#I would love to celebrate actually new content rather than bug fixes

[finnick002]

To me, the most exciting part of patch 7 is that, if they finally fix Wyll's epilogue dialogue and make it function as scripted, I get to hear all the Wyllach lines at last. I want to hear him say "fuck yeah, that's my girl!" and describe the life he wants to live with Karlach ("swimming in the Chionthar again, travelling cobblestone roads, setting our heads on down pillows", a simple normal happy life like how Theo described in that TwitchCon clip).

Also I really hope they add more stuff in Karlach's epilogue dialogue on Wyll origin runs where she's romanced too. Cuz right now it's basically 1. Kiss 2. Leave

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really THAT Bad?

Cats has been a divisive show ever since it opened in 1981. Some people hate it for being a plotless spectacle that focuses more on the visuals than on music and story, while others love it for those same reasons, as well as for being utterly campy and fun. I’m firmly in the latter category, to the point I can’t  really comprehend the opposition to the film. Stuff like the jab at this film in The Critic or the mockery of it in Hey Arnold just seem weird to me; what is it about this fun, silly musical about cats that makes people’s blood boil so much?

Perhaps all these people saw into the future where the film was released.

Cats had a long, troubled history getting from stage to screen. In the 90s, Amblimation was set to make an animated version of the movie, set during the Blitz of WWII. Unfortunately, the inability of writers to find a way to turn this episodic showcase of random singing cats into a cohesive narrative combined with the failure of Amblimations films caused the project to dissolve, leaving behind nothing but some really cool concept art. 

But see, this perfectly demonstrates the problem with adapting Cats: the musical is a spectacle, a showcase, it’s all about the dancing, costumes, and the songs. It doesn’t have a story to speak of, instead contenting itself with showing us a bunch of different cats and having them sing about themselves for a bit before moving on to the next cat. Sure, there’s a bit of continuity and whatnot, but this really isn’t the sort of show that’s trying to deliver a deep narrative. It just wants you to have a good time, nothing more, nothing less.

No one told any of this to Tom Hooper, apparently. This director of the grounded, gritty, realistic adaptation of Les Mis was tapped to utilize this same style in a musical about magical singing cats, all while not even knowing what catnip is or how animation works. Hooper was apparently constantly butting heads with the VFX team due to his lack of understanding of how animating works. He tried to get the team to watch videos of cats performaing the stuff he wanted and forced them to give 90 hour work weeks, cementing Tom Hooprt as one of the biggest douchebags imaginable. On top of all this, the guy tried to weave this plotless showcase of felines into a cohesive narrative, and tapped a bunch of talent of various degrees of questionability to play parts. And what was the result?

An absolute disaster. The film was savaged by critics, with most positives being that the film was so bad it’s good. The film (of course) won a bunch of Razzies, and was the subject of mockery and memes before, after, and during its run in theaters. Hell, as soon as the trailer dropped, the film was mocked to death. Not helping was the rushed VFX which, again, was due to the team being under pressure from a draconian idiot who had no idea what he was doing. The film received an unprecedented bug fix, so to speak, in the form of an updated version with slightly better VFX that was shipped to theaters after the initial negative reaction. This obviously did nothing to help the movie’s reputation, of course. Hell, even in my initial review, I wasn’t super keen on the film. Most damning of all, though, was Andrew Lloyd Webber himself calling the film ridiculous, and even said "The problem with the film was that Tom Hooper decided that he didn’t want anybody involved in it who was involved in the original show."

But after ruminating on it, and after watching the film once more, I’ve decided to ask the usual question: Is it really that bad? It’s weird to ask this about a film that’s so new; I usually wait for hindsight to kick in, and look at older films considered bad. But even now, Cats is building up a reputation as a campy cult classic, with such figures as Martin “LittleKuriboh” Billamy watching the film with alarming frequency. And after reading the nightmarish behind the scenes and considering everything… yeah, I think this film deserves a re-evaluation.

This is going to be a little different, though: I’m sort of going to go through the film part by part, since this film has an interesting issue where, generally speaking, the first half is where the worst problems are, and the second half is where things start to pick up. So let’s get the bad out of the way first, then move onto the good.

THE BAD

So, I’m actually not going to pick on the VFX too much, and not just because of the horrible treatment of the VFX artists. In all honesty, the weird human/cat people, while not even remotely as cool as the insane costumes of the stage show, eventually stop being super distracting and kind of just become something you accept. Like, I’m not gonna pretend like this work is amazing, but I dunno, I think it gets harped on too much. There is some stuff that stands out as noticeably bad, though, and we’ll get to that.

A consistent problem with the film that I can’t even try to defend is the problem with the scaling. It’s seriously hard to tell how big these cats are supposed to be in relation to anything else. They honestly seem to change size from scene to scene. It’s seriously weird and baffling and there’s never any way to get a good sense of scale. Even when the cats are alongside mice and roaches, it just boggles the mind what size anything is actually supposed to be.

Mr. Mistoffelees, one of the most flamboyant and enjoyable characters of the stage show, is one of the biggest character issues with the film. Gone is the tricky, confident magician who prances and dances, and here is a meek, sniveling twerp who can barely do anything without tripping over himself. This is because the actor who plays him had a terrible audition that left him miserable due to a lack of singing and dance background. So, rather than find someone who could, you know, sing and dance, they decided to rewrite Mr. Mistoffelees into comic relief, which is just an insulting slap in the face. The cherry on top of course is how they straightwash the character and excise his homoerotic tension with Rum Tum Tugger, instead making him completely and totally straight and giving him a thing for Victoria. Out of everyone in the entire film, they did Mr. Mistoffelees the dirtiest.

Now, let’s get onto the actual “plot.” The film actually starts out fairly well, with some cool shots, good dancing, and some setup for Macavity, whose intro has a neat little nod to the fact he’s based on Moriarty. The issues don’t really start showing up until we reach the first of the Jellicle choices… Jennyanydots.

Jennyanydots is portrayed by Rebel Wilson, which is the first issue. Rebel Wilson is probably one of the worst actresses ever. She is just a horrendously, relentlessly unfunny human being, and she brings that exact quality to her role here. For her song, the vocal talent is secondary to the cringeworthy comedy Wilson puts on display. And yet, somehow, Wilson isn’t the worst part of the scene. No, that would be the horrendous CGI human-faced mice and roaches, which look like they came out of a PS3 game.

This horrendous spectacle is followed up with the appearance of Rum Tum Tugger, portrayed by Jason Derulo. I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, I do think Derulo has the necessary egotistical celebrity swagger to play Rum Tum Tugger (especially when you consider he responded to negative criticisms of the film by calling the movie  “one of the greatest pieces of art ever made”) and his design is actually one of the better ones in the film, but on the other hand, his singing and the musical choice for his song are not very impressive and really just doesn’t work all too well. It’s at least something of a step up from Rebel Wilson and her CGI abominations, but that’s not really saying much, is it?

Next up we have Bustopher Jones, played by James Corden and, if I’m being totally honest… he’s not quite as awful as he could be. Corden is basically the male equivalent to Rebel Wilson, but at least while he’s singing he manages to be somewhat amusing, whimsical, and enjoyable even. The problem comes when he throws in jokes, including one where he claims to be self-conscious about his weight… a joke that occurs in the middle of his song where he is bragging about how fat he is. Talk about sending mixed messages. I wish I didn’t have to be so harsh on Bustopher, but sadly he is bogged down by really bad shtick.

Bustopher Jones also highlights a problem with the cats in this first half. These minor roles – Jennyanydots, Rum Tum Tugger, and Bustopher Jones – are all being played by relatively big celebrities, and as such they’re going to want a lot of time to sing. As a result, songs that were ensemble numbers on stage become more one-man songs here, with Bustopher Jones being the most egregious example, turning this positive fat character into a walking James Corden fat joke as he sings his own praises rather than having his praises sung.

Following him up we have Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, who are usually fun characters with a fun little pseudo-villain song, but alas, they manage to screw that up by using a slow, jazzy version of the song originally used in earlier London productions rather than the more up-tempo version from later productions, making the song sound awkward and forgettable. Topping it all off is the bargain bin Mr. M popping in at the end for some wacky shenanigans, but at this point, the movie takes a turn towards…

THE GOOD

So as soon as Dame Judi Dench shows up as Old Deuteronomy, the film gets a sort of inverse of what happened at the start. Where the film starts somewhat awkward and promising, it slowly gets stupider and stupider when Rebel Wilson, Jason Derulo, and James Corden botch their scenes in the ways described above. Here, things start a bit shaky and unsure, but Dench is a sign things are about to pick up. What makes her so enjoyable is how, despite how utterly silly things are, she treats her role with the dignity and gravitas of something out of Shakespeare. The only thing as good as an actor in a silly movie like this going full-on ham and cheese is an actor treating their role dead serious and injecting it with such class and dignity you can’t help but enjoy it. Thankfully, Dench isn’t the only person to take her role seriously.

Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella technically appears briefly in the earlier portions of the film, but here we get to hear her belt out “Memory,” and by god does she do a fantastic job. The raw emotion and passion she injects into Grizabella is phenomenal, and it’s even more powerful when it comes back for its reprise in the finale. Victoria gets a sort of response song to “Memory,” called “Beautiful Ghosts,” and it’s a decent song in its own right, but you can tell it was a more modern composition and it just doesn’t gel super well with the rest of the songs. Still, all this is good stuff, and the “Memory”/”Beautiful Ghosts” scene is a nice, refreshing bit of emotion after the incredibly weird and silly extended dance number that is the Jellicle Ball.

The movie doesn’t stop pulling punches; shortly after Grizabella we are given Gus the theater cat, an elderly actor whose number is all about reminiscing of the old days of theater and his many stellar roles from days gone by. Naturally, the only actor who could possibly perform this role properly is Sir Ian McKellan. I am completely unironic when I say this: This is to McKellan what Patrick Stewart’s performance of Xavier in Logan is. This sounds ridiculous, but think of it: Gus is an aging thespian, clearly a bit senile and desiring to be reborn because he has reached the end of the line, and McKellan fills him with this genuine, incredibly honest performance that really makes you feel emotional. It’s powerful. It feels so personal and resonant, like McKellan has inserted some of his own feelings into his performance, which may very well be the case. Oh, and after his song Macavity kidnaps him with a big autograph book and apparates away while saying his name, which gets me every time.

And now, my friends, the lord and savior arrives: Skimbleshanks.

This is, hands down, the best scene in the entire film. Everything comes together here: the music is absolutely fantastic, the dancing is choreographed extremely well, and it’s clear that everyone involved is having a blast. This is a concentrated essence of what Cats should be, and it’s really a shame Hooper didn’t understand that this is the energy needed for the entire production. The most crucial element, of course, is Steven McRae, who not only has a lovely singing voice and looks dapper as all hell in his red suspenders, but is a tap dancing maniac. This man has feet of fire, and his tapping adds a whole new layer of fun to the song. Overall, this is a perfect scene, and probably one of my favorite scenes in any film ever. For a brief four minutes, everything about this film works. I literally have no idea why this cat wants to be reincarnated, he is straight balling in this life.

But the hits don’t stop! Right after this song, Taylor Swift descends from the ceiling, and we get “Macavity.” In the stage productions, this is a song sung by Bombalurina to describe how nasty Macavity is, since she’s traditionally a good cat; here, she’s reimagined as a villain, and so this song is basically her acting as Macavity’s hype man, singing his dastardly praises, and best of all, Macavity joins in at the end! I’m certainly not a Taylor Swift fan, but she really kills it here, and definitely makes this one of the best songs in the movie with her hilariously forced accent and insane energy. It’s just a shame that from here on out Macavity ditches his villainous pimp coat and is now a nude Idris Elba, but I suppose this is equivalent exchange for Skimbleshanks being so amazing.

While not as incredible as the previous two songs and not quite as good as the stage version due to the removal of the latent homoeroticism, Mr. Mistoffelees’s song is actually okay. It’s nice that he gets to sing his own praises here, but it’s just nothing compared to the stage version, even if it has a fun little finale and it actually is genuinely heartwarming when Old Deuteronomy returns and sings along. It’s a sweet moment that almost makes up for how much Mr. M has sucked the whole movie. Oh, also, all of the Jellicle choices Macavity kidnapped fight back against their captor Growltiger, with Skimbleshanks aggressively tapdancing at him and Gus using his acting skills to make him fall into the Thames. This is so goofy that it wraps back around to being awesome.

The movie winds down in the goofiest way possible after the gorgeous reprise of “Memory,” with Macavity being caught on a big sculpture and apparently running out of magic, leaving him stranded like a regular cat. Then we get one final fourth-wall breaking song where Judi Dench directly addresses the camera that has the music swell up to the point where it seems like the song is ending numerous times without actually ending, and each time is funnier than the last. Really, what better way could you end such a silly film than with this?

Now, a general thing that’s great about the film is the choreography. The dancing in the movie is spectacular. I don’t really have a bad thing to say about it. And, in a broad sense, the music is good too, even if the singers aren’t always perfect, the backing tracks are great, and there’s a lot of fun in the tracks in the latter half of the movie. McRae and Taylor Swift’s contributions in particular are great, and Hudson’s version of “Memory” is incredibly powerful, as is McKellan’s take on Gus’ song.

Is It Really THAT Bad?

No.

Look, it’s hard to be like “Wow this is a fantastic masterpiece of film” or anything like that, because the movie has blatant and evident problems. But this is literally the reason I made this review series; I’m asking if the movie is really as bad as people say, and in this case, no, there’s too much genuinely enjoyable in the film for me to say it’s deserving of several Razzies and a spot on the Bottom 100 of IMDB that places it above Master of Disguise and The Emoji Movie. Like, seriously? This is worse than the 90 minute commercial starring the abusive dick who called a bomb threat on his girlfriend? Hell, this movie is rated worse than Artemis Fowl, which is definitely a contender for the worst film ever made (and amusingly enough also features Judi Dench in it). Artemis Fowl has next to no redeeming qualities in it, and it certainly doesn’t have Skimbleshanks, whereas Cats has several fun scenes and also has Skimbleshanks.

I definitely think there’s more of an argument for this film being so bad it’s good or camp at best, but it’s definitely more enjoyable than you’d think it would be. If you can learn to live with the weird CGI, it’s a fun, goofy romp that you might find yourself feeling for at times. After my second watch, I have to say… I’ve started to unironically enjoy this movie. It might even be one of my favorites of all time. I can’t even deny that it has a lot of stuff I don’t like, and it falls flat in a lot of ways the 1998 film soars, and it screwed up some of my favorite characters… but there are so many moments where the fun and heart of Cats shines through brighter than it has any right to, and all the failures of Hooper and Universal seem distant for a just a few minutes.

So yeah, is this movie good all around? No way. But is it fun, does it have value, and is there more redeeming qualities than the critics let on? Oh yes there is.

[winterfergerart]

A Sort of Hiatus on Canon Related D:BH Content

I said as much on twitter, but here I’ll go into a little more depth about why I’ll be sticking with AUs.  This is a personal post, and I’m not speaking for anyone else.  Minor edits added to fix my failures at English.

I do enjoy Detroit: Become Human.  It’s never been great.  It’s always struck me as sort of that gloss of tonedeaf some 90s Star Trek: TNG episodes had, where the characters were good but the plot would be some sort of fumbling social commentary that was very awkward and sometimes uncomfortable (See “Code of Honor” or “Journey’s End”).  Every decision course of D:BH either has that vibe or if you choose more aggressive, less sympathetic routes some sort of mediocre early 2000s AI style android movie feel.

With a sort of detachment, that’s easy to watch.  That’s the reason why “coded” things can often have a sense of lingering popularity even where representation is important.  Someone who is ‘queer-coded’ or ‘autism-coded’ or “race-coded” can often be watched no matter what’s going on in the real world without sparking a sense of real world trauma so long as there’s a safe degree of separation.  It can be imported and exported to places where certain subjects are forbidden.  It can usually be enjoyed without provoking a sense of anxiety but also being relatable.

Of course this can go the opposite way, too.  Until very recently, Destiny was pretty cut and dry on its “shoot the alien invaders even after we establish a ‘not all invaders’ standard.”  Sort of a bad scene after you realize races like the Fallen are actually refugees from the same thing that’s happened to humans.  They’re described as ‘nomadic’.  But no, they lost their home.  They’re searching for a new one.  They’re refugees.  Emperor Callus is seeking more territory but being cooperative and negotiable in contrast to other Cabal, and his people only attack you when you attack his.  But it’s so masked in bug people and space rhinos that it’s easy to wave off.  Only recently have we, in game, actually started questioning the good guys and how good they are.

Metal Gear Solid has its own coding, too.  It’s thinly veiled, usually exploitative towards women especially, but the one thing that Kojima very much got right was its respect for painful international history.  If you listen to any amount of radio recordings from most of the latter games, like Kaz’s briefing files in Peace Walker or calls with Para-Medic in Snake Eater, you will see an intense respect for actual harsh pasts and the real history that leads to these campy, fake futures and nonexistent conflicts.

Now that brings me back around to D:BH.

Detroit: Become Human is not as separated from reality as it should be for the sake of its subject matter.   There’s not enough stated awareness about the real past while it aims too close to current social circumstances with its android plot arc.  You get a short comment made by Rose Chapman about the history of the underground railroad and then passionless meanderings in potential world-establishing futures in found news articles and on TV.  There are various holocaust/nazi themed shapes in designs and grim ideas/plot angles used in reference to fictional androids and not the real people that suffered because of them.  They’re left like Easter Eggs and not meaningful commentary.  There are riffs of actual symbols from the ‘android lives matter’ flippant remark from Connor to the tacky uses of slavery-related song.  Hank’s suicidal ideology was depicted as unique when more cops die by suicide than in the line of duty.  There are authority figures meant to be as bad as the ones being protested that, yeah, get what’s coming to them, but there are cops that fearfully react and kill androids and you’re meant to be sympathetic to them.  

There’s enough realism there to hurt and right now it can’t be handwaved away.  It’s salt in an open wound rather than being an overly optimistic mild embarrassment. There are problems enough that if the actors didn’t do so well with their material and with improvising, it’d be intolerable.  

I will likely continue to draw Hank and Connor along with the other stuff I draw with that awareness because I love redemption arcs.  I need redemption arcs and I love Clancy Brown who is a good soul.  Most important to me is the treatment of depression in D:BH.  So far it’s been the only game that has gotten depression and suicidal ideology in such a way that I completely identify with and relate to.  But I can celebrate that in a context that’s not a landmine of badly depicted tonedeaf reminders.  Right now, no better than an interpretive dance of mourning or offering someone a pepsi to end racism.  

So for the next few weeks if I draw them I’ll be using AUs, probably.  If anyone is interested, reverse AU plot is a corruption conspiracy plot where Hank’s memories were put in an android and sparked a little at a time, monster AU is him as a werewolf that hunts other monsters, and I very recently posted my Fallout AU rundown. 

[justanoutlawfic]

I Belong With You (You Belong With Me): Go Ask Alice

Summary: Lacey & James get to know more about each other. Turns out they're both nerds, just for different things.

Also on AO3

Storybrooke, Maine (October 28th, 2011)

 James attempted to peek through the newspaper that covered the windows but could only see the stories splashed across the pages, rather than the contents inside. He didn’t quite understand why the library had been locked up for so many years, but it bothered him to no end. He loved books. He could spend his lunch break, his evenings alone and the weekends getting lost in numerous adventures. From Jane Austen to George Orwell to Mary Shelley, he was never far from a novel. However, he was limited to the ones he had in his personal collection and what he could order off the internet. The mail system worked strangely in their little hamlet and it took forever to get anything in. If there was a library, at the very least it would be easier to borrow a huge stack and return them for more.

 The last time he asked Regina Mills about it, she said that there wasn’t anyone interested in running the place. According to her, the last librarian had died long before he was born and no one else had been interested in the job. It was such a shame too. He knew he wasn’t the only one that longed for a library. His eyes glanced towards Henry, the mayor’s son. The young boy was looking longingly at the building as well. A large leather-bound book was tucked under his right arm and he had a frown on his face. His head tilted up towards the clock expectantly. James looked up towards it as well, but couldn’t tell what was wrong. Everyone had been abuzz about the clock being fixed, but it didn’t seem like Henry was happy about it.

 Before James could move to say anything to Henry, the latter took off in the direction of a yellow Volkswagen bug. James shook his head. He had heard all about their town’s newcomer and the trouble she had been causing the mayor. On the one hand, he understood the appeal of wanting to get the child you gave up. On the other, Regina never lost. Even his own father was careful around her. Emma Swan had no clue what she was up against.

 Then again, if she was this determined, maybe Regina didn’t know what she had coming either.

 James turned to head back home; he had a long walk ahead of him. As he was doing so, he found himself face to face with Lacey. She was out of her waitress uniform and wearing a black sports bra along with matching leggings. Her auburn hair had been pulled back in a ponytail, showing off her sharp facial features. God, she was so beautiful. James had been in relationships before, but they never lasted very long. Albert made sure of that. No one was ever good enough or even if they were, Albert found something wrong with James. Sometimes he’d pick women for his son, only to say that he had changed his mind. As a result, James found himself a stuttering mess most of the time. He knew that there was no way Albert would ever approve of Lacey French. Yet, he also didn’t care.

 “We just seem to be running into each other everywhere,” he managed to give her a nervous smile.

Lacey shrugged, jogging in place. Her ponytail bounced along with the rest of her body. “I guess so.”

James stuffed his hands into his pockets. “You headed to work?”

“No…just on a run.”

He could’ve smacked himself. Why would she go to work like that? “Of course, right…”

“Look…I’m sorry about the other day. Just please don’t tell your dad, the last thing I need is Albert Spencer up my ass again.”

James’ brows furrowed. “Why are you sorry? And why would I tell my dad?”

Lacey frowned as the jogging slowly came to a halt. “I was a jerk to you. And I mean, your dad is one of the biggest assholes in Storybrooke…”

“So, you thought I’d just rat you out.” James bit his lip. “Not that I actually wanted to talk to you or anything.”

“Well, I mean…yeah.”

 James ducked his head. Of course. A pretty girl like Lacey and all she could think about was his scary father. God, why did Albert have to ruin everything for him?

 “I didn’t plan on saying anything to my dad. I didn’t even care how you talked to me, I thought it was funny. I thought…” He trailed off, not wanting to embarrass himself further. “You know what? Never mind, it doesn’t matter.”

 He started to walk away, ignoring the burning embarrassment in his stomach. James only made it halfway down the block when he heard Lacey calling for him. When he turned around, she was jogging his way.

 “I guess I’m an idiot. I tend to see myself and not much else,” she admitted. “It’s not a great flaw.”

“You’re not the only one in the world with it.”

“Still something I should probably work on.” She rubbed her forearm. “Look, I feel like I owe you a drink.”

“Oh, you don’t have to…”

“James.” Lacey gave him a Look. “A girl like me is offering to take you to the Rabbit Hole and buy you alcohol. Think about if you wanna turn that down.”

 James didn’t have to think twice. He offered her his sweatshirt since they were going to be heading into an establishment which made her do the cute head tilt. Ultimately, she accepted it, though she left it unzipped.

 “It is just the Rabbit Hole, after all,” she said.

 James had never been inside the bar in question. The last time he even had a drop of alcohol was to celebrate getting his undergrad and that was just a bit of champagne. The minute he stepped into the place; he knew it was different. It reeked of sweat, beer and nuts. AC/DC blared over the jukebox. The place was crowded with people. Some were around the tables, most settled by the pool tables. James was definitely the most overdressed of the bunch. The girls wore mini-skirts and tank tops, while the guys were in jeans. He had been walking home from work and was still in a burgundy sweater, corduroy pants and his dockers. As a waiter bumped into him, he worried about his glasses breaking.

 God, you are such a dweeb.

 There was that voice again. Where did it come from?

 Lacey lead him over to the bar. “What do you drink?” She asked, finding them two stools.

“I um, I don’t.”

She gave him a weird look. “You’re kidding.”

The tips of his ears turned pink. “I mean…I’m just not a bar guy. My brother and I had a six pack on our 21st?”

Lacey let out an intoxicating, adorable, vibrant laugh that absorbed James’ soul. “That is precious,” she said. “We’ll start you off easy.”

A guy dressed in a leather jacket with messy brown hair approached them from the other side of the bar. “Lacey,” he smirked at her. “The usual?”

“You know me so well, Keith,” she said. “And for my new friend, a rum and coke.”

Keith glanced in James’ direction and frowned. “Alrighty then,” he mumbled, before walking away.

 James felt even more out of place. Keith was clearly Lacey’s type. What was he doing here? Was this some kind of sick joke? Maybe he should think up an excuse and leave…

 “So, you were stalking the library,” Lacey interrupted his thoughts. “You like books or something?”

James blinked a few times. “Oh, um…yeah. I love them a lot actually. My minor was English Literature.”

“A college man.” Lacey let out a low whistle. “Very nice. Who’s your favorite author?”

“Probably Mary Shelley. Frankenstein is just one of the best books of that era. The responsibility of the doctor, the monster attempting to fight his nature but ultimately failing, the romances in the book too and the parental dynamics…” He trailed off with a shrug. “Sorry, I probably sound like a nerd right now.”

Lacey shook her head. “Nah, I think it’s cool you’re so passionate about it. I used to love reading when I was younger. My mother and I had a book club for a bit. Well, I don’t even know if you could call it that. We’d give each other book recommendations and then talk about them.”

 James watched as a haunting look overtook Lacey’s eyes. It was gone as quickly as it appeared, but he had never seen her so serious. Keith placed the drinks down and she quickly took a sip of her Jack Daniels.

 “Anyway, I don’t have much time for reading now but I probably get like you do about books, when music is involved.”

James tilted his head. “Oh really?” He picked up his own drink and took a big sip. The rum burned his throat and he nearly choked on it. Lacey smirked a bit.

“You okay there?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he set the drink back down and plucked out the cherry instead. “Guess I’m just not as good as you are with the liquor.”

“Takes years of practice and an alcoholic father, trust me.”

“Your dad is…”

“Moe French. He owns the flower shop.”

“Game of Thorns, I always loved the name.”

“I picked it. He wanted to call it “Rosie’s” or something stupid like that. We don’t even know a Rose” She rolled her eyes. “Told him people would be more attracted to a pop culture reference.”

“It was definitely the better choice.”

“Anyway, yeah, music. I have actual vinyls. My mom left me her record player.”

James grinned. “Seriously? I haven’t seen one of those in ages.”

“You know there’s this great record shop on Third, Dante’s. I’d probably spend all my check from Granny’s there if I could.” She took another swig of her drink. “I found a signed copy of Surrealistic Pillow that I’ve been saving up for, for months.”

“That’s…”

Lacey’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “White Rabbit.” He must have still looked confused, because she grabbed hold of his hands and shook them. “Jefferson Airplane, they pioneered psychedelic rock.”

“Oh…”

“You don’t know what that means, do you?”

“Do you know what iambic petameter is?” Lacey’s mouth formed a thin line. “Then we both have something to teach the other.”

Lacey giggled. “I guess we do.”

 James felt something buzzing in his pocket and reluctantly pulled his hand away from Lacey. He fumbled around for a bit before finding his phone. His father’s name lit up the screen, causing a lump to build. He slid the green bar across and held it to his ear.

 “Hey Dad,” he tried to be heard above the noise of the bar without shouting. “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” Albert repeated incredulously. “Where are you?”

“Just uh…with a friend.” Lacey gave him a puzzled look. “I’m gonna be home a bit late tonight…”

“You need to get to the hospital. Something’s happened.”

James could feel his heart beat faster. “Is David okay? Did he have another scare?”

“No, he’s awake.”

James blinked several times before the news registered. “I…I’ll be right there.”

 He hung up the phone before his dad could say anything else and then stared at the lock screen. It was a picture of him and David before everything went wrong. They had dinner after the latter left Kathryn. He was happy. Everything was going well. Who would’ve guessed days later, his brother would be found unconscious in the woods?

 “Is everything okay?” Lacey asked.

James looked up, catching her appearance of genuine concern. “That was my um…my dad. My twin…he woke up from his coma.”

“Holy shit.”

“I…I have to call a taxi to get to the hospital…I um…I don’t have a car.”

Lacey tilted her head. “Your dad is Albert Spencer and you don’t have a car?”

“He doesn’t want me to have one.”

She stared at him for a moment. “Okay, I’d say we’d take mine but I jogged here. We can just borrow Ruby’s Camaro.”

“Lacey…”

“I only had half of one drink. I’m fine to drive, and Ruby and I borrow each other’s stuff all the time.”

“You don’t have to do this.”

“I know I don’t. I’m still going to.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

James and Lacey raced into the coma ward, both nearly out of breath. He lead her into David’s room and came to a pause in the doorway. His brother sat up in bed, the tubes still in his nose. David’s blue eyes were open wide and he was looking around at everyone. Albert stood off to one side, looking disappointed. Mary Margaret, the schoolteacher, was still in the corner. Emma was with her. He didn’t quite understand that either.

 “David,” he said, softly.

David looked in his direction and a small smile came over his face. “Hi,” he whispered.

“It’s about time you showed up,” Albert said, gruffly. He stormed over to his son. “What took you so long?”

James immediately ducked his head. “I’m sorry, there was a lot of traffic on Main Street…”

“It’s not as if it matters,” Emma cut in. “It took us time to get him back.”

“Get him back?”

“Your idiot brother woke up from his coma and decided that was the perfect time to take an evening stroll.” Albert threw his hands in the air. “I got really lucky with my sons; I tell you that much.”

“Oh yes, they were far blessed to be given you,” Lacey mumbled.

 Everyone in the room turned to the woman who wore James’ sweatshirt. Albert looked between her and his son, his eyes narrowing.

 “And you are?”

“Lacey French.” She took a step forward. Her chin jutted outwards. “Your son and I were hanging out when he got the call, and I gave him a ride.”

“Right, Miss French.” Albert looked her up and down. “I thank you for getting James here, but this really is a family matter.” He looked back at Mary Margaret and Emma too, as if to communicate the same message. “Surely, the three of you understand.”

 Mary Margaret looked hesitant but nodded. She walked out of the room with Emma following behind her. Sheriff Hubert was waiting not far out the door to ask them a few questions, in no doubt about David’s disappearance. Lacey stood firm, her eyes on Albert for a few moments. Finally, she turned to James and began to shrug off his sweatshirt. He held up a hand to stop her.

 “You can keep it,” he whispered. “It’s chilly out.”

Lacey nodded. “I’ll see you at the diner tomorrow. We’ll make sure to have your order ready.”

 Sparing Albert one last glare, she left the ward. David and James were left with their disapproving father who stared at the eldest twin. James simply moved closer to his brother and ran his fingers through his hair, mumbling questions to him about him waking up, where he had gone, etc. Even so, he wasn’t stupid.

 Albert wasn’t done with the topic of Lacey French.

[linssikeittomies]

The Place Between Here And There - Chapter 9: ...And Happiness In Private Life

Masterpost     AO3 Chapter 1  Chapter 2  Chapter 3  Chapter 4  Chapter 5  Chapter 6  Chapter 7  Chapter 8  Chapter 9  Chapter 9(cont’d)

This one is super super short(actually just the first few scenes of the complete chapter) because I just can’t shake the writer’s block on this fic. I’m putting this fic on HIATUS, can’t say for how long, but I would like to finish it someday. Cowriters will always be extremely welcome!

--

It had been a major fuck-up to not press Vanya more about his family life last night. That had been the first time he had volunteered information, without any prodding from Al, and would have kept talking if only Al hadn’t been such an idiot! Yeah, sure, he’d been exhausted and in no condition to analyze whatever would’ve been told, but he could’ve done that later! Now Vanya had come back to his senses, and his lips were sealed tighter than Fort Knox! Uuuggghhh!!! Al frowned into his coffee cup while staring at the wall where Vanya had scribbled his number that first time. Back then Al hadn’t been surprised to get a number, but as time had went on, he came to realize that Vanya wasn’t the type of person who went around sharing his number with just anyone. He was picky about the type of people he socialized with, and honestly, it still kind of baffled Al that he had been one of those Vanya accepted. They couldn’t be more different – as charming as Al was, and he was very charming, he couldn’t really get Vanya. Al simply could not understand why Vanya didn’t want to talk about some things, or why he was content with being a silent participant in a conversation, how he could stand not having friends. His life seemed so profoundly lonely and boring, and he didn’t seem content with it, but he wasn’t willing to change it, either.

Maybe it was all just because of that mental illness he refused to acknowledge. It’s never easy losing your parents, and it sounded like Vanya had been pretty young when it happened. He said they had moved to the States in 1996, so Ivan had been, what, around... Uhm, 2015 minus 1996... that made 19... and now Vanya was 32 so that minus 19... Uhhhhhhh around 12. Close enough, Al had never been good at math. Well, 12 wasn’t that young, didn’t sound to Al like a death in the family would be that traumatizing at that age. Al had been 10 when Artie moved back to England, and it hadn’t fucked him up bad. So it wasn’t the exact same thing, but it had been close. Five years of radio silence from someone who was practically his older brother. That’s basically a death. So maybe it wasn’t just a simple death, maybe there’d been some weird, special circumstances. Could be that Vanya had been a huge mama’s boy. Or maybe it had been an accident he was present at, like a car crash. If it had been that, Al sure was lucky Vanya had survived. Kids are so fragile, they can die from the dumbest things. If he hadn’t survived, or if his mom had, Vanya would’ve never moved to America, and then Al would’ve never met him. Al hated thinking that it was a good thing Vanya’s mom had died, but he couldn’t help it – as infuriating and incomprehensible Vanya was, he really was The One for Al. Despite all their differences, despite all their problems, despite all their fights. Al was again reminded of their first ever fight, the one with rape fetish accusation. Dubois had been killed that same night, and Vanya hadn’t replied to Al’s texts until two days later. If Dubois had been found as quickly as the other bodies, within a couple days instead of ten, Vanya would have been too busy to ever be willing to fix his relationship with a guy he had only been dating a couple weeks, max. Funny how many hurdles they had passed without ever knowing they had existed. If Kyle had gotten to Al first, if Al had followed the street signs better, if Dubois had been found earlier… They were like Romeo and Juliet, destined to be together, star-crossed lovers. If that wouldn’t convince Artie that Vanya was awesome, nothing would! He was into occult crap so he must’ve believed in fate, too. Come to think of it, what if Vanya had met Dubois instead of Al that night? He did say they were very similar, he might have fallen in love with Dubois, as well. Al liked to think that he was a special case, that Dubois wouldn’t have been as invested and smitten with Vanya as Al had been from the get-go, but who’s to say he couldn’t have held Vanya’s interest just long enough for Al to pass by unnoticed? Or what if BK had chosen to kill Al instead of Dubois? If they really were that similar to an outside eye, it wouldn’t have mattered which one died. Al was lucky he had been too pissed off to even think about going out that night, or it might have been him strangled and castrated. He wouldn’t have put it past himself to pick up some random guy and agree to an alley fuck. Maybe Dubois had had a fight with his boyfriend, too. Maybe he hadn’t been past having revenge sex. Maybe he had liked rough sex. Maybe he wouldn’t have been scared by Vanya’s violent fucking. Maybe Vanya would have run into him and pounded him into blissful goo. Maybe Vanya would have liked imagining he was beating Al. Sliding doors, like Al had said about Kyle. In one continuity, Al was dating Vanya and Dubois was killed – in another, Al was killed and Dubois was dating Vanya – and in a third, Al had a one-night stand with Kyle, Vanya had no one to pull him out of depression, and Dubois was dead.

~¨:.:¨~

Ivan entered the office with three coffees in hand – two blacks and one with milk. This was the easiest Toris-like behavior to replicate, and would likely raise the least questions since it also benefited himself. He made sure to let Amanda see him set his own coffee down on the desk before giving hers, and she wasn’t weirded out. That was a relief. “Good morning”, Ivan said, without smiling, because that would have been pushing it. Amanda nodded in acknowledgment and took a sip of her coffee, then said a simple “thanks” before opening her computer. When Toris came in, she smiled to him and greeted him cheerfully. After she turned back to her computer, and wouldn’t see Ivan’s face, he also smiled slightly as he nodded his greeting to Toris. That day, Ivan concentrated on trying to replicate the smiles Toris often employed – the ones that didn’t express happiness, but were rather meant to ease to atmosphere. He made it look easy – it came out naturally, at the right time, and did what it sought out to do. Ivan only knew how to do sarcastic smiles, and by the end of the day Amanda was almost angry enough at him to actually say something to his face instead of muttering quietly to herself. Exhausted from the mental work, Ivan didn’t even bother getting out of his coat before collapsing face first on the sofa. “Rough day, huh?” Fredya chuckled. Ivan made a grunt, and Fredya crouched down to see his face. “I know what’ll cheer you right up – some quality cuddles and a good movie!” Ivan was too tired to correct him, and so let Fredya take off his boots and peel off his coat. He nearly refused the cuddles, but surprisingly found that he didn’t mind them much, after all. He still would have preferred a nap alone in bed, without explosions and dramatic bass going off every five seconds and Fredya’s elbow digging into his stomach. Somehow he still managed to fall asleep for a few minutes, not enough to feel rested, but much calmer than before. They heated up leftovers from yesterday, moved back to the sofa where Fredya picked out a new action movie without even finishing the first one, and Ivan took out his notebook to arrange his thoughts. About an hour passed, with Fredya saying whatever came to his mind and Ivan replying with a short comment every now and then, peacefully, until Ivan’s phone rang. That was starting to happen abnormally often – before he had crossed paths with Fredya, the phone would ring once every couple months, mostly work related. Now Fredya called him every once in a while when he was feeling too lazy to type, and even Katyushka seemed to have been bitten by the call bug. Two calls from her in as many weeks? Ivan hoped she was only calling to borrow some more money. “Excuse me for a moment.” “Work?” Fredya asked, pausing the movie. He still thought Ivan was actually watching that garbage. “No, it’s Katyusha. Unpause that mindless drivel.” Ivan got up from Fredya’s lap, already stressing about what was pressing on Katyushka’s mind. Don’t get him wrong, he loved both his sisters more than anything in the world, but Katyushka barely ever called for anything other than pressing matters, so Ivan had learned to associate calls from her with crying and pressure. “Yes, Katyushka?” “Hey, Vanya. Is this a good time to talk?” Katyushka greeted cheerfully. A weight immediately lifted off Ivan’s shoulders. “Yes, I’m at home. It sounds like something good happened, yes?” “I think so!” she giggled gleefully, sounding like the careless teenager she had never gotten the chance to be. “I was talking with Tasha earlier today and she told me some interesting news!” she sang teasingly. How odd, Ivan had no clue what news from Tasha might warrant a call to Ivan. If it was related to Tasha herself, Katyushka would wait for Tasha to tell the news herself, and there were few other people in their lives to get excited about. Tasha was interested in celebrity gossip, but Katyushka did not share that interest, so it couldn’t be a movie star getting married. “Oh? Pray tell.” “Don’t play coy with me!” Katyushka laughed. So it was news that Ivan should already be aware of. But then why would Katyushka be telling them to Ivan? “If you’re going to make me guess, we’ll be here the rest of the day”, Ivan replied. “You have a boyfriend!” His heart froze over in panic. “What?! No - I mean – Tasha told you that?” He was hardly intelligible, it felt like his tongue had thrown in the towel. “Uh-huh!” she squeed, for once oblivious to his terror, and Ivan could picture her jumping in joy. “She was jealous because you haven’t been spending time with her so she complained to me! Why didn’t you ever tell me?” “I – because – Tasha… Tasha gets jealous very easily, so I did not wish for her to know”, Ivan stuttered, panic setting in, before remembering that Tasha already knew about Fredya. He didn’t need to stay a secret anymore. Ivan was just so used to hiding his relationships from Tasha he did without thinking. “Hey, you could’ve told me! I can keep a secret!” Not from Tasha she couldn’t. Unintentionally or not. “Ooh, I’m so excited, it’s been a long time since you were with anyone! Is he nice? Good-looking? Does he also want kids? Gay or bi? Single or divorced?” Katyushka had always been the one most interested in romance, despite never having dated in her life. Since high school she had kept claiming that she didn’t have the time needed for a solid relationship. While that was true, if only because she would not let herself have the time, Ivan was sure the actual reason was Katyushka being afraid of the apple not falling far from the tree. Her mother and sister sure had trouble picking good men. “You are not giving me any time to answer”, Ivan said, both relieved and nervous. He didn’t mind Katyushka knowing about Fredya, in fact they would get along nicely, but Ivan was worried about her putting ideas into Fredya’s head. Ivan had only ever dated for fun, but each time his older sister had started planning weddings right away, and Ivan didn’t want to scare Fredya away so soon. “Don’t be nervous! I’m really happy for you! You know you’re not getting any younger and it doesn’t help that you’re so shy, plus you’re picky, so all the time I’m worried no one is good enough! So tell me about him!” Katyushka urged. “Well, um, he’s – um, American, he’s a little younger than me. He’s very lively. Please don’t tell Tasha –“  Right, Tasha already knew, as they had established at the very beginning of the call. Talk about conditioned behavior. “His name is Alfred. Do you remember the drunk man who paid our dinner in the Ladle? That’s the man.” “I do!” Katuyshka squealed in exhilaration. “So it’s thanks to me that you guys got together. You were so oblivious to his flirting that I had to give him some tips”, she giggled. “He seemed like a fun guy.” “He is”, Ivan agreed wholeheartedly. “He’s the complete opposite of me. He’s very social, for one.” “I hope he doesn’t drink as much”, Katyushka said, and although her tone wasn’t accusatory at all, Ivan immediately felt guilty. She had known about his drinking problem almost from the start, but wasn’t aware of how bad it had gotten in recent years. “He usually only takes a few beers every now and then. That night was a rare exception”, Ivan assured her. The only other time Fredya had gotten shit-faced was when he had tried challenging Ivan – Fredya learned from his mistakes, even if he liked to pretend otherwise. He always gave off the air of not trying at all, but sometimes you could catch a glimpse of the truth - Fredya did nothing by half-measures, he always did his best because nothing else was good enough for him. Being his best self was so effortless to Fredya, watching him was a joy, no one else could have such spirit. There was a beauty to him – a sincerity. “He’s – Katyushka, he’s amazing. Thank you.” “Vanechka… Oh my god, I’ve never heard you say that about anyone! Aww, that’s so romantic! When are you bringing him to meet us?” “Uh – I don’t think that would be a good idea. Tasha would get jealous.” “Come on, you can’t talk him up like that and then not let me talk to him! He still needs to get the family’s approval! Ask him if he’s free this week, I’ll make time!” She was so excited it would crush her if Ivan didn’t comply. It was still a difficult decision to make - he knew Fredya liked him, but doubtfully to the extent of wanting to meet his family. It would heavily imply a wish for long-term attachment, and Fredya was not the type to settle down. He would run to the hills the second Ivan implied wanting to keep him for life. But Katyushka had asked – Ivan had to do it for her sake, Ivan owed her, and not only for being the catalyst for their relationship. “Alright”, he finally said, and the answer was an overjoyed yippee that sounded wholly inappropriate from a 36-year old. “Let me know when he can make it! Talk to you later!” “Wait, you don’t need to hang up. He’s here.” With his heart thumping painfully, Ivan opened the bedroom door with shaking hands. Fredya was thankfully still concentrated on his idiotic movie so he didn’t notice. “Um, Fredya?” Ivan asked cautiously. “Ya?” he asked distractedly, popping a chip in his mouth, the crackle probably audible even through phone. “Katyusha is on the phone. She has a request.” “Oh, should I leave?” “No, no, it actually has everything to do with you. She would like to meet you sometime this week.” The reaction Fredya had to this invasion of intimacy was very far from the one Ivan had expected. Instead of being weirded out and declining outright, his face lit up in a smile wider than Ivan had ever seen on him. “Are you serious! Of course I’ll meet her!” He was so ecstatic that Ivan was sure he was not aware of the implications. He was afraid Fredya was running headfirst into something he thought was casual friendship. Even so, Ivan was afraid of stating clearly what meeting Katyushka was really about, because even suggesting meeting her implied Ivan wanted to tie Fredya down. He would not be opposed to it, if that was what Fredya wanted, but it would be very presumptuous of him to suggest it himself. “She seems to have a different idea of our relationship than we do, so please disregard whatever she might say about that.” “Chill, dude, I can handle girls. When?” “Vozlyublennaya sestra, pozhaluysta, ne govori nichego o svad'bakh ili detyakh”, Ivan pleaded to the phone, and Katyushka promised she wouldn’t. She had good intentions, but she wasn’t very good at keeping herself in check, rest assured she would forget all about the promise when she saw Fredya in the flesh again. Ivan put the phone on speaker so they could all weigh in. They eventually settled on Wednesday. Katyushka suggested gathering at Ivan’s house, but he was worried it would feel too domestic and final, and suggested a restaurant instead. He would of course pay for Katyushka’s meal, he couldn’t very well force her into paying herself when she was already behind on so many bills.

--

Vozlyublennaya sestra, pozhaluysta, ne govori nichego o svad'bakh ili detyakh.(Возлюбленная сестра, пожалуйста, не говори ничего о свадьбах или детях.) : Beloved sister, please don’t say anything about weddings or children.

Chapter name comes from ...счастья в личной жизни by Alla Pugacheva.

[dramarising-replacement]

And now, a better version of http://dramarising.com/post/171472034768/and-with-this-announcement-my-annoyance-with-frs now that I’m not so livid and can jot my thoughts down properly.

  So! Let’s get started here, this is just my opinion, and if you like how FR is currently,  good for you! But for me, I’m done with how mediocre the site is (to me and others I know), and this is how I personally think the site could improve greatly. Expect comparisons to both Lioden and Tattered Weave, as they’re both I think shining examples of how to do good in the pet site world.

  Drama Admin, if you could add a read more here, that’d be great!

  First off, the Coli: It’s…. a game, technically? I honestly think as a basic feature, the coli is fine. It’s a bit boring but some people have fun. The issue however is how the coli is deeply rooted as being THE ONLY good, consistent source of treasure. This is honestly a bad thing I feel for multiple reasons, the major one being accessibility. If you have issues with your hands like carpal tunnel, it’s already very very hard to go through the motions for hours (Yes I know, it doesn’t always take hours). But hey, we have keyboard controls now, right? Right. It’s a step in the right direction, but the issue here is you… you can’t go to the next battle with keyboard controls. Or do the Captchas, I assume. This pretty much makes the keyboard controls a waste. And speaking of captchas, that is where the main problem with coli accessibility now lies. There’s already many people saying the captchas are extremely hard if you are visually impaired. This wouldn’t be too bad of an issue if they happened less often, but it’s what, every 5 battles? For those who REALLY coli, that’s nothing! It’s both a nuisance and a hindrance, to those with or without disabilities.

  How would I improve the coli? First off: make it FUN. Make it an actual game! Add more variance to how enemies fight, and what we can do with our dragons! One suggestion I liked was making it more like Pokemon. The second thing would be making it easily accessible to anyone. Proper keyboard controls, the option for audio captchas, etc. Please FR, at the very least make there be different options for the captcha. Along with that, currently the most viable option for any coli team, the only thing that makes it worthwhile to earn treasure and level dragons, is eliminate- which has its own problems (Please fix the goddamn drop rate for it already- newsflash, when you add more rares to a venue, the chance of getting a specific rare goes down. I know, shocking.) Adding other viable options besides eliminate, even something as simple as a magic based eliminate or maybe elemental stones that are as strong, would be something that could be added to freshen the coli up just a bit without changing it drastically. Not only this, but it could make PVP something people actually want to do! Encouraging PVP could be a lot of fun, especially if rewards come from it. Let people be creative with their sets so we can see more than eliminate for every coli-trained dragon!

  Fairgrounds: Alright, this is the big thing I’ll be complaining about. Fairgrounds, where to start…..

  Okay, the main thing: we need more games, FR! It’s been YEARS since we’ve had any additions other than more jigsaw puzzles! Games are really important, especially since FR’s games can give treasure. If the fairgrounds was actually fun, we wouldn’t need to be so reliant on the coli, as we’d have two major ways to earn treasure.

  This will get flak, I know, but I honestly think it’d be for the best if the 75k limit was removed. “But then you could get millions!” Exactly! A few dedicated people can too. There’s no limit on training dragons in the coli, or exalting, why should there be a limit to playing a minigame? The limit makes the fairgrounds even more useless, since there’s no point in playing once that limit is reached.

  So, fairgrounds: It needs to update its games and fix any bugs in them. Add the option for choosing jigsaw puzzle perhaps. Make it a valid option of income.

  If there were to be more games, i’d also like to suggest: Solitaire (TW added this, it’s one of the best games there) as it is actually a lot of fun to play and earn treasure with, maybe chess or checkers, even a flappy bird clone could be nice. Even taking a look at some of the popular neopets games from back in the day could give some inspiration- a snake game, something akin to meerca chase, would be a nice addition- A friend of mine used to love Hassee Bounce and Ice Cream Machine as well, which both seem like fun games! Even something like breakout? Lots of fun potential with tha, you could do anything from powerups to levels of difficulty with more balls to keep track of.Ultimately though, having a variety of games would make the fairgrounds so much better- not everyone will like every game, but having a variety of options you are more likely to hit something nearly everyone enjoys.

  Lioden’s system of giving item rewards for its minigames could also be a fun thing to consider with FR too. No genescrolls or the like, but chests could be a great incentive to play. Hey, even festival currency!

  Festivals: I didn’t really mention them in my mega rant, but I think it’s important to say something about them. Let’s be honest. The festivals are a boring event now where it feels like nothing exciting happens. They need to be spruced up! The current system of gathering hoping for currency and then, once again, going to coli or wait for ages in baldwin is just plain boring. Shouldn’t festivals be fun? A celebration of the flight?

  In-game events tied in with festivals could be great. Some kind of quest, maybe? They would give festival currency and also provide lore! Looking at Lioden mostly for this, but if you aren’t familiar, Lioden has monthly events. These last the entire month. Midway through, an event NPC appears, and everyday you do quests with them in order to gain lores and get story. It’s a lot of fun and a great incentive to keep playing! FR having a feature similar to this would be AMAZING. It provides lore, makes festivals fun, and gives potential options to get event currency if Baldwin or the coli isn’t an option for you. Players already do stuff like this every month to try and make festivals fun. They’ve come up with some great headcanoned lore. Why not give them the opportunity to see these things become a canonical event? In general actually, the Lore could be improved greatly. FR’s base lore is great, I love it! But having more lore events every few months would be a blessing, rather than this once in a blue moon wave of new information. (Also, maybe it shouldn’t happen right during a flight’s festival, hm?) I was not around for when the Beastclans were introduced, but more events like that would create new content for old and new players alike to enjoy, and keep people playing. Taking from Tattered Weave here, along with Lioden’s monthly events. This wouldn’t need to happen every month, but perhaps bi-monthly lore events could be fun? From information about the NPCs at the trading post (Tell us about Tomo! About Swipp and Baldwin, and Pinkerton and Crim! We know nothing about them!) to lore about flights and dragons, this could be a lot of fun and keep players returning.  So much of the playerbase of FR is in it for the lore, and it’s probably one of the biggest selling points. Adding more of it would be great! Even the return of Q&As could be great, that at least gives SOME kind of content and answers player’s questions. The suggestions forum. Alright, this is the big thing for me. I’m sure everyone here is familiar with the suggestions forum and its reputation. I’m not here to talk about that, but instead: FR’s admins need to listen to suggestions. They need to at least acknowledge they are being read. Lioden and Tattered Weave both very consistently listen to user suggestions. People wanted lesbian lionesses in Lioden’s february event as an encounter? A week later, lesbian lionesses were added! People wanted some recolors of apparel in Tattered Weave? It took a few months, but they got added! Listening to popular suggestions from users shows admins care, that they listen to their player base, and it gives satisfaction to the players. Seeing a suggestion you recognize become a real thing is amazing.   So, the big suggestions that FR should REALLY be at least considering at this point: Pose change scrolls, the ability to rearrange battle stones (although this might be happening in the coli rewrite), layering skins and accents, uses for perma babies from skins and accents to the coli, locking awakened familiars in the bestiary, and lair tabs. All of these things range from creating fun content, to quality of life improvements, which would surely improve the site somehow. These final thoughts aren’t completely related to any one topic, but I think I’ve gotten my major gripes across with the above paragraphs.

FR, think of accessibility. Before doing a site-wide unannounced forum revamp, don’t use blinding colors. Don’t do captchas many people can’t properly see. Think of lore, how players want more and more often, and it’s one of the appealing things through the game. Think of actual new content! We don’t need more cluttered apparel sets and premium boons, we need new games and features! Just…. Flight Rising, you can do so so much better. You’re more than 5 years old. It’s time for some major changes I think, or your playerbase is simply going to become smaller and smaller on a site stale from lack of worthwhile updates and nothing to do without waiting a month. Be transparent. Host forums asking for feedback on certain topics. Tattered Weave does it with great success, Lioden does polls at the very least! Ask the players “Hey, do you want a forum revamp?”. Acknowledge bugs happen instead of deleting threads when people suggest you to fix rampant bugs. Looking at you, blocked users could still send friend requests issue! Maybe act less like robots. Respond to ‘Contact Us’ messages so players aren’t left in the dark! The admins are so important for the site. Lioden and Tattered Weave’s are both successful with being friendly with players and joking around with them, and listening to what they want. Why can’t Flight Rising at least try to be like this?

And for the love of god add a new breed, September of 2016 is too long a wait.

[horatiosroom]

I’m going to enable asks on this blog again so that from now on any myspace questions you have can be answered here! 

It was also brought to my attention that some people might not be able to see those recent myspace au info posts (probably because i have c4rc4ss listed as a blog with sensitive content) so I’m going to paste the info here for you guys under the cut :^)

Anonymous said: omg i would love a visual novel of myspace au !!! (I would pay good money for it) but for now tho, did you take away anything from tlj to work into the au?? how is myspace 2.0 any different, if at all?

AAAAAAAAAAA YAY!!!!!!!!!! I’m hoping that once I hit my next goal on patreon then i’ll be able to dedicate more time to it~

Anywho, to take the story where I wanted it to go I stopped trying to fit concepts from the movies into it. At this point the only things connecting it to sw are the characters’ names and very VERY base personalities that were established in tfa, otherwise it’s become its own thing!

The au will explore the reasons for their weird experiments and the consequences that go along with them. For the au I don’t want to fetishize Hux experimenting on Kylo. As much as I’m into that in other iterations of the ship, their reasons for doing stuff like that here are related to complicated issues regarding intimacy.

I think the biggest change to the au is how Hux is presented. It would take a while for me to try to talk about how much of a characterization MESS he was initially so I’m not gonna get into that, haha. What I will say is that he has a consistent personality now. I’ll list some stuff that is integral to his character in the new version of the au:

Hux is still asexual. In this version he has had no experience with anyone and has difficulty initiating even simple types of affection (for example, he will touch Kylo’s lips with his fingers to ask for a kiss). He doesn’t have trouble touching people and isn’t shy, but touches with meaning are hard for him to figure out.

He has a tic disorder which manifests mostly as twitching and excessive blinking. He is self conscious of his disorder and thinks it makes him ugly.

His father and older brothers have an unhealthy view regarding Hux’s mental illnesses and tic disorder, treating him like an embarrassment and a freak. Hux has trouble accepting help from others because he is afraid that they want to “fix” him like his father and older brothers tried to do.

Hux’s interests can skew towards morbidity, but he has no desire to hurt anyone. He is afraid of the fact that blood and organs are more sensually appealing to him than any kind of sexual act. With good intentions, Kylo encourages Hux to explore these interests to make him more comfortable, but it results in some dangerous consequences.

He is fascinated by bugs. He collects specimens to inspect, display, and eat (if they’re edible).

Hux has a collection of items related to Kylo (strands of hair, beads from a broken kandi bracelet, slips of paper he doodled on and threw away, etc).

He often feels detached from reality, like he doesn’t even exist. This is why he feels more comfortable with bodies or specimens rather than people. Kylo is the only person who ever made him truly feel alive and happy and real.

He doesn’t intentionally self-harm, but Hux will scrape at his arms with his nails when he has a panic attack or dissociates.

Hux can be an asshole and will say rude things without thinking. He gets in trouble at school a lot for talking back to his teachers or making tactless jokes. His rudeness is more of a defense mechanism than a desire to actually be mean to people. He knows that others think he’s creepy or scary so to protect himself he just amps that up. One of the many reasons he likes Kylo is that Kylo ISN’T afraid of him and can see through the bullshit.

I could probably go on a lot longer about the other changes (remind me to talk in depth about Kylo!!), but I hope this gives a little more insight into MySpace 2.0 :^)

Anonymous said: Omg !! Tell us about Kylo in myspace 2.0 !!!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!! OKAY!!!!!

Kylo has the kind of personality that lets him befriend p much anybody, but those are only surface friendships. For all the thousands of myspace friends he has, he’s very lonely. He masks his depression and anger with an over-the-top persona which ends up hindering him further - not many people want to get to know who he really is underneath the impulsive melodramatic clown facade. He feels like people think of him as a joke and he doesn’t know how to change that because he put himself there in the first place.

With his parents divorced and Leia always busy, Kylo is desperate for attention which is one of the many reasons why the scene lifestyle appeals to him - he’s essentially a myspace celebrity and even though most of the people in the community are insincere, the attention he gets from all the drama makes him feel less empty.

Besides being starved for attention, Kylo is also starved for physical affection. This manifests in him going too far too fast and coming across as “slutty” even though ultimately he’s just looking for the comfort and security that physical closeness provide.

Kylo is nonjudgmental and appreciates people for their eccentricities or differences. He can see past things that other people might consider strange or off-putting. For example, Kylo doesn’t consider Hux’s tics to be unattractive - he likes how when Hux blinks a lot it draws attention to his pretty eyes and eyelashes.

When he has the time, Kylo helps his uncle Luke teach karate to younger kids.

Kylo doesn’t usually take the time to consider the consequences of his actions so he often finds himself in sticky situations.

He is more passionate about having fun and making others happy than about any particular hobby or field of study.

Kylo doesn’t realize this until later on, but what he likes most about Hux experimenting with him is that Hux will bandage him up and take care of him afterwards. He loves how meticulous and doting Hux is and tries to be on the receiving end of Hux’s care as much as possible.

Though unaware of his own true feelings a lot of the time, Kylo is very perceptive of others’ moods and is good at helping people feel better if they’re having a bad day.

[entergamingxp]

Final Fantasy XI Interview – Director and Producer Reveal Experiences and Hopes, Special Message to Western Fans

May 16, 2020 4:45 PM EST

With the 18th anniversary of Final Fantasy XI, Director Yoji Fujito and Producer Akihiko Matsui look back and forward at the long-running MMORPG.

This year marks the 18th anniversary of Square Enix’s long running MMORPG Final Fantasy XI. To celebrate the incredible milestone, I was able to interview Director Yoji Fujito and Producer Akihiko Matsui and get some insight into both the past and present of the game, Fujito and Matsui’s history before they worked on FFXI, what the future entails for the title, as well as a special message to Western fans.

Allisa James: When you first started development for Final Fantasy XI did you ever think you’d see the game continue for eighteen years?

Yoji Fujito: When the FFXI team got together twenty years ago, we had no idea about anything that would happen that far into the future. All I knew at that time was how truly ecstatic I was to be able to work on developing an MMORPG, especially after having been inspired by Ultima Online. It never crossed my mind that I might find myself still working on that same game after all this time.

Akihiko Matsui: The overall direction from our producer at the time was that we’d be working on the project for a period of three to five years. However, I knew I needed to dedicate myself so that we could keep going for longer than that, and honestly, I did think that we could keep FFXI going as long as we did well. I feel that I can take pride in these results because they show how we as a team were able to create something very successful.

AJ: Can you describe your first experiences working on Final Fantasy XI when you joined the team? How have things changed over the years?

YF: Prior to working on FFXI, I had only worked on standalone, package (non-digital) titles, and with those games, the final stages of development were always filled with onslaughts of bug fixes and a rush to make final tweaks and adjustments. In working on FFXI, it was truly revolutionary at the time to be able to apply changes even after release by pushing out patches.

With physical package games, all of those final adjustments I mentioned are set in stone once the final build is created, and there were times when I was left lamenting certain things after the fact. We’re now in an age where it’s normal for even just your standard package game to receive bug fixes or additional content later on through patches. I think it just goes to show how times have changed.

AM: I remember back when we were in the beta testing phase when we were beginning to see a lot of the overall game take shape, there was a time when other development team members would come to discuss the battle system quite often, keeping me from making progress on my own work.

Developers are gamers themselves, after all, so I completely understand that feeling. At the same time, I was also in crunch mode and still had things left to do. It ended up that I would have no choice but to start going into the office at night and going home in the morning to be able to focus, and I kept that lifestyle up for a while. It was exhausting, so I won’t be doing that anymore.

AJ: What are some unique or interesting experiences you’ve had with developing and maintaining Final Fantasy XI? Are there any stories that come to mind that stick out in your memory?

YF: Two things come to mind here: Content that the development team creates will not always be played or experienced by the players in the exact way they envisioned. The economy of an in-game world actually ends up mimicking the characteristics of real-world economies quite a bit.

AM: This may not be what the question was getting at, but a lot of people who I’ve had the chance to work with from other companies, as well as other departments within our own company, now introduce themselves to me by saying that they used to be an FFXI player or that they are a current FFXI player. I try not to show it on my face, but honestly, it makes me very happy.

AJ: Can you share any insight on the reasoning behind including a mechanic that had players lose EXP and even level down when dying?

AM: This type of system was adopted mainly due to concerns that players could potentially harass others by intentionally KO’ing their own character if there was no risk associated with doing so. There were also others on the team who felt it was necessary for different reasons as well. That said, looking back on it now, I do feel bad that the penalty was more severe than was probably necessary.

AJ: Do you have any plans to revisit the various jobs and re-balance them in any way? Do you feel the current balance suits the gameplay you are hoping to bring players in Final Fantasy XI?

YF: I don’t think there will ever come a day that we feel like we’re done balancing the game. This is because the degree to which a job is needed is determined by whether that job possesses the skills and abilities required to get through in-game content, and also because player trends change. Therefore, sometimes we’ll directly adjust jobs if necessary, while in other instances we’ll modify the game content in order to achieve balance.

As far as our current balance goes, in general I feel there are no issues other than continuing to work on tweaking what would be considered endgame content.

AM: We adjust balance whenever necessary. There are many cases where issues stem from outside of the jobs themselves—for example, whether particular jobs can perform well when playing the most popular content at any given time. The game’s system is one that allows players to change jobs, so rather than making rigorous adjustments to ensure that the battle abilities for all the jobs are evenly matched with each other, what we prioritize most is that each job is fun and offers its own unique qualities in gameplay.

AJ: I’m aware you can’t comment on the current status of the mobile FFXI version still in development with NEXON. However, in a more general sense, can you speak on how the concept of a mobile title for FFXI came about in the first place?

YF/AM: Unfortunately, as this is a collaborative effort with Nexon, we are not able to provide any comments regarding this.

AJ: Are there any plans to bring Final Fantasy XI to other consoles such as PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, or Xbox Series X in any form?

AM: Considering the resources currently available to the FFXI team, rather than expanding to new consoles I would prefer to dedicate our efforts toward creating robust and fun content that will continue to provide for our current player base, but also be available to newcomers. With this in mind, we have no active plans for those particular consoles. However, it is never completely off the table, and if we do continue to see a strong demand from our players, we will of course consider.

AJ: Is there one feature or mechanic that you and the team always wanted to implement in FFXI, but couldn’t because it wasn’t feasible or workable? Any job classes that you wanted to add but weren’t able to?

YF: I wanted to provide a customizable UI system. This had actually progressed as far as play testing, but at that stage we encountered a flood of concerns surrounding maintenance costs on both the development side and for the end user (cost in the sense of time for the latter). Due to these fairly large increases as a whole, we ultimately decided to not pursue it any further.

I also wanted to include some kind of setup that would allow you to own your own physical house, but it seemed like Vana’diel might end up becoming covered with adventurers’ residences if we did, so we decided to go with the Mog House instead.

AM: I wanted to include a feature that would trigger whenever a player did something incredibly impressive like defeating a powerful nemesis or crafting a high-difficulty level item. A bard would sing a song praising your feat, and it would be heard by players all around the in-game world.

Imagine if you defeated a dragon, and if other players knew about it before you ever told them: “Hey, you’re that person the bard was singing about, aren’t you?” That’s the epitome of what I think it would be like living in a fantasy world! I’ve still always wanted to include this feature, and I’ve already thought of how I could implement it, but it’s so low on the list of priorities… (cries)

AJ: In regards to the North American community in particular, it seems additional efforts have been made such as the PAX 2020 meetup. Would you say you are continuing to try and do more for the NA community, and are there any plans in mind for the future?

AM: Over the past several years, players in the west have been returning to FFXI, and as a result, we’ve been able to get more staff members who serve as the point of contact for western players. If you don’t mind that it’s just Fujito and me, we’d love to come say hello anytime, so please don’t hesitate to let us know!

AJ: Is there anything else you want to say to the Final Fantasy XI community?

YF: I was looking forward to seeing everyone at PAX East 2020, which would have been my first event in North America since I went to talk about MMM (Moblin Maze Mongers) for the Wings of the Goddess expansion, so it was very unfortunate that it had to be canceled due to effects of COVID-19. Once the stay-at-home restrictions are lifted, and if people are still interested, I’d love to get another opportunity to visit, so I’m going to do my best to keep the flames of FFXI burning bright until then!

AM: The western community has become increasingly more vibrant thanks to all the supportive players out there. Same as always, I want to keep implementing content worth challenging, while also keeping in close communication with you all. Thank you for all your support.

Today marks the 18th anniversary of #FFXI! Thanks for the amazing support all these years!

Producer Akihiko Matsui shares a few words on this auspicious occasion: https://t.co/divGGaW75h pic.twitter.com/dEhDoxeMWw

— FINAL FANTASY XI (@FFXI_EN) May 16, 2020

May 16, 2020 4:45 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/05/final-fantasy-xi-interview-director-and-producer-reveal-experiences-and-hopes-special-message-to-western-fans/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=final-fantasy-xi-interview-director-and-producer-reveal-experiences-and-hopes-special-message-to-western-fans

[marvelhead17]

Miracle (Original Female Character x Cable)

Chapter 30

Summary: “How did you fix it?” he asked. “Ask Ellen the Teenage Warhead,” Wade shrugged as he stood up, “As for baby Hitler he ended up having a diaper change, funny story I was actually going to call Cable since he was so keen on killing Russel, I thought this would be like taking candy from a baby, if that means replacing it with a bullet that is,”

Warnings to cover the whole fic: Graphic depictions of violence, use of weapons, mild to strong language, mentions of rape, mentions of pregnancy and miscarriage, referenced torture and psychological abuse/manipulation, nightmares and night terrors, sexual humour, sexual content.

Word count:  2k

Two Months Later

Xavier’s School had officially closed for the school year for nearly a month now for the summer holidays, although a lot of the kids chose to stay behind due to their home situations, if of course they had homes to return to.

This meant Wade and Russel had plenty of catching up to do in terms of chaos and havoc, in his new honed abilities and Wade’s pre-planned pranks, which were of course aimed towards stressing Colossus out greatly, or irritating Ellie beyond reasoning.

Hayden sat on the couch with her music playing in her ears, thinking back to yesterday where Wade had tried to prank Nathan and how it went horribly wrong, for Wade that is. She grinned as she replayed the events in her mind.

It started off early in the morning when Nathan decided to have some coffee…

    “C’mon Nathan, don’t you trust me? I swear I just made it, it’s still hot, see?” Wade insisted as he poured the black liquid into Nathan’s large mug.

“No, and you know that, but you’re still a persistent little shit anyway,” he grumbled but took his mug anyway; he eyed the steam that floated out and decided to let his initial instincts on the matter go.

That was his first mistake of the long day.

He took a big swig of the coffee and spat it out almost immediately after his tongue caught on to the foul taste.

“What the fuck is this?” he half yelled as he slammed the mug down on the table, it shattered all over the counter and the remaining coffee spilled to the floor as well.

“It’s Balsamic Coffee!” Wade laughed, albeit rather nervously. “Look Cable it was just a-”

“Just a prank? I’ve had it up to here with all the pranks you’ve both been doing on Colossus and Ellie, everyone’s trying to relax after a long year and you’re making us sit on the edge of our sanity with your endless ‘practical jokes’,” he took a step closer to Wade with gritted teeth.

He grabbed Wade’s shirt collar and lifted him off the ground, the muscles in his arms tensing up and the veins revealing themselves.

  “Nathan,” Hayden touched his shoulder gently, his muscles relaxed and he lowered Wade slightly. “Put him down, please,” he put Wade onto the ground again, “Thank you,” she stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek, making it hard for him to hide the smile creeping up on his hard demeanour.

“Mhm,” he grumbled in acknowledgement, still glaring at Wade.

“As for you Wade,” she turned and poked him hard in the chest with her finger, causing him to take a step back in fear, “I completely agree with Nathan, you need to stop with all these pranks, and soon. Or I’m going to beat your senses back into you, understand?” Wade nodded nervously, “Good. Now go.”

                      Wade quickly ran from the room, still managing to maintain a skip in his steps from the joy of messing with Nathan.

“That wasn’t just about the crappy coffee, was it?” she turned back to Nathan after she shook her head at Wade, “What’s bugging you?”

“You read me far too well for my liking darlin’,” he huffed but still wrapped an arm around her waist.

“It’s about Hope’s birthday, isn’t it?” she pressed, he only nodded in response, “I don’t see why you can’t have Hope come here-”

“You know she wouldn’t have it-”

“So what, Nathan, she’s your daughter for God’s sake, you have every right to celebrate her damn birthday with her!” Hayden moved away from him feeling irritated as she tried to make her case, starting to pace back and forth as she spoke.

“Her mother has full custody of her-”

“That didn’t stop you from taking her to the carnival months ago! And it certainly didn’t stop you from bringing her back here several times to spend time with you-”

“I can’t kidnap my own daughter every time I want to see her Hayden,”

“And why the hell not?” she crossed her arms, “Hope loves it here, she wants to be around her dad as much as she can, she’s allowed to make her own choices of who she wants to live with-”

“Hayden-”

“I mean it! You can’t let your ex run half of your life Nathan-”

“Hayden,” he placed his hands on her shoulders stopping her pacing.

“What?” she asked angrily.

  “What’s this really about?” he asked looking down into her eyes.

“It’s not about anything besides you spending time with Hope,” she answered too quickly.

“Wrong, try again,”

“I- fine,” she sighed, “I really want to see Hope again, alright? She gives me the chance to see everything through the eyes of a real kid, not like me. I was training as a soldier from her age- I love her Nathan, she’s a sweetheart and I’ll be damned if I can’t see her be happy for her birthday,”

Nathan’s expression turned to that of a big grin, “Really now?”

“Yes,” she rolled her eyes, “Is that so hard to believe?”

“Just a little,” he teased.

“Nate, seriously,” she tugged at his shirt and looked up at him as his arms circled instinctively around her waist, “do you know what Hope told me would be the greatest gift for her birthday?” he shook his head, “To quote, ‘to be with my Daddy, last year he promised he’d come back on time but he didn’t, I don’t hate him though. I know he still loves me’, unquote.”

“She really said that?” his face softened and his eyes wetted slightly.

“Of course she did, she’s your daughter and she loves you Nathan.”

  He thought for a moment before finally speaking up, “I’ll probably be hearing from her lawyers because of this, but for my little girl’s birthday, how could I say no?”

“Good,” Hayden patted his cheek and smiled, “You’re doing the right thing Nathan.” She rested her arms playfully around his neck.

“God I hope so,” he sighed and leaned his face closer to hers, “You’re getting me into a lot of trouble you know that Haydes?”

“Not that you’re resisting much to begin with,” she giggled and he smiled before kissing her lips slowly, she smiled and pressed the kiss back eagerly.

                                                         * * *

  Afternoon

Nathan had insisted that Hayden play her guitar and sing for him up in her room, telling her that it helped him relax better, especially whenever Wade was driving him crazy, which was more often than not. She didn’t mind though, seeing as how today Wade was driving him up the wall more so than usual.

He was laid back on the bed and listening with his eyes closed and a calm expression across his face, he was practically in a dozing state until he heard the sounds of someone clambering around in his room; he sat upright and sighed irritably.

“That better not be Wade,” he grumbled and Hayden stopped playing.

“I highly doubt that it isn’t,”

“OH GOD WHAT I COULD DO WITH THIS BEAR,” they heard Wade say loudly.

“WADE-” he shot up from his seated position and ran out from Hayden’s room, “YOU BETTER NOT BE TOUCHING MY DAUGHTER’S BEAR YOU-”

  Hayden got up and followed quickly only to find that Nathan was rolling on the floor by his door, his upper torso covered with saran wrap, he struggled with it as it clung tightly around him. Wade stood inside the room cackling with success.

“What the hell is this, get it off!” Nathan yelled.

“Wade seriously?” Hayden sighed and held Nathan still on the floor; she started peeling off the material slowly and eventually unravelled it all from him.

                  “I thought his futuristic cyborg eye would have helped him at least see the stuff, that went way better than expected,”

Nathan got himself up from the floor and gave Wade a death glare, his own face flushed red from his embarrassment at being fooled by such a silly prank, Hayden put her hand on his shoulder.

“Are you alright Nate? You didn’t get hurt anywhere?” she eyed over his form quickly.

“I’m fine,” he didn’t meet her gaze as he was embarrassed.

“Good,” she pecked his cheek before turning to Wade, “Do you remember a word of what I told you earlier?” she asked through gritted teeth.

He gulped, “Ah, that corporal punishment is wrong and getting off with a verbal warning is the only way a person will learn?” he said rather hopefully.

“Definitely not,” she approached him and slapped him hard in the face, leaving a bright red handprint clear on his cheek, “What the hell is wrong with you? You don’t go and poke the bear, and you certainly don’t torture the bear with stupid shit like this,” Wade rubbed his cheek and didn’t meet her gaze, “Wade, seriously you could have hurt him now-”

“I said I’m fine Haydes-”

She ignored him, “Promise me, and really promise me, no more pranks that can really hurt someone?”

“Fine, I promise,” Wade gave in, throwing his hands in the air.

“Thank you, it’s really big of you to take responsibility like this,”

“Ugh responsibility, that’s the worst,” he tilted his face towards the ceiling.

                                                           * * *

  Evening

Hayden was helping Nathan out with his new phone (again) that he’d gotten, he didn’t have a need for smartphones in the future, as whatever information he needed was always displayed around for everyone to read or he could simply find it by using his metal arm to locate the information on a server when he got hold of some wiring.

He still wasn’t used to the smaller screen in his big hands, and he was altogether unfamiliar with the topics of interest in this era, making him get rather irritable with the ‘complicated’ device very easily.

“I don’t see why you want to learn all this; it’s all just a fad anyway,” she shrugged at him.

“Because I don’t want to be the old man who doesn’t understand technology,” he insisted.

“You don’t even use this stuff in the future, and for the last time you’re not old,” she squeezed his hand and he gave a small side smile, “Besides, you only really need to be able to call one of us, if it’s absolutely necessary and you already know how to do that,”

  Whoop.

  Nathan’s phone sounded and the notification panel displayed at the top of the screen, ‘New message from ‘Wilson’’.

“What does that idiot want now?” he opened the chat and saw there was an attachment that needed to be downloaded, the caption ‘Open me when you’re alone’ along with it, he looked to Hayden.

She shook her head, “I really wouldn’t, who knows what he’s done now,”

“That’s exactly why I have to open it,” Nathan sighed; he tapped the screen and after a moment the image downloaded to his phone he opened it and gagged. “God what is wrong with him?” he put his phone to the side.

“What is it?” she asked trying to reach for it but Nathan grabbed her hand to stop her and shook his head.

“It’s a picture of the cunt’s dick, I can’t believe he actually- wait a minute,” Nathan’s eyes went wide and he grabbed the phone again, “Son of a bitch this was taken in my room!” he got up and went upstairs, Hayden followed closely behind.

  “Son of a bitch,” Nathan muttered as he stormed into his room, the entire of it being covered with multiple coloured edits of blown up images of Wade’s dick, “He’s relentlessly disgusting,” he pulled an image off the wall and tore it into pieces, “I’m cutting his dick off for this.”

“I might just hold him down for you,” Hayden said from behind him, “Um Nathan,”

“Yeah?”

“Do you own anything remotely pink?”

“What? No, why are you asking me that?” he turned to frown at her.

She nodded in the direction of his bathroom, “Then he’s left something in there for you,”

Nathan hurried into it and found that some of his toiletries and bathroom décor had been changed to ones that were Hello Kitty themed; he gritted his teeth and turned to Hayden before looking back at the newly decorated room.

“He’s dead, he’s so dead,”

________________________________________________________________

>> Chapter 31 <<