so easily.” He lifted his hand and pointed at them. “I’m giving you one last chance. Now be good boys and go back to your cell…”

“No thank you!” Rock yelled and ran at him.

Theo put his hand down and allowed Rock to come at him. Having his arm recoiled back, Rock swung his fist at full force, his knuckle slamming right into his jaw. Theo head twisted around, the force being enough to knock Theo off of his feet. He flew back and hit the ground without a moment later. The group could only stare in slight shock.

“Oh, come on!” Rock whined. “That wasn’t even a fight!”

“All talk and no bite, eh? That’s sad.” Jyugo commented.

“Hahaha! K.O.!” Uno exclaimed while laughing. “That was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Looks like Rock was a bit too hard on him.” Commented Nico.

After a few comments here and there, they didn’t realize Theo’s twitching body. He curled his arms up, placing his hands on either side of his head. With his feet pressed together tightly, he picked himself onto his hands and pushed against his arms, pushing himself into the air. He got his feet under him quickly and was now standing back on his feet.

Hearing the echo of his feet hitting the ground, their comments stopped as they stared at him. Theo’s visor was concealing his eyes while he rotated his shoulders around, the loud cracking echoing in the room. Just him standing there quietly, allowing his shoulders to crack, was rather unsettling.

“I guess you’re tougher than you look.” Jyugo smirk returned. “I was hoping you could give us more of a show.”

“Hey, you cracked your shoulders enough. You might just break them if you keep that up.” Uno said as he was becoming uncomfortable with the noise.

“Ready for a rematch?” Rock asked in a taunting manner.

“Oh, the match never ended…” Said Theo in a deadly calm voice.

The group stopped, their smirking features falling. Something just wasn’t right with how Theo sounded. Usually his tone revealed no emotions. But now… He sounded utterly serious with a hint of something else—that something else was smugness.

Theo adjusted his hat to reveal his eyes. His irises were now smaller than normal while his eyes were wide open. But the thing that gave them chills was the sudden, large, toothy grin that was on his face. His teeth looked sharp and pointed while his eyes were trained on them. The group shivered as they felt the sudden murderous intent that could rival that of Hajime’s.

“Idiots…” Theo hissed at them as his shoulders bounced up and down like he was giggling. “Did you really believe that one puny punch could knock me out? It was like a fly landed on my cheek.”

“Puny…?” Rock growled as he was clearly insulted.

“I’ll show you why you shouldn’t mess around…” Theo brought his fist up, his smirk never faltering. “Come on, Rocky! Do you even call that a punch?”

“You asked for it, Bastard!” Rock shouted and ran at him again.

Once again, Theo allowed Rock to come to him. The inmate swung at Theo again, just like he had before. Except this time, Theo stopped his fist. The sounds of his knuckle slapping against his palm echoed, shocking the entire group. Rock could only stare at Theo in wide eyes, confused to why his fist was stopped so easily. Theo’s giggle filled the air as he glared sharply at Rock, causing the younger male to begin to sweat nervously.

“Pa-the-tic~!” Sang Theo. His voice suddenly got deeper when he spoke his next sentence. “I’ll show you a real punch.”

Without even a moment’s hesitation, Theo punched Rock in the chest with his free hand. Rock was shot off of his feet, fly back until his back hit the wall. His friends could only gaze at Rock in shock. They watched as their friend bounced off of the wall and onto his knees, only to fall onto the ground as he became unconscious. The group turned their heads to see Theo walking towards them.

“Wow, he didn’t last very long.” Theo laughed. “You boys could escape all those traps, knock all of these guards out, but you’re not strong enough to at least slow me down? That’s pretty pathetic… Oh, come on. Where’s all that big talk you were all saying before? Cat got your tongue~”

“You bastard…!” Uno growled at him.

“H-how did you…?” Jyugo could only mumble in shock.

“G-g-guys…!” Squeaked Nico. “W-w-w-what should we d-d-do…?!”

“I have an idea!” Theo quickly stood before Nico, towering over him with ease, as his smile never left his face. “…How about you go to sleep~”

Nico squeaked again before fainting on the ground from fear. Theo looked at the other boys. Clearly enraged Uno ran at him with a war cry, his fists in the air, prepared to punch Theo’s face in.

As he got close and swung, Theo dodged his attack and moved behind his back in a flash, karate chopping the back of his neck. Uno released a choke sound before passing out on the ground. Theo looked at the last one standing, seeing Jyugo’s shaken form. He walked towards him in a rather taunting manner.

With each step taken, Jyugo stepped back. Step by step, Theo backed Jyugo into a wall. The inmate because to break out in a cold sweat, trying to think of a way to either attack or run. But he was unable to come up with anything as Theo stood right in front of him, inches away from his body. Jyugo could only stare up at him as his hands were secretly shaking.

“You’re pretty impressive, you know…” Theo spoke softly, his voice not sounding demonic anymore. “Unlocking all those traps… Leading the way for your friends. It’s remarkable, actually. But…” Theo’s smirk grew, as if that was possible, and glared down at his shaking form. “…I’d like to see you get out of this trap…”

Not even allowing Jyugo to open his mouth, Theo brought his head down and slammed his head against Jyugo’s forehead. Jyugo cried out in pain, only to fall to the side. Before he could hit the ground, Theo caught him with one arm. Theo giggled softly at his unconscious form.

“I win~” He sang.

Of course, no one could respond.

As the room got quiet, Theo’s smile fell and the deadly look in his eyes fled. His face was emotionless, stoic as ever, as if a switch had been flipped off. He carefully put Jyugo on his shoulder and went over to Nico. One by one, he picked up each fallen inmate. Step by step, he back making his way back to Cell 13. Nico and Jyugo were on his right shoulder while Uno was under Theo’s left arm while his left hand was latched onto the back of Rock’s jumpsuit as he dragged him.

The camera room was quiet. Seitarou was shaking in his seat, horrified by the scene he just saw. Tears pricked the corner of his eyes as he couldn’t believe what he just witness. He looked up at Hajime to see the man smirking calmly.

“He really hasn’t changed, eh?” Hajime turned and began to exit the room. “I’m surprised he held back.”

With that said, he exited the room, closing the door on his way out. Seitarou released a shaky breath as he looked back to the monitors in horror.

“…H-held b-b-back…?”

***

“Seitarou, how’re the inmates in cell 13?”

“Well, they’re behaving, sir…”

Three days has passed since the recapture of cell 13. They have been rather quiet, staying in their cells, and they haven’t tried escaping once. Theo hadn’t visited them since Hajime gave him a rather unhealthy pile of paperwork to keep him away from the inmates. After seeing Seitarou’s terrified expression of being around Theo from that day he decided that he might’ve gone a little too far.

Theo began the paperwork and was just one paper away from finishing it. As soon as he had finished that one page his head hit his desk in exhaustion. He hadn’t moved from his desk since then and was powering through it. Seitarou had been startled by the loud noise and asked Hajime what was wrong with him.

“Oh, him?” Hajime looked at Theo before sighing. “He probably went down from exhaustion. I haven’t seen him move from that spot since I’ve given him those papers, so he probably stayed there and powered through the work. The idiot probably ran out of batteries…”

“W-what do you mean by that…?” Seitarou asked softly.

“Theo isn’t 'normal,’” replied Hajime. “He’s got this type of handicap that doesn’t allow him to feel things. Whether he touches ice from antarctica or places his hand in a roaring fire—he can’t feel it. It’s like his nerves aren’t there. It’s the reason for why he can jumped back onto his feet so quickly in a fight. He can’t feel any pain. But because he can hardly feel anything he tends to forget to eat, gets himself injured a lot, sometimes forgets his own strength, and is his own natural problem.”

“W-will he be okay?” Seitarou asked in concern.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine.” Hajime said calmly. “Let 'im rest and give him breakfast or something. He was like that when he was an inmate. He’ll be fine.”

“Sir…” Seitarou spoke quietly, looking rather nervous. “Just… why was he sent to Nanba prison?”

“Why? There’s plenty of reasons why.” Hajime popped a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. “He’s the most human and inhuman being you’ll ever meet.”

Seitarou didn’t feel comforted by that response.

The guards left Theo alone until he woke up on his own. Two hours passed with him sleeping and he woke up to find his mask gone. Hajime felt it was best to take it off of him since he didn’t want him to stupidly hurt himself by accident. Being slightly groggy he got to his feet, went to his locker, and went for a shower.

Of course he was as fast as he could. He is not legitimately a 'he’ after all. Once he cleaned himself he got all his layers back on and went to the cafeteria. He hadn’t had a bite to eat for over three days, after all. After his stomach was filled he went back to the office.

Through the day he kept rubbing the back of his neck, his hands going up and down and left and right. It was a nervous habit he did when he had something eating away at him. And it didn’t go unnoticed.

“Is… Is everything okay, Theo?” Seitarou had asked him. “You keep rubbing your neck like you’re in pain…”

“Oh, that…” Theo muttered and retracted his hand. “It’s just a habit of mine… It’s nothing, I promise. I’m completely fine…”

“O-okay…” Seitarou nodded and went back to work.

After another hour of work, Hajime said he had to go and meet with the Warden. After he left, Yamoto hadn’t came back from yesterday. Theo kept doing his work with his mask off and stayed cooped up into the office. Eventually Seitarou got up and grabbed his attention.

“Hey, Theo.”

“Hm…?”

“I’m going to go get lunch.” Seitarou informed him. “I’ll be as fast as I can and I’ll get back here. Do you think you can hold the office being alone?”

“Yeah, of course…” Theo nodded to him. “I’ll stay in the office until you return.”

“Alright.” Seitarou nodded and stopped at the door. “I suggest you keep an eye on the surveillance cameras just in case. Oh, and if any of the inmates escape, contact the Supervisor on the radio. But, with your ability, I bet you can catch them without help…”

Theo’s lips pressed hard together, sensing Seitarou’s nervousness. Theo scared him. That he knew well enough. Not pointing it out, Theo just nodded softly before gazing back at his desk. With nothing else said, Seitarou left the room.

Once the door was firmly closed, Theo could only sigh and hang his head. His hands found their way onto the back of his neck as he began to rub all around the area. The feeling he felt was something he was used to feeling. Guilt. Shame. If anything it was probably the only emotions he could 'feel’. With a history like his, it was understandable why that is.

“Huh, so I guess you weren’t lying about being an inmate.” A sudden voice spoke behind Theo.

Instantly becoming alarmed, Theo shot to his feet and whirled around. Standing in the room was Jyugo, who had backed up quickly before Theo could hit him or something. The officer semi relaxed, but his guard never went down.

“What’re you doing here…?” Theo asked him.

“Being locked up in that cell for three days without escaping was becoming a bore.” Jyugo said and shrugged in an innocent manner. “I figured I might as well visit the guy who basically gave us all concussions…”

“You’re not supposed to be here.” Theo stated sternly.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Jyugo rolled his eyes. “I’ve heard it all from Hajime before. But you wanna know what isn’t a bore?” He smirked and pointed right at Theo. “That number on your neck.”

Theo eyes narrowed at the inmate while his hand grabbed the back of his own neck.

“So you’re No.7, eh?” Jyugo asked looking rather smug. “That’s pretty interesting. Which building were you sent to?”

“…I’ve been thrown in every building in Nanba.” Theo stated coldly. “I gave them hell trying to figure out which building I should go to. Each Supervisor got pretty fed up with my shenanigans, and eventually threw me into Building 5… The first building I got sent to was Building 3…”

“You’ve been thrown into every building?” Jyugo repeated as he looked surprised. “The hell did they do that?”

“Acting…” Theo replied. “By acting and causing a lot of mayhem, I was basically thrown around like hopscotch. But, after an accident, I was eventually thrown into Building 5.”

“Does that mean you have different numbers all over you?” Jyugo asked.

“No, actually…” Theo shook his head. “The only number I have is on my neck… The Supervisors all knew me as 'Trouble Theo’ since I was nothing but a nuisance to them. It was fun… Pissing each of them off, causing over half of them to hate me… Got a real good kick out of it…”

“It’s funny to hear that come from a freak who can’t feel.“ Jyugo said.

Theo frowned at his statement. Jyugo’s face held nothing but smugness. Looks like he was the one having a real good kick out of this conversation.

”…How long have you been hiding in here?“ Theo demanded.

"Who’s to say? All I know is that it’s been a good amount of time…” Jyugo shrugged and sat in Hajime’s seat. “I bet the others have figured out I escaped by now…”

“You didn’t release your friends?…” Theo asked, raising a brow at him.

“Nah, they didn’t want to leave.” Jyguo replied as he begun to spin in the chair like a child. “Nico’s to terrified, Uno doesn’t want to even think about you, and Rock is still sore from you punching him. Hell, there’s still a bump on my forehead from you headbutting me.”

“Hm…” Theo’s eyes hit the ground, feeling a bit guilty to hear that.

“You’re more of a freak than us, huh?” Jyugo said and laughed. “You were an inmate, but now you’re a guard! You can’t feel anything and you’re an utter freak thanks to your strength! I guess you do belong here in Nanba, hahaha!”

Theo flinched at the words thrown at him. A pinching sensation was in his chest as he listened to Jyugo’s laughing. 'I haven’t been called that for a long time…’

“Are you done?” Theo asked him, cutting off Jyugo’s laughter. “If you want to talk we can do it in your cell. Don’t make me drag you by force…”

“Well now, did I hit a nerve?” Jyugo taunted him. Theo only now just noticed how he seemed angry at him. “So what, you’re freakishly strong. I rather not have my skull beaten in, thank you very much. Plus, that’s Hajime’s job.”

“…You just looove talking.” Theo mumbled and crossed his arms. “I still don’t understand why you’re over here. Are you pissed because I harmed you and your friends? Is there something you’re after?…”

Jyugo’s expression became rather stoic very quickly. Something flashed in his eyes, but Theo didn’t know what. Not even a moment later, Jyugo’s smirked twitched up as his eyes held a hint of anger.

“It’s nothing… I just enjoy escaping. It’s fun…” Jyugo stated. “Getting past traps and puzzles are a hobby of mine. You could say that I’m the key to the world~”

“How egotistic of you…” Replied Theo as he began walking towards him. “Enough of your joking. Get back to your cell now, otherwise I will throw you in myself and tell Hajime what you did. He’ll be the one to punish you once he gets back.”

“Oh, sounds like fun.” Jyugo said, grinning up at Alan as he towered over him. “I rather stay here for a while. Those cells are pretty boring.”

'He’s like a leach…’ Theo immediately thought. 'Or maybe he’s more of a mosquito… Either way, he’s annoying as hell. I don’t want to knock him out again, who knows if Hajime will punish me for it. The infirmary will surely whack me a good amount of times if I harm him. I wonder…’

Theo huffed out through his nose. Jyugo just kept gazing up at him, looking rather smug, as if he was daring Theo to harm him. The guard began to bent down towards Jyugo since he was sitting down. Jyugo’s smirk fell instantly as Theo got really close to his face. Without even able to act, Theo placed his lips against Jyugo’s. The inmate sat there, his head trying to process what the hell was happening. He suddenly felt Theo’s tongue lick his lips.

Only then did reality hit Jyugo like a train as his entire body shivered. Jyugo fell out of the spinny chair, scrambling to his feet, and went to the farthest wall in the room to get away from Theo. Jyugo’s face was pale as he looked utterly horrified, his hand over his mouth, as he began screaming at Theo. Theo just stood there, his face blank, as if nothing ever happened as his eyes stayed on the inmate.

“WHAT THE HELL!” He had screamed. “WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT! YOU FUCKING CREEP!”

Theo said nothing. Theo only maneuvered around Hajime’s desk and stepped towards Jyugo. The inmate yelped in horror.

“S-STAY OVER THERE! DON’T COME ANY CLOSER!” Jyugo yelled.

“…Get back to your cell.” Theo ordered, taking another step towards him.

Jyugo yelped and bolted out of the room. He screamed while running down the hallway. Theo looked out of the room to see Jyugo open the door to his cell and run right it, slamming it shut behind him. Theo just watched before turning back around into the room.

“That worked a lot more effectively than I thought…” Theo said and closed the door softly.

***

When Hajime came back he did not expect to hear inmates yelling at each other.

He instantly recognized the voices of those from cell 13. Hajime’s eye began to twitch in annoyance. He only just got back from meeting the warden and he hadn’t even had the time to sit down. With a deep sigh he decided to see why they were causing such a ruckus. As soon as he was in front of the door he slammed his fist against it to grab the inmate’s attention.

“Shut up! You’re all noisier than usual!” Hajime yelled at them. “What the hell’s the problem?”

“YOUR GUARD IS THE PROBLEM!” Jyugo shouted at him instantly, looking almost flustered.

“What’re you goin’ on about?” Hajime grumbled, raising a brow at is strange behavior.

“Jyugo says that your newest guard kissed him.” Uno stated bluntly. “He’s been like this for hours.”

Once Hajime heard that he sighed deeply. Hajime pinched the bridge of his nose, trying hard not to allow his annoyance to high any higher.

“I can’t believe that brat did it again…” Hajime grumbled.

“What?” Uno said, catching what Hajime said. “He’s done this before?!”

“Look, if you knew his circumstance you would understand.” Hajime stated as he thought about Theo. “Yeah, it’s not necessarily right for him to do that shit, but stop freaking out about it. Theo’s a good kid but he's… 'special’. You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to you.”

“THAT STILL DOESN’T ALLOW HIM THE RIGHT TO DO THAT SHIT!” Jyugo shouted.

“Calm down and get over it.” Hajime growled at him. “You’re causing more of a ruckus with all that shouting and it’s giving me a headache. Shut up, do as you’re told, and let me handle this. Theo has no intentions of harming anybody.”

“Yeah, right. My stomach still hurts from being punched from that guy…” Groaned Rock.

“H-h-h-he’s s-s-scary…!” Nico added, looking ready to cry.

“'No intentions’ my ass!” Uno said, clearly pissed. “He hurt all of us more than you’ve ever done. That guy’s psychotic! He shouldn’t even be a guard!”

“Especially when he freaking sexually assaults us!” Jyugo shouted.

“Enough!” Bellowed Hajime as he punched the door again, silencing the inmates. “That’s enough out of you. You four know nothing about that kid. Yeah, I get that he freaks you out, but it’s not like he asked for it. I’m not tellin’ you to like him, but I’m telling you to not hate him. If anything he actually cares about you little shits more than anybody here.”

“Then why the hell did he do all that shit to us?” Asked Uno through grinding teeth.

“Because I told him to.” Hajime stated. “I ordered him to go and capture you all, explicitly stating for him to knock you guys out. The kissing thing was something he did even as an inmate because of his genetic disorder. He calls it a 'habit,’ or an 'instinct’. Plus, he doesn’t just do it to anybody. He almost always has some sort of intention behind his actions. Now if it’ll shut you up, I’ll punish him since he knows that he shouldn’t do that shit. Is there anything else you’d like to complain to me about before I beat your heads in?”

“…No.” Uno muttered, speaking on the behalf of the group.

“Good.” Hajime growled and stepped back. “Now stop causing a ruckus and behave. Today’s a busy day, you know.”

With that said, Hajime turned and walked off. He went back into the guard’s office and spotted Seitarou, Yamoto, and Theo inside. Seitarou was at his desk while Theo and Yamoto was playing some type of chest game on the table. They all looked towards Hajime since they heard the door open.

“Hello there, sir. How was the meeting?” Seitarou asked cheerfully.

“Fine.” Hajime answered and walked towards Theo.

“…Checkmate.” Theo stated and knocked down Yamoto’s king.

“Beaten again! My, you have quite an eye there, Al! Ha ha ha ha!” Laughed Yamoto.

Hajime’s shadow casted over Theo, causing the guard to gaze up at him. Without a moment’s hesitation Hajime punched Theo’s head, knocking the boy off of the couch and onto the ground. Seitarou yelped while Yamoto was surprised to witness the action himself.

“Uunn… That made me dizzy…” Mumbled Theo as he sat up and rubbed his head.

“That’s for being stupid.” Hajime growled at him. “What the hell did you do to No.15 today, huh? Did you really think it was such a bright idea to freaking liplock with him?”

“…Oh. That.” Theo mumbled and got back onto his feet. “No.15 apparent escaped his cell earlier this afternoon without any of us realizing it. I checked the monitors a little later and figured out he’s been hiding in the night room here the entire time. Once you were with the Warden and Seitarou went to lunch he revealed himself to me and we talked… He refused to go back to his cell and I knew that I shouldn’t knock him out. I didn’t want to harm him since he was taunting me. I didn’t want him to think I acted out because of that…”

“So you kissed the brat to make him leave?!” Hajime questioned, shocked by his explanation.

“…Yeah, basically.” Theo confirmed. “He screamed and ran back to his cell… Worked better than I thought… I guess that he’s traumatized and yelled to you about it?”

“Yes.” Hajime said and hit Theo in the head again. “You dumbass. Was that really necessary? You know better than to do that, especially with all the trouble it got you in from the past! Think before you act!”

“I couldn’t help it…” Mumbled Theo as he held his head, his eyes looking dull. “It was just… instinct…”

“Urgh…” Hajime groaned and rubbed his head. “You’re just as troublesome as those four… Put that damn mask on and keep it on. I bet that was probably the reason for why the Warden even gave it to you.”

“…Yes, sir…” Whispered Theo as he went to his desk.

“Wait, why did he… kiss an inmate…?!” Seitarou asked, looking very bewildered.

“Remember when I told you about that freakish genetics he’s got?” Hajime spoke to him. “The only nerves he’s got are the ones in his tongue. Back in his days as an inmate he had kissed one of his fellow inmates. That got him kicked out of the cell, and restrained for sexual harassment. His excuse back then was it allowed him to 'connect’ with people. But, we later figured out he meant nothing behind it, and it was just a habit of him growing up.”

“From growing up…?” Seitarou questioned.

“Tasting was the only way I could feel things…” Theo spoke up after placing his mask on. “My mom thought it was just from how she taught me growing up, trying to teach me and all. I was diagnosed with HSAN as a kid… My dad knew what to do since he had other relatives who had the disease. So whenever I kissed them or even licked stuff he knew I meant nothing behind it… It was the only way I could feel. But of course, society didn’t see it that way…”

“W-well, kissing people isn’t quite a normal thing…” Muttered Seitarou.

“I know…” Theo replied while staring at the ground. His hands tightly clenched into fists at his sides. “I just… Didn’t mean to hurt anybody…”

The room got quiet real fast. Hajime, sensing the dense atmosphere, sighed deeply and walked towards Theo. He awkwardly patted his shoulder roughly, trying to show some sort of comfort. Theo just nodded his head in response and turned back to his desk. Today was already turning into a long day…

***

“I hate that guy so fucking much…!”

“You’re still going on about that? It’s been three days, Jyugo.”

“You’d be just as traumatized if it happened to you!”

The inmates of cell 13 have had a gloomy/annoyed atmosphere around the cell ever since Theo came to the Nanba Prison. They finally healed of their physical wounds, but have yet to really heal of the mental and emotional ones. It’s not like the events were super traumatizing that it caused the group to not want to talk about it. It just made them cautious of Theo.

Nico wasn’t shivering in place at his name anymore, but a fearful expression did take place every time. Rock more or less was probably the calmest about it. Yeah, the guy hurt him, but when Rock thought about the guy impressed him. Shiro from the cafeteria seemed to enjoy him, and he proved to be a tough opponent like he hoped. Jyugo was clearly angry and flustered since he couldn’t get over the kiss incident. Then there’s Uno, who was more or less annoyed only because Jyugo kept bringing it up and wouldn’t let it go.

“Look, we haven’t seen that guy for six days, alright?” Uno spoke up again, trying to calm Jyugo down, as he himself was just down right annoyed. “The only times we have seen him was when he’s been doing patrol through the halls. But even then he doesn’t stop by our cells or anything. I’m still mad that he knocked us out too, but like Hajime said, he only did as he was ordered. It’s their job.”

“It still doesn’t clear up the excuse for him to kiss me, damnit!” Jyugo exclaimed, waving his fist around. “I don’t give a damn if he can’t feel a thing, it’s not a fucking excuse! Even then it doesn’t make any sort of sense!”

“Wait, what did you say?” Rock spoke up, finding interest in one of the things he said. “He can’t feel anything…?”

“Yeah, something like that…” Jyugo grumbled as he was still angry. “I overheard Hajime talk about it. It’s some genetic thing he has or whatever. Apparently he can’t feel anything.”

“How can someone not be able to feel anything?” Rock questioned in disbelief.

“I think I might’ve heard of something like that.” Uno spoke up as he tried to remember. “It’s a disease I think. Something about not letting your nerves work or whatever…”

“S-so, he can’t feel anything…?” Softly asked Nico.

“Yeah, something like that…” Jyugo muttered and scratched his head. “From how Hajime talked about it he said that he was troublesome because of it…”

“Hey, I just got an idea!” Uno exclaimed and hit his fist into the palm of his hand. “Let’s play a game, yeah?”

“A game? What type of game?” Nico immediately asked, turning back to his bubbly self.

“That Theo guy can’t feel a thing, right?” Uno grinned mischievously. “Let’s see with how much stuff we can get without him realizing it.”

“What do you mean…?” Jyugo asked, eyeing him carefully.

“Just hear me out.” Uno wrapped his arm around Jyugo’s neck. “Let’s mess with this guy, yeah? Poke him, throw stuff at him, stick things to him—anything that might get his attention. If he can’t feel anything then he shouldn’t be able to feel us putting stuff on him.”

“So, we’re basically messin’ with the guy.” Rock summed up.

“Yeah, but it’ll be fun.” Uno said. “We’ve messed with everybody else. Why not try this guy, yeah? I have a hunch that we’ll get away with a lot of stuff.”

“I wanna try!” Nico exclaimed, having his hand raised in the air.

“But what happens if he does feel it and question us?” Jyugo questioned, looking unamused by the idea. “This guy was able to knock us all unconscious. He could seriously pound us if we’re not careful.”

“Then why the hell did you escape the cell three days ago saying 'I’m gonna mess with him!’ only to come back by getting kissed.” Uno stated bluntly.

“S-SHUT UP!” Jyugo yelled at him, starting to fume again.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Uno said and punched his shoulder lightly. “He’s going to be making his patrol in fifteen minutes. Sooo…”

Uno turned and grabbed one of Nico’s crayons and a piece of paper. Uno drew on it and the guys all surrounded him, wondering what he was doing. Uno held up the paper and chuckled.

“This’ll do…” He said and gazed around the place.

“Isn’t that kinda immature?” Jyugo said unimpressed.

“Oh, I get it now.” Rock said as he began grinning.

“Haha! I get it! Just like those drama animes I’ve seen!” Nico laughed while clapping.

“Now, all I need is tape.” Uno muttered and began looking around the room.

“Found some!” Nico said and handed it to Uno.

“Perfect.” Uno grinned. “Now we wait…”

Uno stood by the door, eyeing the hall for Theo to walk through. And, just like he stated, Theo came just on time. Just as he passed cell 13 without even glancing at it, Uno called for him. Theo immediately stopped and looked at him, looking slightly curious. Uno had to tell by his eyes since his black mask was on this time.

“Yo, Theo!” Uno has called. “Mind comin’ here for a moment?”

“Huh…?” Theo blinked owlishly, clearly surprised.

But, Theo complied either way. He stepped forwards and stood in front of the door, wondering what Uno wanted.

“Is… something wrong?” Theo asked softly.

“I just wanted to talk to ya.” Uno said in an innocent manner. “I may be a criminal but I ain’t all that cold hearted. I just wanted to talk is all.”

Theo’s eyes narrowed at him. “…Talk about what?”

“Let’s talk about your job.” Uno said smirking. “You said you were a criminal, right? Well, why would you want to come back to the place you were imprisoned? I just don’t get it.”

“Well…” Theo mumbled and looked almost thoughtful. “When you have any sort of criminal record, especially mine, then finding a job in society is hard. Yeah, there’ll be people who will take you in, but the pay is low compared to others… I eventually began working on a local farm because the guy knew my family well and took pity on me…”

“So you became a guard?” Uno questioned with a raised brow.

“Yeah.” Theo nodded. “I sent a request to the Warden. She then brought me in, gave me a uniform and mask, and gave me the job. I know how the officers work and I get the jist of their protocol. The pay is a lot higher and allows me to keep a roof over my head…”

“Sounds tough.” Uno commented. “But why Nanba…? Couldn’t you gone to other police stations?”

“You do realize what you’re asking, right?” Theo gave him a flat look. “My criminal record has vandalism, theft, has a violent history, fought against officer arrest, and even broke out of prison every now and then. Who the hell in their right minds would give someone like that a job, especially at a police station.”

“True, true.” Uno nodded. “But that still doesn’t answer why Nanba allowed you here.”

Theo sighed softly and gazed away from him. “After a year of being in Nanba Prison I stopped being a troublemaker. That was when I was officially put into Building 5. At the time there was rumors that people had been handing out drugs through the inmates because they stole them from the infirmary. A lot of inmates knew who I was because I ended up becoming close to them… The officers knew that… So, I ended up becoming their information dealer, you could say…”

“Seriously? Why’d you rat them out?” Uno asked.

“Because those drugs were dangerous.” Theo stated, now looking very serious. “They were hardcore drugs that the inmates stole and mixed them together carefully. Inmates were actually dying because of it. They’re brains were being fried and they weren’t acting like yourselves. Plus, the bastard had been injecting the drugs into unsuspecting prisoners, testing his work out. Twenty-Two people died.”

“Holy shit…” Uno whispered as his eyes were wide.

“That many people?” Rock ask, now standing behind Uno.

“That’s fucked up…” Muttered Jyugo.

“Who would do that? Messing with other people’s medicine and handing it to others isn’t right!” Nico exclaimed, looking slightly fired up. “Some people really need those drugs to survive.”

“That’s why they came to me.” Theo said calmly and crossed his arms as he recalled the memories. “I began investigating before they even asked me to. After narrowing the search and speaking to the right guys, I ended up finding the bastard. Once I found his little drug exhibit I pounded his face in… He killed a lot of good people… I wasn’t going to forgive him, and I still won't… Nobody deserves to die…”

“What else happened?” Rock asked.

“…After I found him I dragged him off to the police.” Theo continued. “The guards took him to the deeper parts of the prison, away from everybody else, and extended his sentence. Not even a week being in there, the guy went mental… He ended up killing himself by choking on his own chains… According to a few guards, it was a pretty fucked up scene. I could only imagine how bad it was…”

“Whoa…” Rock muttered in shock.

“That was wild from start to finish!” Uno exclaimed.

“You asked.” Theo said. “…But, I still feel bad… Those guys passed without even realizing what happened. I knew them all. One of the guy’s had a kid and wife waiting for him back home… He ended up dying because of a psychotic druggy…”

“That’s so sad…” Muttered Nico.

“…It was my first participation with the guards.” Theo added as he placed his back against their cell door. “From then on, I made a promise to those men. I would help the guards prevent an incident like that ever happening again. That’s when I officially became the guard’s information broker on inmates whenever something got fishy…”

“What a noble guy you are.” Uno commented with a light smirk. “I bet a lot of inmates didn’t trust you from then on out.”

“You’d be surprised, heh…” Theo smirked, not like they could see, but he did catch them off guard. “Thanks to my outgoing nature, almost everybody trusted me. They talked to me because I was the only one who would listen. I listened because I knew it would help. Didn’t even realize doing something as simple as that would lead towards everyone liking me… Because of my vital intel I collected, I ended up becoming a type of bigshot in Nanba. I guess that’s why the Warden took a risk in me and gave me the job…”

“Are you okay with that, though?” Jyugo asked in a slightly harsh tone. “Being used only for intel like that? Is it even worth it?”

“Kinda, yeah.” Theo nodded before pushing himself off of the door to face them. “As long as I can be of worth of some kind, it’s worth it…”

“…You’re weird.” Jyugo said before turning around and went deeper into the cell.

“Fair enough.” Theo shrugged, finding what he said amusing. “But I enjoy my job. It’s worth it…”

“I don’t think I could ever change my ways like that and become a guard in the prison I was held in.” Rock muttered and scratched his head.

“Fair enough.” Theo said as his eyes seemed to smile. “Is that all you wanted to ask?”

“U-uh, yeah.“ Uno said and rubbed the back of his neck. ”…Now that I think about it, you really are easy to talk to. That’s freaking creepy, man.“

Theo released a short laugh, which sounded a lot like huffs, as he found what Uno said amusing. He was surprised that their hate towards him from a few days ago had apparently subsided.

"I get that a lot…” Theo said softly. “If that’s all, I need to get back to my job.” He turned towards the hall, but gave the three by the door a pointed look. “You better not escape again otherwise I’m gonna have to chase you guys again. I honestly don’t enjoy beating you guys to death, so please don’t make me.”

“Fine, fine.” Uno waved at him. “But we make no promises for tomorrow!”

Theo sighed softly and shook his head. “I’ll act like I heard nothing…”

WIth that said, he began walking down the hall. Uno, Nico, and Rock watched from the barred window until he was out of sight. Once he was gone, Rock looked to Uno.

“After hearing that story, you still put that paper on his back.” Rock muttered.

“What? I had to do something!” Uno said and began to laugh. “Still, I placed that thing right on his neck! He really didn’t notice, ahaha!”

“Theo’s not that bad of a guy, huh?” Nico said and looked at the others. “Hajime was right when he said we had to know him better.”

“But we never did figure out his full story…” Muttered Rock.

“Who cares?” Grumbled Jyugo as he was laying on the ground. “He could have the most saddest backstory in the world and I still wouldn’t care.”

“Are you still holding a grudge because of some dumb kiss?” Uno asked him.

“Of course I am!” Jyugo yelled at him, now sitting up and shaking a fist. “I don’t care who he is! There’s no excuse for him to kiss someone, especially an inmate he’s in charge of!”

“Yeah, Jyugo does have a fair point in that.” Nico said before looking at Rock and Uno. “Do you think Theo likes boys instead?”

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know the guy!” Uno exclaimed and walked away from the door.

“If he’s as open as he says he is, then maybe you can ask him next time…” Rock suggested, honestly just wanting to change the conversation.

“Okay!” Nico said innocently and went towards the TV.

***

“Oi, Theo. There’s something on your neck.”

“Huh? Really…? I didn’t even know it was there.”

LOSER! ;P HAHA!

'I recognize that penmanship anywhere! Those bastards from cell 13 are screwin’ with him! And he can’t suspect a thing because he can’t feel the goddamn paper! Those little shits…!’

[todragonsart]

Siege The Valentine’s Day 10 - The bet

First things first, I AM SO SORRY for being this late :D I mean, I wanted to post this on the 10th of February, but- life and @thefishychicken​ happened in my life, so I- slipped in my timetable. I’m so sorry for being this late @dualrainbow​. 

But!

It’s better to be late then never, I think :D Thank you so much for @r6shippingdelivery​ for your help as a humble beta yet again! <3

Enjoy!!

Deep breath in- deep breath out.

IQ placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, reassuring him. "Okay, Marius, you are doing great. Let's go through the plan once more, okay?"

Deep breath in- deep breath out.

Jäger nodded, trying to concentrate on the rhythm of his breathing. "Okay-okay. So I-I look for César and when I find him, I give him back the book he lent me earlier. I start to chat with them then I ask him on a Valentine's Date!"

"Yes! Yes, perfect!" IQ started to fairy clap her hand, fully excited.

“Okay, but what do I do if he says no?” Jäger looked at her, palms ridiculously sweaty.

Immediately freezing, IQ bit into her bottom lip. “Well… I don’t think he would, you know? I think if you feel like this, it might be because he let out certain vibes as well!”

“Or that you are just a loser~” sang songed Bandit with a smirk. He didn’t even look up from his book. IQ immediately punched him in the shoulder, causing the man to wince. “Oh my god, Woman! What the fu-”

“You are no help at all! Marius is struggling here!” IQ shook her head.

With an angry grunt, Bandit sit up, placing down his book. “Listen, MamaMonika! Marius is a battle trained soldier, one of the bests of GSG9, one of the most amazing mechanics both of us knows, and his only goal is to ask his fucking crush on a date. I think he is a big boy, he can do it without you mommying him all the time!”

Hearing all this, Jäger’s lips curved upwards into a happy little smile.

IQ hummed, looking back at her teammate. “Well, you are not wrong. Marius, you can do it!”

“I don’t even understand what is your damn problem, the guy is 10 years younger and 10 cms shorter than you, you have the advantage in both!” grinned Bandit again. He picked up his book in an attempt to go back to reading, but looked up one last time. “However, I made a bet with Maxim and Jordan, so I hope you fuck it up!”

IQ planted her face into her hands, because now Jäger’s face started to turn into a grimace.

The woman stepped in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Look at me, at me! Not at him,” IQ glanced at Bandit, who was still smirking. She looked Jäger in the eyes. “Look at me, Marius. You can do it. You have been wanting him since Christmas and you made a New Year’s Vow to ask him on a date. You like him, and he likes you and even if he doesn’t like you the way you want, he is still mature enough to not poke fun at you. It’s going to be fine, and you can’t even lose anything!”

Jäger looked at her and listening he started to nod slowly. “Yeah.”

“Because you are amazing, funny, kind, smart-"

"Fucking cringy and awkward!" Bandit was a big help, yeah.

"- and fantastic! Don't listen to Dom, he is just jealous."

Bandit snorted at that, and IQ smiled at Jäger. "Are you ready?"

With a deep breath, Jäger lifted Goyo's book. "My palms are sweating, my knees are trembling, my throat is clogged-"

"Did you catch the flu?" Bandit lifted an eyebrow.

Blinking confused, Jäger shook his head. "No?"

"Then get yourself together and woman up! Be like Monika. She would stomp there, grab that guy by the ear and order him to go on a date with her!" Noticing the dark glare of IQ, Bandit smirked even wider. "In the most adorable and dominatrix way, she could!" he even winked at the woman.

Jäger let out a little laugh at the way IQ was shaking her head now. "Back to the point! You are good Marius. You can do it! Just be yourself!"

The man looked at his teammates for a few seconds, considering the options, storing the information, then, with a nod, he straightened up, hugging Goyo's book close to himself. "Very well. Wish me luck!"

"Break a leg-!"

"That way César would be able to catch you when you fall!" snorted Bandit.

Actually laughing at this, Jäger nodded and left the room. The two remaining German listened to his footsteps fade, then Bandit looked up at IQ.

"Do you really think he can do it, or you just pushing him, because you bet 25£ on him?"

IQ smiled at him. "Of course he can do it! Now come on. We need to catch our show in the Nerd Room."

Bandit placed down his book and got up, joining IQ. "Do you think Mark really put bugs everywhere on Base to be able to track the bet?"

Now IQ was the one smirking. "I helped. Trust me, there are bugs everywhere!"

Bandit hugged her close to himself for a second. "When you do stuff like this is the time I know I have the most amazing best friend!"

"And when you say stuff like this" replied IQ. "Is the time I know you are high!"

Grinning Bandit opened the door to the Monitor room - the home of Dokkaebi, Mute and all the nerds. "We will never know!"

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

Jäger found Goyo in the common room, next to Mira, Amaru and Thermite. The later three were arguing about some sort of development for the Vulcan shield, but the Mexican wasn't really talking, just listening, as usual.

The German walked in, reassuring himself.

Breathe in- breathe out. It’s going to be okay.

When Goyo noticed Jäger, he turned his face away from the others to look at him, and offered the smallest and warmest of smiles, effectively shattering the German’s courage into tiny, knee-trembling pieces.

He felt his mouth dry out, his hands starting to shake, his previous plans vanish into thin air. It’s so not going to be okay!

For a second, he considered turning back and hiding under his bed for the next decade. That way at least he could have been safe, nobody to bug him. He could even be a ghost.

He glanced back at the door, biting into his bottom lip. Running seemed so easy and nice, for a second he even forgot why he was here.

Then he looked back at the group of people, and noticed that Goyo was still looking at him, his beautiful brown eyes waiting patiently for Jäger to join them.

The German loved his eyes. They were fantastic. The most amazing mix of red and brown, spotted with green here and there. Glaz wished to paint something this perfect! Looking into his eyes felt like walking in forest on a fresh autumn morning. There were times, when only looking at the Mexican during a training or live mission calmed him down. When he looked into Goyo's eyes, he felt appreciated and maybe even a bit special. But most of all, he felt safe.

And this on its own was worth fighting for, so he pushed aside his fears and braced himself.

With a big gulp, he clenched his fists and approached them. "Hey guys!"

As usual, Amaru greeted him in a cheerful voice. “Marius! It’s so good to see you, help us out here. Elena and Jordan are fighting over the new blueprints of the Vulcan!”

His eyes fidgeting on the book, he glanced at Goyo, then at the others and their papers. Five minutes didn’t really matter, did they? Maybe this would calm down his nerves a bit. So he joined and put the book in his pocket.

As he was hunching over the blueprints, he totally missed the little glance Goyo threw at his always cheerful partner. Amaru smirked at him.

Scratching his neck, Jäger took a pencil from the table and, literally lying on top of the big papers, he started to correct the design flaws or the constructions that were technically infeasible.

Mira and Thermite nodded along his work, offering new ideas. Amaru was kind of helping, but Goyo was only watching the scribbles of new plans, the other three, and especially Jäger. Always Jäger.

Amaru glanced at him and poked him in the side with her elbow, but Goyo gently waved her off.

When Jäger finished, he placed down the pencil and humming, looked at Mira and Thermite. “It might be easier this way!”

The Spanish tilted her head and looked at the American. “I told you he will correct most of it! You can’t actually store lava in those cans Jordan!”

“So what? A man can have dreams!”

Rolling her eyes, Mira lifted the blueprints. “Thanks Marius!”

Jäger smiled at her. “No problem. If you leave them in the workshop, we can go through them tomorrow together- I mean if you want!”

The Spaniard looked at him, lifting an eyebrow a little. Lightning fast, she glanced at Goyo then back to Jäger. “Why not now?”

Jäger - catching the little glance - felt himself blush a little. “I have stuff to do!”

“What kind of stuff?” Mira smiled. Jäger wanted to murder her. He was sure she knew about the bet. Of course she knew about the bet! In fact, Thermite was one of Bandit’s best friends, so he surely participated as well. Jäger wasn't sure about Amaru, but at this point everybody was a possible betting suspect, either ready to help or to hold him back.

With a wave of anger, he turned his face towards Goyo. "Can I steal you for five minutes?"

Blinking, the Mexican nodded. "Sure! I will be right back!" he looked at Amaru, who nodded with a smile.

As they left, Mira looked at Thermite. "I will take Eliza on a date from the money I win!"

Thermite shook his head. "It's still not over Elena. If you lose, I'm taking her on a date!"

Mira flushed all of a sudden. "You can't always steal her based on you two being best friends!"

Thermite winked at her. "You should have bet on Marius, not against him!"

The Spaniard punched him in the shoulder in anger.

Amaru smiled at them. "Oh come on kids, calm down, this is just a game!"

"Says the woman who bet 50£ to her loss?" smirked Thermite. "Why do you want to lose?"

With an all knowing smile, Amaru looked in the direction of the entrance, where Goyo and Jäger left. "Because I bet against César, and I know how happy he would be if Marius did ask him out on a date!"

Mira's eyes rounded. "He bet on Marius? That's cheating!"

Thermite shook his head. "Technically he didn't say anything yet, so… he is still in the game!"

Amaru grinned. "Yes, he is!"

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

"You look pale, are you okay?" Goyo asked, walking side by side with Jäger.

"Y-yeah, sure! Everything is okay!" came the shaky reply. Jäger looked down at the book in his hands.

Come on!

Clenching his eyes, he recalled IQ's voice, how she tried to calm him.

Breathe in-breathe out. He can do this!

"I just brought you back the book back you lent me!" he offered said object to Goyo.

Blinking, the Mexican took it, almost not being able to hold back a smile. "I told you, you can keep it, didn't I?"

Jäger bit into his lip. Goyo did tell him, didn't he? Fuck, now he looks like an idiot! Shit.

"Y-yeah?"

Chuckling, Goyo shook his head. "You forgot?"

"Maybe."

"Well, you can still keep it. I know you love these more than me, it would be in a better place with you."

"Thank you, César!"

"Nothing to thank me for. Was this all, you wanted to talk about?"

"Yeah!" answered Jäger, then blinking he started to stutter. "I-I m-mean, n-no! No of course not I-I um...um… w-wanted to ask something, to be honest!"

"Oh, yeah? Should I be worried?" Goyo smiled at him, making Jäger's heart skip a beat.

"W-why would you do that? No! Nothing to worry about!"

"I'm just pulling your leg, Marius. You seem so stressed. Come on, let's take a walk outside, shall we?"

Jäger looked at him, nodding furiously. A little fresh air might calm down his nerves.

Heading outside, none of them were talking. And it was- perfect. They always did this, just existing side by side, and that was it. Jäger loved it, being around Goyo was putting him at ease like nothing else.

When they were out with friends and he ended up sitting next to the Mexican, he usually fell asleep on the man's shoulder. Goyo never complained. This went with movies as well, they watched together or when they were on a plane coming home after a mission. It started to become the best place for Jäger to sleep on, even though Goyo was shorter than him. He always found a way to snuggle up to the Mexican’s side.

Thankfully, the chilly February weather calmed down his burning skin a bit as they got outside. Goyo started their usual path, walking towards the hangars to check out Jäger’s helicopter.

He looked at the German, who was still deep in his thoughts, then glanced up at the Base’s windows. He didn’t even need to search for too long, he soon found a few noses pressed to the Nerd Lair’s window - Bandit, IQ, Mute, Dokkaebi, Fuze. They were watching like hungry hawks.

With a small smile, Goyo massaged the bridge of his nose and looked at Jäger. “So, how are you? You seem a bit distracted as well!”

The German glanced at him, blushing all of a sudden. “Yes! N-no-!”

Goyo lifted an eyebrow with a small smile. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yes! Yes! I’m just a bit- maybe a bit stiff? But- I need to ask you something!” Jäger stopped in his track, turning towards Goyo, placing his hands on the man’s shoulders.

Not even surprised by the sudden repositioning, the Mexican looked up at him, straight into his eyes, lips curving into a small smile. "I'm all ears."

Jäger watched his eyes for a mere second, bracing himself. It's going to be alright. Just be Monika.

He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, but the moment he wanted to speak, he noticed his friends - noses still pressed against the window.

He lifted an eyebrow, pulling a face. "Oh fuck me-"

“Maybe later-” he heard the Mexican whisper and snapped his eyes at him.

“W-what?” he stuttered. His knees started to tremble again.

Goyo - with a face calm and collected - looked up at him again, gently petting one of Jäger’s hands on his shoulder. “You wanted to ask something, right? Ask it!”

With an audible gulp Jäger nodded, letting his hands fall to his sides. “Right!” he glanced at the window once more. He saw Bandit shaking his head, and he felt his fingers clenching into fists. He took a deep breath, bracing himself for every possible answer, best and worst and nodded to himself.

“W-would you like to g-go on a date with m-me…?” he muttered, closing his eyes for a second.

Goyo just stood there, silent, unmoving.

Oh great. Now Jäger was an idiot and Bandit would win. Fantastic. Fantastic! As one more, silent second went by, his disappointment turned to sadness.

He turned his face away, rubbing his arm, trying to hide his frustration. He felt like a disaster.

Then he felt Goyo’s voice, warm and rich, making his eyes round. “I can’t give you a proper answer until you look at me, Marius.”

Fumbling with his fingers, Jäger glanced up at him just to be greeted by Goyo’s beautiful smile. He could not calm down immediately.

Goyo lifted his hand, waving Jäger closer. With never seen excitement, the German straightened up and stepped closer to the other. Goyo looked at him, his smile turning into a grin. “I thought you would never ask!”

Jäger couldn’t hold back a wide grin. He wanted to jump out of his skin in excitement, he wanted to shout, to run a mile, to do anything that would deduct his previous stress and newly found energy.

“S-so is that a yes?” he heard himself ask. Dammit anxiety! He wanted to slap himself.

With a laugh Goyo reached out and grabbed a handful of his collar, pulling him down to press their lips together. Just like that!? The motion was so smooth and calculated, Jäger could not stop his endorphin filled brain from thinking about Goyo thinking about this as well. He felt himself high, he was happy, now his hands started to shake because of this as he hugged Goyo’s waist, kissing back.

He heard the Mexican’s little laugh, as he pulled back. “Eager, aren’t we?”

Jäger bushed. “I’m sorry…?”

“Are you?” grinned Goyo.

The German shook his head. “Not a bit.”

“I know you like Valentine’s Day, but not the crowd, so February 15th? Does that work for you as the date?”

Blinking a few, Jäger burst out laughing. “Sure! Y-yes please!”

“Deal!” Goyo pressed one more kiss on his lips and stepped back. “Shall we go?”

Jäger grinned at him. “Sure- just one second!” he turned towards the window where he saw the others and flipped them a finger, then turned to Goyo. “They made a stupid bet-”

“I know!” nodded Goyo. Wide eyes, Jäger looked at him to be greeted by a small smirk. “I bet on you asking me, and you did it!”

“H-hey!” Jäger almost fainted and when the Mexican started his way back to the building he ran after him, totally missing the celebration in the Computer room.

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

“I won!” IQ popped down next to Bandit, who was still sitting next to the window. “And you lost!”

Bandit looked at her, his lips pulling into a sly smirk as he reached for his smoke.

IQ crossed her arms in front of her. “Why are you smiling? You lost…!”

He pulled out one thread and put it in between his lips. He lit it and blew out the smoke. “Did I?” Bandit patted her knee. “I lost, like- 10£.”

Her eyes widening, IQ leant closer. “How!?”

Bandit looked at her. “I never said I bet against Marius, Monika.”

“But you said-”

“I know what I said, but that only was to get Marius going!”

Mouth falling open the woman shook her head, a smile bloomin on her lips. “You fucker. You made like… 20 bets with everybody and none of these were against Marius, hah?”

Bandit nodded. “I’m rich.”

“You fucking fucker. But how did you lose that 10£ then?” IQ tilted her head.

Bandit looked out the window, satisfied. “The only bet I made against Marius was- with Marius.”

IQ both amazed and scared shook her head. “You- I can’t even-”

Bandit looked up at her. “I knew he could do it, Monika, but not using this opportunity to collect money is just stupid!” he winked.

“Evil.”

“Genius.”

“I can’t even!” IQ shook her head and still trying to process all the info, she stood up and left Bandit by himself.

Grinning the German looked after her and out of the window. He could still see Jäger and Goyo, and he just couldn’t stop the proud smile spreading on his lips.

I hope you enjoyed! <3

[paradise-creator]

Self ship fanfiction

Amorette x Tsukkishima Kei

Yes, you may request something this as well-

The sky was painted in different hues. Red, orange, black hues dance around the heavens. The sun slowly retreating down while the moon rises. A young girl was waiting outside of her house. Her parents agreed on having a small study session with a neighbor of hers then sleeping over her girl friend's house. She was wearing a black and white crop top with high-waisted jeans and a simple black rubber shoes.

Her slightly chubby stature was pacing around. She was a fidgety and energetic person. That's a prominent trait of hers, she sometimes can't stay still. Her short dark brown hair blew in the wind she was adoring the current temperature, it was summer after all. Her dark honey eyes looked around, trying to see where her taller friend, or suitor as her girl friend would verse.

Soon, a familiar blonde hair with white earphones came into view. He was wearing a casual attire. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans with converse. It wasn't anything special but it sure did leave an impact to the shorter female. "Hey there Kei~" She said as the male was in front of her. She waved at him as she said that. She continued to look up to maintain eye contact. Her companion, Tsukkishima Kei, is about a ruler and 10 cm taller than her. So, just to see his face, she has to look up, not that she mind.

"Hello there little Plum," He said with a small smile. His face reverted back to its stotic and scowl face. His taller stature made the female look extra small, it was cute. "Awww, that's cute Kei! You have a new nick name instead of just Amore~" She said as she smiled brightly. Tsukkishima rolled his eyes as he shook his head. "It's easier distinguish between you and your sister, idiot," He said as he patted her head. This lead the shorter girl to chuckle.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," She replied as she grabbed his wrist. "Let's go~" She said as she skipped happily. The taller male was surprised at her strength and ability to drag his body with her. He was about to say something but the female seemed uninterested. He merely chuckled to himself as he found this cute. He continued to look at the girl as they walked. But then realized that she is going the wrong way. "Do you even know where we are going?" He teased as he tried to stop the girl from dragging him.

"Oh shot- I have no idea where we are going. Good thing I just walked straight-" Amorette said as she face palmed. Tsukkishima then chuckled and shook his head. "I should put you on a leash. You always get lost, you broken GPS~" He said as he teased further. "I may be a broken GSP but I walked straight into your heart, now haven't I?" She said as she winked at him. This lead to Tsukki blushing a bit and looked away. "Kind of bold of you to assume you just walked straight in. You got lost a long the way," He said as he then started walking to the right direction. The shorter girl then chuckled and walked beside him.

"You are sweeter than what most people think," She started. "You're like that dessert I both love and hate. It has a sour outside with a hint of salt but a very sweet then soft inside," She then ended. "And you are like a clown, just like that gremlin," He then replied. "Pfft, you ain't wrong, Kei but I'm a whole circus!" She then said. They then walked in silence. The stars sparkle and the moon appeared. It was a really pretty night. Tsukki's hand that was facing the shorter girl was out while the other was in his pocket. Amorette saw his hand and took it in hers. This surprised the taller but continued walking.

"I swear Sho is amazing but he can be annoying," The girl said as she then started skipping. "Like he is so cute! How can someone be so adorable?" She added as she squealed. "His orange hair and brown eyes. He is just so yes~" She stated. As she continued on, she didn't notice that she was hurting the taller male. "Or maybe Ushijima! Ushi is just so strong and hot. Like woah! The way he spikes the ball, you can clearly see how much he trained. That passion~" She said. "Ushijima is hot but then there's also Akaashi or Kuroo," She added. She continued to ramble on the different guys she found interesting. And that includes him but he was jealous on how she has this long list. Soon enough, they reached the destination.

It was a hill with flowers here and there. "This is amazing!" She said as her eyes sparkled. Tsukkishima chuckled and shook his head. He then felt her hand let go and she started walking away. Maybe it signifies that she'll always be with him but one day she'll just walk away. He looked at where she was going. He looked her as she walked. She was looking at the sky as she stood in the midst of flowers. He admired her as she stood there. "You know, sometimes, I wonder if you actually given me a chance cause I do or it was because of pity," Tsukki said as he chuckled sadly.

"Hmm?" The girl said as she turned. Her eyes widen as she saw that his eyes were quite glossy. This made her heart clench and her smile disappeared. "You always talk about the others. All your attention to them. And I still wonder on how much of an idiot I am for falling for you," He then said. This lead to the shorter girl to look away and sat down. She was still facing Tsukkishima but she didn't maintain eye contact."Yamaguchi always told me that you said you liked me. Then why not act like it, airhead?" He continued. "You always have your doe eyes looking at the others. When you have a perfectly capable suitor right here, idiot." He said as he glared softly. A few tears stray away from his eyes and he looked away.

The two of them then sat in an uncomfortable silence. The tension was so thick that you can cut it with a knife. But it was then cut off but a sob. Tsukkishima's eyes widen, it was Amorette who was crying. He should've known that she would burst into tears. She was a small and sensitive soul. "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry," She said as she wiped her tears. She looked up to Tsukkishima to have eye contact, she then stood up and looked away. "I didn't mean to..." She said softly. "It's just that you act so cold and I don't know anymore," She said as she choked on her words. "I don't know what to feel anymore," She said as she turned away from him. She didn't want Tsukki to see her in this state. As much as she loves her surroundings, she just had to explode that day.

Unexpectedly, Tsukki hugged the shorter girl from the behind. Instinctively, Amorette turned around and bury her face on his chest. "I'm sorry," She chanted over and over again. "Just give us a chance, please?" Tsukki then said. This surprised the shorter girl but she nodded. Her response surprised the taller but he decided to tease her. "What was that? Did you just turn me down? Well, I guess you do have a lot of other men in your disposal," He teased. "I said yes you stupid blind French fry," She then replied. "It isn't my fault you are so short that I can't see you," He then said. "Whatever," She then replied as she nuzzled her head on his body.

"Ah, dammit, I forgot about Yamaguchi and that gremlin," Tsukki then said. Amorette's eyes widen and immediately detached herself from Tsukki. "Audrie is going to kill both you and me!" She said. "Wait, I thought it would only just be us?" She asked as she then looked at him. "You dragged me before I was able to tell you then you started ranting. You really are a goldfish and a chatterbox," He said as he snickered. "And you still fell for this idiot. Now shut up and let's go before we get in even more trouble," She said as she wiped her tears. Her eyes were red but since she didn't cry that much, she didn't look that bad. They then started their journey back to his house, hand in hand.

[darrowsrising]

how tall are darrow and mustang actually in the canon? 

According to the man himself, Darrow is 7'1" (2.15m) and Mustang is 6'1" (1.85m).

Sevro is 5'9" (1.75m). Victra is around 7' (2.13m) or a bit shorter (as Pierce stated that she is just a bit shorter than Darrow, not exactly specific, but by 'bit' I understand around 2 to maximum 10 cm, so...at least 6'9" (2.05m).

Pax au Telemanus is 7'4". So I guess Daxo and Kavax are around the same height if not bigger.

Cassius is around the same height as Darrow, if I remember correctly...but I'll bet whatever you want that Darrow has one inch over him and they can't shut up about it. So let's say 7' exactly.

Hope this helps!

Howl on! 🐺🐺🐺

Btw, the ReaperMustang height difference is cute af and idk why I am the only one who finds it so.