#I’m going to try an unlock his third costume but that may take a while cause I need to get a gold or silver trophy

[malewifehenrycooldown]

finished all story modes in doa3, and I also happened to unlock Ein too, which I was pretty happy about but then I played as him, and OH NO I don’t like the default costume they gave him (long black trench coat and sunglasses), because he looks too much like itagaki and we all know my intense dislike for that man.

Like Ein is appealing to me when he’s wearing that CUTE mesh top and simple black jacket. He’s NOT cool when you try to model him after yourself ex-employees!!

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

,,may I ask for a continuation of the Zedaph and EX angst? (I love your writing btw!)

thank you!!! i love this series so much (can i call it a series at this point? probs lol)

part 1  part 2 

…

  It’s been a week since Zedaph was found in EX’s lair, and even though nobody has said anything, he can tell the rest of the server is keeping a closer eye on him than normal. Of course, Tango and Impulse find any excuse to hang out with or near him, but he also gets sideways glances from Xisuma, he gets watched by Wels and False from a distance, he gets random visits from Grian and Scar who “happen to be in the area”. He knows why, too; they’re the five people on the server with evil counterparts. They know what it’s like to be traumatised by an evil clone. The difference is EX isn’t Zedaph’s clone. But that hardly even matters at this point. 

  One day, Zedaph finally manages to shake off the people watching him and flies off towards the mining desert. He would normally take the nether hub but the longer flight will give him time to think of what he’s going to do when he gets there.

  All too soon, he lands in the mining desert near a large sand dune and digs out the entrance to the secret lair. The door behind it is still unlocked. Taking a deep breath, Zedaph enters the lair. 

  It looks exactly how it did the first time he came in here, except the iron door is gone from when Impulse bashed it down to rescue him and a few bits and pieces are missing from the table in the corner. 

  It’s hard being back in here after what happened. Every second he spends in here reminds him of the agony of the person he thought was his closest ally betraying him and leaving him here to die. 

  After a while, Zedaph approaches the safe under the table and twists the wheel absently, not expecting it to open. But it does. The wheel spins easily and the door clicks open.

  Inside is a single photograph. Zedaph picks it up, and his chest twists painfully. It’s a photo of him and EX, in costume: a selfie Zedaph took of the two of them after their first successful mission. 

  “Didn’t expect to see you back here.”

  Zedaph whirls round to find EX themself standing in the doorway, arms folded. “Oh my g- What are you doing here?!”

  “I thought this’d be the last place you’d come back to, after everything that happened here.”

  “After you abandoned me!” Zedaph snaps. “And left me to starve to death! You even sent a message from MY communicator telling my friends to leave me alone so they wouldn’t find me for days!”

  “I’m not gonna try and justify that,” EX replies steadily. “I did it because I wanted you to die, Zedaph.”

  The coldness in their words hits Zedaph like a knife to the chest. “Why?! How could you do that to me?! We were partners; I trusted you! And all this time you were a villain?”

  “Yes. I befriended you because I knew the best way to cover up my activities was to get close to the hero investigating them. I was always gonna backstab you at some point. Just didn’t expect it to be when you found my hideout.”

  “I… I don’t understand how you can be so casual about betraying someone who trusted you so implicitly.” 

  “Simple.” EX’s voice hardens even more. “I never trusted or cared for you.”

  Zedaph’s stomach churns and he takes a step back, trying his hardest to hold back tears. “So what now? Are you gonna kill me?”

  EX wordlessly steps forward, causing Zedaph to move back again, bumping against the wall behind him. “G-Get away from me.” 

  But EX takes another step forward.

  “I-I said get away!” Zedaph’s voice cracks as he stares at EX with fearful eyes. “People know I’m in here!”

  EX moves fast and slams Zedaph into the wall, gripping him by the neck. Zedaph chokes at the sudden pressure on his windpipe. 

  “But “people” wouldn’t get here in time to save you, would they?” EX taunts quietly. “Even if you could send an SOS on that communicator of yours right now, you’d have respawned already and I’d be long gone by the time anyone even made it halfway here.”   Zedaph cries out, gasping for air. He’s terrified; EX is about to kill him, right here, right now. In a much more vicious way than simply leaving him to starve.

  “HEY!”

  EX’s head jerks round. 

  Through Zedaph’s quickly fading vision, he can see two figures in the doorway. Tango, the one who had yelled out, is holding a sword, while Impulse wields an axe. 

  “Let him go!” Tango snarls. “You’ve got five seconds before I stab you in the head!”

  EX hesitates, his grip on Zedaph momentarily tightening. They recognise that Impulse and Tango are blocking the door, and if they don’t release Zedaph now, they WILL get killed. 

  Zedaph lets out a muted cry at the pain in his neck.

  This sound sends Tango over the edge. His eyes flaming red, he charges at EX and swings his sword, forcing EX to let go of Zedaph and dodge to the side. As Impulse rushes to catch Zedaph as he collapses, EX ducks under Tango’s second attack and bolts for the door. 

  However, Tango swings his sword for the third time and manages to catch EX in the calf. It’s a glancing blow, but it’s enough to slow EX down. 

  Tango discards his sword and takes off after EX. He manages to tackle them to the ground on the sand outside the lair, but one of EX’s flailing fists catches him in the jaw and he loses his grip on EX. Wincing at the taste of blood in his mouth, Tango rolls over, panting hard, but EX has already vanished. 

  Cursing to himself, Tango goes back down into the secret lair and finds Zedaph sitting propped against the wall, breathing hard and massaging his throat. Impulse is kneeling next to him, rubbing his shoulder soothingly. 

  Now that he knows Zedaph is alive and safe, all of Tango’s fear and adrenaline explodes. 

  “What the hell were you thinking, Zed?!” he yells. “Coming back to THIS place all by yourself! What if they’d killed you, huh?! Have you gone absolutely insane?!”

  Zedaph gazes at him numbly for a moment before dissolving into tears. 

  “Oh…” Tango dithers, regretting everything at that moment. “I-I…”

  “I’m so sorry,” croaks Zedaph. “Thank you for saving me b-but I’m sorry I put you guys in danger. A-And Tango, you’re hurt because of m-me. I d-didn’t know they’d be here; I j-just wanted to see this place again.” 

  Impulse gently embraces his friend. “Oh, Zed… You’ve gone through so much in the last week. Why would you want to come back here?”

  Zedaph just buries his face in Impulse’s shoulder and says nothing. 

  Tango appears at Zedaph’s other side and joins the hug. “I’m sorry, Zed. This must’ve been so hard for you. Whatever you need, just let us know and we’ll be there. Okay?”

  Zedaph sniffles again. He can’t stop thinking about the emptiness in EX’s eyes when they told him they never cared for him. It’ll haunt him for a long, long time. But at least he’s not alone. He doesn’t have to deal with this by himself. 

  “Okay.”

[plumeriaheart]

Cosplay Surprise [Leviathan/F!Reader]

This is the third(???) smut fic I’ve written and I still feel awkward about it rip... But also, Levi is a precious boy!!! Pls I just wanna make him flustered for days and shower him in love and affection!!!

FANDOM: Obey Me!

RATING: smut with some fluffy undertones~ 

WORD COUNT: 3.6k

.

.

Perhaps you had been in over your head when you ordered the costume and wig from Akuzon, but when the packages arrive at your doorstep, you feel like you have to go through with it. What's the worst thing that could happen? Leviathan would call you a normie, but that's nothing new. You don't think he'd be mad at you for trying to cosplay one of his favourite idols – at least you hope he wouldn't be. As long as the cosplay doesn't look cheap, you should be fine, right? Now it's just a matter of trying the costume on and making sure you look as similar to Ruri-chan as possible.

You're happy to find that both the costume and the wig seem to be of acceptable quality; Leviathan would have your head if you dared to wear a cheap costume of his beloved Ruri-chan. The fabric envelopes you in a soft hug, complimenting your best features. You don't recognise yourself in the mirror at first, so unusual does the long blonde hair and the green outfit look on you – but you find that it doesn't look bad, per se.

Grabbing your D.D.D., you scroll through your contacts and select Leviathan, sending him a text to ask whether you could come over to his room right now. You don't expect him to reply straight away, knowing that he might be busy with one of his games, and in the meantime, you could see if you could put on some make-up to make the cosplay perfect. But before you can even grab your make-up bag, your D.D.D. rings, and upon glancing at the screen you see one text message from Leviathan.

Leviachan: Perfect timing, I could use your help with some co-op dungeons. The door's unlocked :thumbsup:

His words bring a smile to your face, imagining what kind of reactions you'd get from him. You're not against playing games with him, but if he reacts to your cosplay the way you want him to, there would be something more important to do.

You listen at the door to hear if anybody is out and about before you leave your room, quickly making your way to your boyfriend's room. You knock to signal you're there, but don't wait for a response – he did say his door was unlocked. In true Leviathan fashion, he doesn't turn around right away to greet you, mumbling a quick 'Hey' as he's executing something that looks like a complicated combat combo. You remain by the door for a couple of seconds, taking a deep breath and finally going to join the demon by his desk.

Your eyes quietly follow his character on the screen, watching as he decimates a group of goblins – he must be nearing the final boss of this dungeon, and you know better than to interrupt him during an important battle like that. It doesn't bother you, you enjoy watching him play. Watching him do something that makes him as happy and as focused as this warms your heart, and though you came to his room with less pure intentions, you don't mind waiting if he looks this into it. You may also be curious to see how long it takes for him to notice the way you look.

"This boss fight shouldn't take long. I managed to get my hands on the legendary sword of ruination – it has a drop rate of 0.1 percent! Isn't it awesome?! The cursed flame enchantment should be strong enough to one hit regular enemies, but this boss here is special! He casts a drain health curse on you when you enter his dungeon and to lift it you have to defeat him. If you can't defeat him and have to leave so you can level up first, the curse is gonna stay on you! lol I bet so many noobs got killed by this boss when it's SO easy once you think about it!"

His eyes are glued to the screen as he enters what seems to be the final stage of the dungeon, the music picking up in pace and a brief cutscene commences. Something that looks like a giant mutated version of the goblins he fought before appears, clad in spiked armour and wielding a giant axe which seems to be emitting green smoke. Before you know it, you find your own eyes glued to the screen, rooting for your boyfriend to win the challenge ahead of him. He furrows his brows as he smashes the keys more aggressively, then finally lets out a sigh of relief when the boss goes down in one final move. He's about to turn his head and show you a brilliant smile when he suddenly freezes – finally, he notices what you look like right now.

"R-Ru-Ruri-chan?!" He squeals, eyes wide open and cheeks burning red. As much as he tries to hide his blush behind his hand, it's still visible to you. His eyes flit from your hair down to your face, and finally to your outfit. He's not sure where he's supposed to look, there's so much to take in.

"Do you like it, Leviachan?" You ask in a singsong voice, putting on a sweet smile and tilting your head to the side. The demon lets out a whimper, unable to form any words. "I thought I could make you happy by cosplaying as Ruri-chan..." As you come closer, he reacts by leaning back. His eyes roam your figure, taking in every detail of your appearance and you believe you've never seen him blush so aggressively. He looks at you with a mixture of disbelief, shyness, and even lust.

Would you really do something like that for someone like him? He can't believe it, and for a few seconds, he just keeps blinking, afraid he might wake up and find his room void of you. But you're sitting in front of him, looking at him with an uncertain smile. Quick, he has to say something before you get the wrong idea!

"R-really? For… For me?" The words come out more unsteady than he wanted them to, and he curses himself mentally. But then you give him a reassuring smile, a nod, and he's over the moon. In one quick motion, he wraps his arms around your waist and pulls you close, burying his head in the crook of your neck. Leviathan can't find the words to describe how touched he is, but he's certain you can feel his heartbeat racing against your chest. Hell, he'd be surprised if you couldn't hear it at this rate.

You don't make any attempts to move, instead combing your fingers through his hair reassuringly. There is no denying that you enjoy the way he clings to you as if he had to make sure that you're real, that you're his.

"Leviachan?" You hum into his ear, taking pleasure from the way he shivers.

"Y-Yes?" His grip on you only tightens, head nuzzled further against your body.

"You can do more than just hug me, you know?" A chuckle escapes you as he looks up at you, eyes glassy from how flustered he is. Never in a million years would he have thought… Sure, there had been times where he fantasised about his favourite idol, but… Ugh, you're just too good for him! But you're here, in his arms, and the way you smile at him makes his heart flutter – a sudden wave of courage (and maybe desperate need) washes over him before his lips into yours. His kiss is clumsy, nervous and eager, but you've come to love the way his lips feel against yours. When you let your tongue caress his lower lip, he responds with an inevitable moan, allowing your tongue to meet his in a tender dance.

The kiss grows more forceful as he pulls you on his lap, and you can feel the bulge in his pants pressing against your core. Grinding your hips against his crotch, you feel his chest vibrate as he groans against your mouth, and, with one hand gently placed behind your head, he pulls you closer against him. His other hand travels down to your ass, fingers digging into the supple flesh. The sudden intensity of the kiss awakens butterflies in your stomach, your soft moans swallowed by his hungry lips.

He only breaks away to look at your face, to see your flushed cheeks and your lips parted with longing – his own face mirroring your expression perfectly.

"I'm all yours today, Levi," an almost plea falls from your lips, dripping with affection and lust. The tips of his ears tinged a dark shade of red, he nods to himself as if to calm himself down. Any attempt to calm down right now would be futile, you think, but it seems to do the job for him as his lips latch onto the soft skin of your neck, gently nibbling on it before suckling on it. A hot sensation begins to spread from the place where his lips connect with your skin, and you can tell that he'll be leaving a mark on your skin. As if only realising this now, the demon licks along your soft skin, soothing the red spot he created.

"I-Is this… okay?" Levi's voice is laced with uncertainty, and he barely allows his lips to graze your shoulder while awaiting your response.

"Of course it is, Levi – I think it's exciting, seeing you this needy." Your words are accompanied by a slight giggle, running one of your hands down his chest ever so slowly. The way your fingertips create the slightest sensation against his skin lets him crave you more, and when you begin to unzip his pants, he lets out an unholy moan.

"W-Wait..." He breathes, and you do as he says, looking at him with curiosity in your eyes. "Can you… sit on my desk?" When he raises his gaze to meet yours, you can tell how much self-control it took for him to ask this, and who are you to deny him? You meet his lips in a quick peck before you get up, hiking the skirt up at your waist as you sit down on his desk. You lean back a little, watching him get up and placing both of his hands by your hips, his face mere inches away from yours. He gulps, running his left hand over your thigh and inching closer to your core.

You loop your arms behind his neck to keep him close, eyes glued to his face as his confidence begins to grow. With an excited smile, he allows his fingers to run along your panties, and another blush rushes to his cheeks when you let out a content sigh. His fingertips begin to circle your clit through the fabric, and you can hear him take in a sharp breath when he feels your panties growing damp.

"Does… that feel good, MC?" The demon asks, trying out different pressures to see which one can coax out the sweetest reaction from you.

"Do you even have to ask? I love when you touch me, Levi – please, keep going," you whisper, shutting your eyes as you allow the pleasure to run course your body. Your words are music to his ears. With his right hand, he lifts your chin to kiss you; almost getting lost in the moment when you part your lips for him instantly. But you seem to be okay with him being more adventurous today, and so he begins to trail further kisses down your clothed body. He kneels, tugging at your panties, awkwardly fumbling with them before he manages to pull them further down. When his lips connect with your thighs, you've all but forgotten that, focusing instead on the way his mouth inches closer to your aching lips.

He doesn't waste any time and begins lapping at your pussy, allowing himself to savour your taste with every stroke of his tongue. It doesn't take long for your moans to fill his room, along with the lewd sounds of him sloppily licking your pussy. Levi shifts between your legs and before you know it, he's placed your thighs over his shoulders, hugging you closer. His tongue explores your folds with fervour, your essence coating his mouth and chin in the process. It reminds him that you're his, that no one else can taste you nor make you feel this way, and his chest swells with pride. As you tip your head back in pleasure, you run your fingers through his hair, tugging at it and urging him to go faster. Hyper-aware of your needy touches, Levi gives in to your desire.

When he lets out a shuddery moan, you feel it reverberate through your entire body. He goes from eagerly running his tongue along your slit to sucking on your clit, enveloping the sensitive nub with his lips. A jolt of electricity runs through you when he clumsily grazes his teeth against your swollen clit, a choked moan escaping from your lips. Searing heat grows within your body, pooling at your core, and the demon can tell by the way your hips try to buck against his face.

"L-Levi, I'm… ahh, so close," you whine in between moans, and the way you say his name, dripping with pleasure, makes him shudder once more. Spurned on by your involuntary reactions to his tongue's administrations, he finds the confidence to slip his tongue inside of your heat. You arch your back as his muscle teases your core, feeling your walls begin to clench as the unmistakable wave of your impending climax crashes over you. Your fingers curl in his hair when your orgasm crashes down on you, a string of curses falling from your lips. Even through your orgasm, Levi keeps licking at your pussy, driving you to a point of pleasure and ecstasy that makes your vision go blank for a couple of seconds. It's only when the sensation becomes too much that you attempt to clench your legs together, that he stops and looks up at you, admiring the mess that you have become thanks to him.

You are painfully aware that the only sound filling the room is your ragged breathing, but it takes you a few moments to catch your breath. When you look down at Leviathan, you notice his mesmerised gaze – and the fact that he's stroking his cock for you, now freed from the confines of his pants.

"Can… Can you keep your clothes on for… for the next part?" He asks you as he slowly gets up, crimson tingeing his cheeks. Your eyes wander from his dishevelled hair down to his glistening lips, taking note of the way he hungrily licks them, before you nod. Still dazed, he takes your hands and helps you get up, supporting your wobbly legs by swooping you up in his arms. It's easy to forget how powerful Levi really is when he shuts himself in his room most days, his shy nature not doing him many favours in that aspect. But he is the third-born for a reason, you think as you look up at his face.

Gently, he places you down on the ground before he begins grabbing pillows and blankets from the bathtub. He throws them on the ground, arranging them in a way that he believes is comfortable for you. You can't tear your eyes off of him, enthralled by his appearance. You know that he doesn't think much of his looks, belittling himself more often than not, but you think that if he could see himself through your eyes right now, he'd disagree. Such a vulgar image it is, and yet you can't think of any other word than beautiful to describe him.

"W-Why are you looking at me like that…? Do you… Do you not want to go further?" His question snaps you out of your thoughts, a flash of concern washing over his face, and you shake your head right away – you feel yourself aching for his cock to fill you up, a need throbbing deep within your core. The demon looks relieved at your response, and his abashed smile makes your heart skip a beat. Grabbing him by the collar of his hoodie, you pull him closer and your lips crash into his. You can taste your own essence as your tongue slips inside of his mouth, coaxing a muffled moan out of him.

It's all the encouragement he needs as he gently pushes you down, your own hands roaming down his chest and tugging at his hoodie. He gets your hint, he really does, but Levi doesn't seem to be able to tear himself away from you long enough to remove the hoodie. His cock is already aligned at your pussy, the tip of it prodding at your entrance, but despite his need for you, he seems to drown in your kiss instead. There's a hunger in his kiss that takes you by surprise, so unexpected from the usually submissive demon. When your fingers find his length and wrap around him, his entire body shivers. With slow motions, you begin to pump his cock, the heat of it teasing your slit. His hips move intact with your hand without entering you just yet, eliciting a deep growl from the back of his throat. Levi only breaks the kiss to look at you, eyes searching for permission.

"Take off your hoodie and you can fuck me," you say breathlessly, and with a small whimper, he complies. You let your eyes wander his pale skin, watching the way his breath catches in his chest as you work his cock faster, a red flush of passion adorning his fair skin. His gaze finds yours once more, asking for permission and when you finally nod, letting go of his cock, he buries himself inside of you with one swift motion.

The moan falling from your lips fills the entire room, followed by many more as the demon begins to thrust into you at a frantic pace. His strokes are quick and sloppy, hitting all the right spots to make you arch your back in pleasure. With every thrust inside you, you feel your mind growing hazy with lust once more, and the only thing on your mind is him. Levi's eyes remain on you as he fucks you, taking in the way your lips part, the way your tits bounce under your clothes and the way your eyes roll back when his cock hits your sweetest spots.

He's not new to the way your body reacts to him and vice versa, but seeing you in that costume is doing sinful things to him. Once more, he finds himself picking up the speed before he leans down, resting both of his hands next to your head while his face hovers above yours. Instinctively, you wrap your arms around his neck and pull him into a kiss, moaning his name against his lips.

It's enough for him to lose control of himself entirely, pounding into you as your moans grow in volume. You can feel his climax coming on by the way his thrusts become even more frantic, slamming his cock into you rougher than before, leaving your legs trembling.

His cock twitches inside of you before his hot seed floods your pussy, a surge of heat washing over you. Though his movements slow, he keeps rocking his hips into yours, panting heavily.

"Ahh, s-shit shit, s-sorry," Levi whimpers when his movements come to a halt. You're still breathing heavily, looking up at him with a questioning expression on your face. "You… You d-didn't… I-I mean, was that… was that enough?" You realise that he's apologising for coming before you could, and with how flustered and apologetic he looks, you cannot help but giggle. His eyes widen ever so slightly and he pouts a little, about to protest when you cup his cheeks in your hands.

"Levi, listen to me, okay? You're always enough for me. No one else can make me feel this good, and no one else can make my knees weak in more than just one way." Your words make him whimper again, his lips desperately pressing against yours once more until you're out of breath.

"I-I love you so… so much, MC!" Levi stammers, squeezing his eyes shut so you don't see him tearing up over his emotions.

"More than Ruri-chan?" You hum teasingly, not expecting any answer as you give him a quick kiss.

"Y-YES!" He almost shouts, only realising how loud his words were after they left his mouth. "S-Sorry," he adds, more quietly this time. How can he make such a fool out of himself when you're beneath him, looking like the epitome of beauty and passion?! Not too mention, he's still inside of you and – oh god, he's so embarrassed! The only thing stopping him from crawling into a hole to mope is the way you look at him, so much affection in your gaze that warms his heart.

"I love you, too, Leviachan~" You hum with a smile, and all his anxieties seem to wash away just like that. How…?

"I know this wasn't the type of co-op battle you had in mind when you texted me earlier, but… maybe we should go for another round – to grind some exp, you know?"

You can't just say those things without a warning! How is his heart supposed to handle you when you say those things, looking like that!?

His immediate response is a whimper before he presses his lips against yours once more. This time, he's going to complete all of the requirements for this quest.

A/N: I definitely feel like I could’ve done more with the cosplay aspect of this fic, but also, I don’t even know what Ruri rly looks like so who knows?? 

[misc-headcanons]

Can I get a cute scenario for Aizawa where his pro hero wife is fighting a villain who has a quirk that can turn people into animals and she happens to get turned into a cat and the effects last for 2 days. And when he gets home he finds a strange cat waiting for him outside their home and she's trying to get him to understand it's her and that she hasn't disappeared but she can only meow

Aizawa/F!Reader: A Strange Re-mew-nion

Word Count: 1500+

(I had no idea what the title should be, but I DID know I wanted to make a shitty cat pun)

He wasn’t a stranger to finding new strays by his apartment. There were plenty of them in the neighborhood, and they always enjoyed the small bowls of water he’d leave in the summertime and the cardboard boxes lined with towels in the winter. But when he made it to his doorstep after a long night of work, he noticed a cat that was leaning against the small front window, pushing against the glass with all its might. The moment it realized it was no longer alone, it ran right up to Aizawa as it yowled and meowed over and over.

Aizawa knelt down to let the cat sniff his hand, but it seemed to already be familiar with him; instead of getting accustomed to his scent, the stray rubbed its head against Aizawa while it continued to mewl. Had it met him before? It didn’t really look like any of the other strays that would come up to him--and he would’ve definitely remembered a cat that babbled as much as this one.

He fished his keys out from his pocket and went to unlock his door, and he saw the cat eagerly watching him as it stood beside his foot. “...I don’t usually let you guys inside,” he said with a yawn. He tried to guide it to a small wire basket with an old towel placed inside, just a few inches away. “You can sleep there, alright?”

The cat didn’t even give the makeshift bed a second glance. It looked intently at Aizawa, and then at the door before letting out an insistent chirp as it rubbed against the door. Why the hell were they so eager to go inside his house? It wasn’t as if it was cold or rainy out, and even if it was they would have plenty of shelter in the bed underneath the apartment awning.

Aizawa was about to just pick the cat up and place it in the basket when he froze in place and stared at the front window. Even with the thick curtains in front of it, he could tell that the lights were off in the living room. He hadn’t come home to that sight since he was still living by himself, before ____ had moved in and insisted on leaving the lights on for him no matter what time he came home during the night. “It’s just to let you know that I’m thinking about you out there,” she’d insisted with a bright smile. “I won’t leave every light on obviously, but you can see the light coming from the window and know that I’m here waiting for you.”

It was nearly 4 in the morning. She should’ve left the light on hours ago when she’d gotten back from her shift at her own agency. She should be inside. Aizawa remembered that he’d first seen this stray cat desperately trying to make its way inside, and a sick feeling of dread crept into his chest.

He withdrew his bindings and carefully turned the key to unlock his front door, with a soft click of the bolt moving in the lock being the only sound he made. As he opened the door and was ready to face a potential ambush from whatever--or whoever--was inside, the cat ran inside and jumped onto the sofa nearby. Aizawa made a quick and stealthy sweep through the house, checking for any signs of disturbance or a struggle. Oddly enough, he couldn’t find that seemed to indicate ____ had gotten hurt or kidnapped; in fact, the still-hanging laundry on the balcony, the pristine bed, and the missing leftovers she usually placed in the fridge for him pointed to her not coming home at all since she left to go to work.

The stray cat followed him through the apartment, its head swiveling around as it seemed to search for something. Aizawa noticed it peering at a photo frame on a bookshelf in his bedroom, and then watched it make a dash for the shelf. “Oi, what--”

The cat leapt up to the third shelf and placed a paw on top of the frame, meowing louder than before. It used its other front paw to beckon Aizawa closer as if it were a stereotypical maneki-neko placed on a shop’s front counter. With no other leads to go on, Aizawa hesitantly stepped forward and waited for the cat to do...something. It carefully placed a paw on the photo, right on top of ____’s smiling face; it then moved to place its paw on its chest. It continued to meow more and more, repeating the same gesture.

Aizawa’s bloodshot eyes narrowed as he observed the cat. He had to be sleep-deprived, misinterpreting or humanizing what this animal was doing. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d imagined something strange, only for his wife to tell him that no, the little flashing light he’d seen on the ceiling wasn’t a camera or bomb: it was the smoke detector they’d had for three years, just blinking the way it usually did. He must have forgotten that ____ had plans with someone, or was going on an overnight trip, or--

“Nyaaaa!”

Aizawa blinked a few times, snapping out of his tired train of thought as the cat pressed its nose up against his. Without breaking eye contact, it slowly pointed at the photo of ____ again, and then to itself. “Mrrow?”

“...____?”

The cat nodded, and Aizawa stared wide-eyed at the cat--no, his wife...his wife-who-may-also-be-a-cat. “You’re ____?”

The cat-who-may-have-been-his-wife nodded.

Aizawa sat down on the bed and stared at them with his fingers tented. After taking a deep breath, he rubbed his eyes and then looked back at the cat. “Nod for ‘yes’, shake your head for ‘no’,” he said flatly. “Do you understand?”

____ nodded.

“Did this happen due to someone else’s Quirk?” Nod.

“Is it from a criminal with a registered Quirk?” Nod. Aizawa nodded slightly to himself; if it was a registered Quirk user, he could find out the specifics of this ability and hopefully find out if this transformation would go away on its own or if he needed outside help.

“Okay.” He pulled out his cell phone to access the country’s Quirk registry using his Hero credentials, and noticed that he’d missed two voicemails from his wife’s personal assistant. A very nervous voice came over the speaker:

H-Hi, Eraserhead. I know ____ said to only use this contact number for emergencies only, and this isn’t really life-threatening or anything, so don’t worry! She’s okay, she’s unhurt, but...um...There was a Villain she fought, one with a transformation Quirk. It’s temporary, the registry file says the effect only lasts 48 hours, but...yeah. She’s currently a cat. Her Hero costume is at the agency, since she kinda, you know, crawled out of it after changing sizes and species and all that. But don’t worry! She’s perfectly safe here at the agency, so call us back and you can come pick her up whenever you’re back from your shift.

Aizawa listened to the next voicemail, made a few hours later.

Hi again, Eraserhead. So, about the whole cat situation. ____ seemed to be in shock about the whole thing, she was meowing nonstop and running all over the place. And the thing is, one of the janitors we have on staff, he um...He hadn’t been informed about the situation and kicked ____ out of the building while I went to pick up some cat food. That was about twenty minutes ago...I’ve been searching for her, and if she’s not at the office then she might be trying to go somewhere else that’s familiar. So if you see a cat by your house with no collar, and it’s meowing a lot and is like...WAY too intelligent and human-ish to be a regular cat, then it’s ____. Probably. Hopefully. Oh my god, I am so fired…

Aizawa set his phone aside and felt something soft land in his lap. ____ fidgeted with her paws and sulked about her current situation, trapped as an animal for the next day and a half. Would she have to eat cat food? How would she go to the bathroom? Would she still be able to think like a human the whole time, or would she lose her mind and really become an animal before she changed back? Aizawa couldn’t really think of what to say that could comfort her, so he simply crawled under the covers of their bed and patted the space next to him. ____ curled up next to him and smiled as he scratched a spot behind her ears and then stroked her from head to tail. She let out a low purr as she started to doze off comfortably in his arms, and she moved to rub her cheek against his before finally falling asleep. Aizawa smirked and let himself drift off to sleep as well, thankful that even though his wife was a bit different than when he’d left her this morning, she was safe and cuddling him as he slept like every night they spent together.

[wackapedia]

Lucky Star

Soulmate au! Yoongi x idol reader where corporations fuck things over as usual. slightly dystopian warnings: mentions of blood, murder but not so graphic, angst 1.7k You were leaning upright inside a containment in the middle of the ridiculously bright room of the facility. The rough material of medical scrubs rubbing against your skin while several wires and tubes are connected to your body. As the containment tilts to make you lie horizontally. "Commencing cryogenic stasis" The gentle robotic voice alerts. you close your eyes and remember the events of the past week. "ProtoGen Inc. has been the world's leading resource developer for modern technology. From Smartphones, Appliances, Transportation, and Medical Technology. ProtoGen is also partnering with Yong-Soon Farms to create Genetically-modified livestock, to fill the global supply. Today, ProtoGen takes on the entertainment industry as we launch the world's first Artificially-Enhanced girl group. Please welcome, Lucky Star!" The curtains rise to reveal three girls standing with perfect posture. The crowd jumbles to get a clear view, flashing their cameras boldly to the three girls. The camera flashes would blind a normal person, but the Lucky Star Girls were nowhere near normal. You and your groupmates bow simultaneously. "Hello! We are Lucky Star!"

---------- "'ProtoGen Inc., debuts world's first AI-Enhanced girl group' whatever the fuck that means," Taehyung reads the headline of an article as he scrolls through his pad, slurping his soggy cereal. "Are they aliens?" Jungkook asks, peeling his third hard-boiled egg for the day. "I'm pretty sure we haven't discovered alien life yet, Kook..." Jimin sighs from the kitchen. "That's what they want you to think!" Namjoon continues to read the article, squinting over Taehyung's shoulder while unknowingly spilling his orange juice down the younger's Gucci trousers as Jimin talks Jungkook out of the thought of meeting aliens in the near future. This was the scene that greets Yoongi as he descends the stairs. "What's going on?" He asks, heading straight to the coffee machine. "Aliens!" Jungkook enthusiastically answers. Too enthusiastic at 8am. "That AI girl group just debuted." Namjoon fills in. "Called Lucky Star". "Okay, what does that have to do with aliens?" "Nothing! Jungkook here was just being imaginative!" Jimin continues to buzz with Jungkook talking over him. Yoongi sighs as he finishes preparing his coffee and heads back upstairs to his home office. "Whatever." He mutters, leaving them to continue reading the article and discuss alien life. "Local K-Pop fans continue to protest for the girls' human rights despite- AHH HYUNG! YOUR JUICE!!" Taehyung finally realizes the coldness seeping through his thigh, seeing a large orange stain on his outfit. ---------- Immediately after your first live performance in a music awards show, you meet other idol groups queueing up for the stage. A girl you know as Jennie glares at Yue who glares back at her with hostility. You were escorted to your private dressing rooms where the CEO of ProtoGen himself waited. "How did we do, chief?" May, the main dancer asks as soon as she enters. "It was good..." Chairman Han answers, putting down the tablet after scrolling through the articles about Lucky Star. "But not good enough." "Excuse me? You programmed us to perfection and you think we weren't good enough?" Yue, the leader and the most developed speaks up. Her android programming allowed her to quickly learn from her surroundings, allowing her to have some form of a freewill. "Leave us." Chairman Han addresses the group of wardrobe and makeup assistants, leaving you three with him and the programming director of the Lucky Star project. The door opens just as you caught a glance of the group of men marching toward the backstage. One of them stops and makes eye contact with you, his cat-like eyes freezes you in place and the familiar mark on top of his wrist causes your heart to skip a beat. And then the door shuts again. A robotic freewill is considered as a paradoxical flaw in programming. A resultant factor of several integral aspects that can not be substituted without compromising the quality of the output. You learned this during your time at the facility at a young age, picking up IT jargon while they infused the enhancement serum into your system. Contrary to what most believe, the Lucky Star girls are actually part human. May was human, farmed and fertilized in a test tube. Yue was the least human. You witnessed how she was constructed in the facility for over 20 years. She was considered as the most developed among all humanoid robots in existence. You were a normal human, born 25 years ago, injected with all sorts of chemical enhancements, but still human enough to don a soulmate mark on the top side of your wrist. You are witnessing how technologically advanced Yue is when she sharply talks back to Chairman Han who was verbally abusing her about her lack of energy during the performance. "You were created to entertain, and yet here you are, presenting a mediocre performance, shaming my company in a pitiful excuse of a performance!" The chairman's heavy hand lands on Yue's artificially manufactured cheek. There was an awkward silence before Yue pushes the chairman against the mirrored wall of the dressing room, cracking it against the Chairman's skull. The programming director moves to stop her but his efforts are futile when Yue drives the narrow edge of a contour brush through the chairman's head. Blood stains Yue's glittery costume. ---------------- Hoseok animatedly reviews their performance as he leads the group to their assigned dressing rooms. Jin laughs at how Jimin almost slipped at the stage. All seven of them are halted in their steps when a crowd of paramedics gather at one of the dressing rooms. "What happened?" Namjoon asks a personnel of ProtoGen Medical as a mortuary trolley gets dragged out of the room. "Oh my god did someone die?" Jungkook loudly questions, earning him a 'Shut up' from his hyungs. Namjoon gets ignored by the personnel as they were escorted away from the crime scene. Yoongi clearly remembers seeing you in the room minutes before their performance and wonders if you're okay. "ProtoGen Ceo Han Sung-Hoon dies of Heart Attack" Jimin reads the headline of an online article the morning after the music awards. "We all know that's not what happened." Taehyung replies. "We shouldn't speculate..." Namjoon comments. "Big Hit warned us not to get involved." "What? We were the only ones who saw the medics last night!" Yoongi answers, scrolling through the pictures from last night's event, trying to spot anything peculiar. He pauses at the group photo of that AI-enhanced girl group, his eyes zero-ing in on a familiar mark on your wrist. "Which is why they asked us not to get involved." Namjoon stresses again. "We wont get involved if they tell us what happened!" Jungkook states. Just then, their manager walks up to the dining area, overhearing the maknae's sentiments. "Sit down. I'll tell you what happened." The manager declares, causing all seven to settle down. ------------ "Commencing cryogenic stasis" The gentle robotic voice alerts. White smokes of gas fill the chamber, causing your eyes to water despite tightly shutting them. Your panicked heartbeat erratically rattles your chest, feeling the sense of claustrophobia despite being in the spacious chamber. ProtoGen has decided to put down the Lucky Star project after last night's event. Yue has been dismantled into particles the moment she arrived in a crate in the facility. Her programming became too much to control, causing her to go on a murder spree at the dressing room last night. She annihilated Chairman Han and May. Before she choked the air out of you, she asked you to join her in taking the fame and be the most popular artist. This was her only motivation as she was programmed to be an artist. You politely declined, explaining to her that you were not a humanoid like her, to which she did not understand. She tightens her grip on your neck before she was shut down by the programming director who eventually bled out and died. The ProtoGen staff immediately answered to the situation, cleared up the place and dealt with the media. You were brought to the facility to where the board of directors decided to have you placed in cryogenic freeze until they found a way to separate the flawed formula of the serum in your system. The glass window of the chamber fogs up. Your vision becomes blurry and the engine noises become muffled as you sink into cryo-stasis. and then it stops. The Cryo chamber tilts to an upright position but doesn't unlock. a group of people in labcoats enter the room, escorting a group of men who gather around you. One of them immediately positions himself  directly in front of the glass window. ---------- "You have two minutes." Doctor Sharp lets all seven of them in the room. Yoongi immediately knocks on the closed chamber, desperate to see you awake. "Hey y/n.. Its me.." He shows you his soulmate mark through the fogged up glass. He notices a spark of recognition in your eyes, encouraging him to go on. "I'm sorry there's no way for me to get you out of here. But when you come out, I'll find you. I may have to take up another form in the next life, but you'll still be you. So I'll come find you, okay?" Yoongi stutters but continues to make the most out of his last minute, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I'm sorry it had to end this way. But it isn't really the end..." "Your time is up. Please leave the room peacefully while you can." ---------- You look up to the man who you remember to be one of the idols from last night's event. He tries to tell you something but all you can hear is his muffled unintelligible voice through layers of metal and plexiglass. He shows you his soulmate mark which was identical to yours. You smile. He continues to talk with tears in his eyes and all you could do was to wander your eyes on his face, hoping to dream of him for the next 50 years of cryo-stasis. He is eventually escorted out of the room, and the chamber tilts back to continue the process. You peacefully close your eyes and inhale the sleeping gas as years of sleep take over you. ---------- "BTS Spotted leaving ProtoGen facility after Lucky Star project shutdown" Taehyung quietly reads the headline as Namjoon reads over his shoulder. "Such a shame Yoongi-hyung found and lost her in such a short time..." Namjoon sighs.

[girlofmanyfandoms]

Forbidden Spicy Gatorade Chronicles Chapter One

A/n: Ok, so the cult is getting stronger by the minute so if you haven’t been introduced yet, don’t be offended! I’ll try to go through everyone and introduce you in the next chapter. Erica (@the-never-ending-void) has asked not to be included in this fic.

Key:

Tater - @a-lonely-tatertot 

Lynn - @lesbilynnette

Gray - @silver-snow

Lilah - @tribblemakingalicorn

Cadence - me

Ivy - @imaramennoodle

Molly - @molly-sencen

Farris - @everyonehasthoughts

Speens - @an-absolute-travesty

Holes - @holesinmyfalseconfidence

Connor - @linhammon-roll-bromance101

Panda - @worldwidepandamonium

Meg - @ultralazycreatorfan

Word count: 2,382

Warnings: If you’re reading this, you already know what’s about to pop off

Lilah poked Cadence’s shoulder who promptly rolled over. Lilah poked her several more times, a bit more aggressively. Grumbling Cadence sat up quickly and smacked her head on the top of the bunk bed. She sighed, rubbing her forehead. Her eyes slowly adjusted to her surroundings, taking in the strangely black, purple, and gold aesthetic room.

“Why’d you wake me up?”

“You got a notification,” Lilah said, eyes wide open, handing her the phone, slowly walking out of their shared room.

Cadence furrowed her brows, unlocking the phone before calling out to her roommate. “Wait, how long have you been up?”

“OREOS!” she called back. “Where are the keys?”

“On the kitchen counter,” Cadence replied, checking her emails. 1 unread message from Gray, the AI developer who she made small talk with during lunch breaks.

Dear Cadence,

Good evening! There’s a new play coming out on Mainstreet, called The Facade, and I was approached by the team to create a promotional piece. I was hoping you could help, and we would split the rewards 50/50. The play is about a murder crime, which is plotted out in a series of intricate riddles. The plot twist: the lead detective was the murderer, and had been delaying her trial while she was pretending to gather evidence, and stealing from a suspect to gain enough money to flee. And her second in command was funding the plots without knowing that her boss was the mastermind behind it all.

Ok, now that my boss has read above the cut we can talk freely. The offer is real, and I WOULD like to split it 50/50, I just can’t stand talking all formal, y’know? Anyway, since you said you do animations and stuff as a side gig, I thought maybe you could make the animations, and I’ll edit and do the social networking? Idk, I’m just spitballing here, let me know what you think.

Also, Lilah directed me towards this email, she’s really good at tracking people down.

Sorry if I made any spelling mistakes, I haven’t slept in weeks,

Gray

“Huh,” Cadence huffed, glancing at the clock. 3 AM. She had time. So, grabbing her IPad, she opened Procreate and got to work. The Facade. Sounds interesting enough. But what to draw? A lock perhaps? A silhouette of the main character? Before she could decide, her phone buzzed again, a voice recording this time, from Lilah.

“Hey, so I just ran into two of the actresses from The Facade and they said they want to talk to you about it so you can create a better promotional vid, meet me at the local library, k bye.”

Cadence wished on a shooting star that at least an hour had passed by so the buses would be running. But how wrong she was. It was 3 AM. It was raining. And the library was at least a mile away.

“This should be fun,” she mumbled, grabbing her set of keys, her IPad, and a raincoat before jogging the mile it took to get to the library.

_______

By the time Cadence arrived her hair was drenched and she was so out of breath and tired she thought she was going to pass out. She looked for any sign of her roommate, but she was nowhere to be found. Instead, she saw three people sitting at a table chatting freely and crying laughing. The librarian wasn’t fazed in the slightest. On the contrary, they seemed to be enjoying it, leaning over the library’s registry system, talking with them. Quickly Googling “The Facade,” Cadence confirmed that the two ladies were the actresses from the play. The other one offered occasional comments, mostly just watching the occurrences that went on. Social anxiety kicked in and told her to run in the other direction, but she really needed the money. She forced herself to approach them.

“Hey, I’m Cadence,” I introduce myself nervously. “Lilah said you wanted to speak to me about promoting your play?”

“Cadence! Lilah mentioned your animations, and we thought it’d be a new, eye-catching way to get our work out there,” the first one chirped. “I’m Molly, by the way. I play the detective’s second in command.”

“And I’m Ivy,” the other one greeted. “I play the lead.”

Cadence expected the third person to introduce themself next, but the librarian took the initiative. “Hello, fellow human, you may address me as SPEENS, I accept liver sacrifices.”

“They do that all the time,” the third person assured her. “Tater, by the way. I’m not in the play, I’m just working on a novel with Molly. We met up here to talk to good ‘ol Speens when these bit-”

“Language,” Molly warned.

“When these lovely individuals,” Tater corrected, “decided to make this a research sesh for the book. As if we needed more work. I’m free to fly wherever the wind takes me.”

“Amen to that, sibling,” Speens responded solemnly, pulling five wine glasses and vodka out from under the desk like a bartender. Cadence looked confused, but not against it. “Say, where’s the rest of the crew? Lynn, Gray, Farris, and the lot of them?”

“Farris doesn’t work on the set,” Ivy reminded her. “They’re an archaeologist. Holes makes the sets for us.”

Speens wrinkled their nose, seemingly in disgust. “And the others?”

“Well, if you can take a break, we can meet up with them at the theatre. Even Farris, since I heard their last trip was a bust,” Molly offered.

Without a second thought, Speens put up a sign that read “The Librarian is Out.”

“Do they-”

“All the time,” Ivy nodded. “It’s kinda their thing.”

“But, yeah, Farris and Connor tend to hang around the set,” Molly explained. “They don’t bother anyone, no one bothers them. They’re a bit older, kinda like the authority figures of the group.”

“If authority figures would let you make a dumba-”

“Tater,” Ivy nudged.

Tater changed their wording. “-unwise move in order to see what would happen.”

“They’re responsible for us without being responsible for us, if that makes sense,” Ivy commented. “Let’s get going though, before someone blows something up.” She shot a sideways glance at Speens, who put a hand up in surrender.

________

Ivy swung open the doors to the theatre and immediately had to duck for cover. “What the HELL, Connor?”

They were holding onto some theatre seats, zooming back and forth the row on rollerblades, occasionally losing balance and having to sit down. After a particularly messy turn-around, they decided to crawl over to the red carpeted steps and laid there for a moment. Farris was perched in a seat a row down, calming watching as Connor seemed to be having an existential crisis. Upon seeing Tater and Cadence, Farris got up, carefully stepping around Connor. “New kids?”

“Farris, this is Tater, and that’s Cadence,” Ivy helped. “They’re helping us promote the play.”

“Congratulations, you’re adopted,” they vowed, though Tater looked confused. “What? I don’t make the rules. Oh, wait, I’m supposed to be the responsible one…. Ok, so I make the rules, but they can be bent if the alternative’s interesting enough. Right, Connor?”

“Uh huh,” he called from the floor tiredly. If he hadn’t spoken, he would have been deemed dead.

“Lynn and the rest of the gang are in the back,” Farris informed them, pulling a skateboard from under their seat and helping Connor stand. Connor’s rollerblades flailed a bit as he struggled to get up, but his arm was slung around Farris’s shoulder, supporting him.

“DO A KICKFLIP,” Connor prompted, his words slurred.

“Are you kidding, I haven’t skateboarded since I was six, I need an actual skate park to practice that,” Farris recounted. “And how drunk are you?”

“Yes,” he responded, giggling in a hiccupy way. “Does anyone have more vodka?”

“I got you fam,” Speens said, pulling out a suitcase of alcohol from thin air.

“Anyways,” Ivy interjected, trying to get the conversation back on track. “I’ll go get the others, wait here.”

Ivy returned with Gray, Lynn, Holes, Panda, and Meg, and introduced them accordingly. “Gray works on the special effects, Lynn designed everyone’s costumes, Holes makes the set, Panda is a theatre critic, and Meg is our concept artist.”

“So, other than animation, is there anything else you bring to the table?” Molly asked.

“Well, I do glass art,” Cadence supplied. “It’s probably not relevant, but when it’s still really hot and glowy, which is when you can shape it, it looks like it would make a good snack. Hell, it almost looks like Gatorade. I can show a picture if you’d like.”

Cadence took her phone out and everyone crowded around to see.

“More like Powerade, Gatorade doesn’t come in that kind of blue,” Speens added.

“F O R B I D D E N S P I C Y G A T O R A D E,” Connor yelled, startling Farris.

“NO,” Holes countered, clearly distressed. “Do NOT drink molten glass. You’d die!”

“You call it death, I call it adventure,” Molly smirked. “I’m here for it. C’mon Holes, live a little.”

“Sis, how have you made it to adulthood thinking like that?” Lynn questioned, looking a bit scared.

“And I know how to live, I’m living right now!” Holes countered.

“Sure you are, nerd.” Molly rolled her eyes. “And how many near death experiences have you had, huh?”

“Near death- okay, first of all, I am not a nerd-”

“You kinda are,” Tater mumbled. Holes gasped, putting a hand over her heart as if they were betrayed. “What? You are. You make a living off of reading books.”

“Used to, friend,” Holes clarified. “I’m a freelance artist now. I picked up this gig because of these fools. And good thing too, because now you’re about to poison yourselves! Second of all, um, none?! How many have you had?”

Molly clicked her tongue in disappointment. “Five. Blended corn, acorns, eating soap, eating paper, and an intense game of dodgeball. I haven’t even peaked with these experiences yet.”

“Immortal until proven mortal,” Connor finished for her.

Meg stood next to Molly and held her shoulders. “This girl, she’s going places.”

“Meg, not you, too, I swear to god-”

“sLuRp,” Ivy joined in, grinning from ear to ear.

Holes was getting hysterical. “What the actual hell is going on? Lynn, help me out here.”

“The Gatorade is Forbidden for a reason, kids,” Lynn tried to reason.

Gray stood up with a mischievous glint in their eyes. “Where can we get it?”

“From the crunchy forbidden chocolate powder, of course,” Connor chimed in. Panda gave him a high-five while Holes became paler and paler from the cult forming in front of their eyes.

“This one speaks the truth,” Panda shrugged.

“Ok, what even is crunchy forbidden chocolate powder?”

“Sand, duh,” Connor said matter of factly. “Add some vodka, a martini, and some olives, and you got one heck of a slushie.”

“So that means there must be Forbidden Chewy Lettuce and Flavoured Forbidden Chewy Lettuce,” Tater went on. “Grass and flower petals. Cursed, but not wrong.”

“Ooh, and crackle air can be limestones and sodium carbonate, pies are dirt, bread is wood, and hard candy is metal,” Panda proclaimed.

“Fidget spinners are Forbidden Bagels, too,” Connor helped. “I should know, I tried the other day and cut my lip.”

Farris ignored the last part of Connor’s rant. “The variety pack, I like the sound of that.”

“Farris you’re supposed to look after us and you’re condoning this?!” Holes shouted.

Farris mounted his skateboard. “I’m not condoning anything. I’m enabling and hyping them up without joining in. That’s some big brain stuff.”

“This is why they control the brain cell,” Ivy nodded. “WAIT, ARE MY CHICKEN NUGGETS BURNING?!”

“Ives, you literally set a timer on the microwave backstage, you’re fine,” Tater reassured Ivy, holding her from running to check on her meal.

“Oh, like you know anything about microwaves,” Ivy argued. “You microwave ice cream.”

“It takes too long to soften, and I’m impatient,” Tater defended, turning to address Holes. “And it is eaten with a spoon.”

“Do not start this debate again- you know what, Panda, get ice cream from the mini-fridge, we’re settling this here and now,” Holes demanded.

“I think the real question is why is ice cream so hard,” Speens mentioned as Panda brought a tub of Haagen Daz ice cream. Holes used a fork to attempt to chisel out part of the snack. It wasn’t very successful.

“I think that’s just how Haagen Daz works,” Cadence observed.

Holes saw this as an opportunity to gain some momentum in the argument. “Not just this brand! All ice cream works like that!!!”

“No,” Panda objected. “Not Breyer’s. That stuff is always just right when you need it. Hashtag not sponsored.”

“Did you just break the fourth wall?” Lynn asked. “You know what, I don’t wanna know, just for the love of all that is good in this world please don’t drink the Forbidden Spicy Gatorade.”

“Too late,” Cadence said. “It’s easily accessible. Also, I’m calling E so we can recruit her.”

“Holes, I know you’re hiding it from us,” Molly speculated.

“What are you talking-”

“You’re keeping the Forbidden Spicy Gatorade all to yourself because you know of its power and you want it all to yourself.”

“I don’t HAVE the Gatorade, and I’m explicitly telling you it’s going to kill you if you drink it!”

As the bickering went on, Lynn slipped off to the vacant staff lounge to pull out her phone. There had to be a supplier somewhere who would give them this. She searched for a few minutes, and, after a few dead ends, she finally found an investor. “Cha-ching. Forbidden Incorporated is in business,” Lynn smiled to herself.

“Forbidden Incorporated, eh?” Farris asked from the doorway. Lynn froze and cursed herself for forgetting to lock the door. Now Farris knew of her plans. “Tell you what, I’ll keep your secret under one condition: We split the money 50/50, and get equal control over the decisions. So, deal?”

Lynn hesitated. She wasn’t sure she could trust Farris, but seeing as this was the only way to stop Holes from knowing just yet, she had no other choice. “Deal.”

_______

A/n: So that was fun and took entirely too long to write. I hope you enjoyed it and if you’re in the cult and I didn’t include you, reblog this and I’ll make a list. The next chapter might focus on a smaller group bc there are like thirteen characters here and I’m tired. Peace out!

[phoebehalliwell]

Since nobody liked Billie and the Ultimate Power plotline, how would you have ended Charmed? (Because you come up with like the most awesome headcanons and should totes have been hired to write the reboot!!!)

okay so as we all know the only reason we got billie was because they really needed new blood to carry on a spin off series and i know people wanted wyyat & chris show but you can’t go to the cw in 2006 like okay we’ve got two brothers fighting magical beings there’s the snarky younger brunet brother who’s a bit of a black sheep and then his older blond brother who’s really good at this and also dad’s favorite son bc uhhhh they already did supernatural. so you know back track this is your feminist show about some magical ladies kicking ass you should get a magical kickass lady to carry your spin off hey you know who else was a kickass magical lady buffy everyone loves buffy what if we made her sorta a buffy type except okay here’s the 411 on buffy is we know she already got a lot of slayer training so her cocky devil may care i know what i’m doing and can kick ass attitude is fine be we’re following her and we’re like hell yeah But if you’re giving that personality to your new character who’s introduction is through the people trying to teach her this cocky i can handle myself attitude is actually Incredibly Annoying bc it’s obvious she doesn’t know everything and Of Course we are going to side with her mentors as we’ve been following their stories for nearly a decade now. so to fix season eight we need to fix billie.

having her be paige’s charge isn’t necessarily a bad way to introduce her into the show, but roughly everything else was. the costume (and the implication she bought it from saks fifth avenue??? she’s a college student????) the fact she would keep saying quippy one liners to demons that literally would not talk back making it feel incredibly awkward/cringy the fact that she was like an ass to paige and an insufferable know it all like. i get how these could be the personality traits of a fun character (like almost all of these are traits iron man has and his character essentially singlehandedly launched the mcu) but again having a know it all from a mentor’s perspective isn’t likable. having her in that lil costume doesn’t really match the tone of the show that’s been set so far. and her absolute abhorrence for studying and need to go kick demons ass for a buzz like. it wasn’t the character they should have given us. and here’s the thing: billie wasn’t all bad. she was incredibly smart and she was basically the first character we saw to combine magic and modern tech. this could have been incredibly interesting and y’know maybe the show would adopt it moving forward but like even when we first see her use it she’s basically showing paige “i know more than you” but we’re inclined to align with paige bc she’s a lead character who we’ve grown with. but like. paige couldn’t come up with that. that had a lot of room to do right with billie, but they really did wrong at almost every turn.

so if i were to reconfigure billie to in turn reconfigure s8, i would first start with her personality. as she’s clearly going to be the mentee to the charmed ones, the cocky know it all is a no go. instead, i might put her on a path closer to s1 piper, in which she has powers that she just knows nothing about and is worried she’s evil this that and the other but through the charmed ones she learns how to focus and hone her power while also gaining some of their confidence & sisterhood and all that. basically, working with the charmed ones, not against them. another thing that just sorta bugs me on a lore level is billie just sorta got her powers at age 20 like they were laying dormant before this but like?? it’s very much beem established young witches have powers, it’s not like a puberty thing or whatever and i really don’t think there would be any reason for them to grow into her life unprompted. workarounds for this could either be a) she was put up for adoption and was encouraged to supress her magic bc she could potential hurt others / be seen as a freak or b) some specific traumatic incident unlocked a hidden power (grishaverse think the first time alina realized she had her powers was when she was being attacked by the volcra in absolute darkness idk maybe one of them snatched mal the point is it was a moment of raw desperation in an environment best suited to unlock her powers). something like that some quasi life or death fight i can’t think of a good reason for that to happen to an average college student off the top of my head but like y’know finding hidden power that whole trope. the third option, aka my wildcard, is that the elders regift the twiceblessed destiny right then & there, and the new billie is also the new twice blessed (fully giving her the magic credentials to carry her own show imo)

building on billie’s intro, she gets acquainted with the charmed in like no earnest fashion. they are both using each other plain and simple this is acknowledged. the girls are using her to fight demons for them, she’s using them to properly teach her the craft. once again, it doesn’t really foster the relationship i feel like we would want to see from the new lead with the old lead. if i were writing this, i would have them take billie under their wing and teach her the craft, but billie being th smart cookie she is y’know does the reading and puts two and two together and is like “are you guys the charmed ones?” and by this time the girls genuinely trust billie enough to tell her the truth. it’s not a bargaining chip.

then. okay. you know how you can repress memories? like if something happened to you that was So Traumatic you can genuinely just forget that shit ever happened completely wipe it from your mind? okay. so like billie doesn’t like halloween. and paige is like you’re a college student how can you not like halloween and billie’s like idk i don’t like it. so maybe she holes herself up in the attic or whatever bc she really doesn’t want to acknowelge the holiday and phoebe’s like oh this is so my division y’know advice all that the point is she’s talking to billie and blah blah blah and she has a premoniton. and she sees christy being kidnapped and a young billie terrified this that and the other and phoebe’s like oh my god that’s why you don’t like halloween and billie’s like what? and phoebe’s like that girl? she was taken?? and billie’s like no idk who that is and phoebe like i think he name was christy and then something in billie just cracks and the memory shoots up to the surface blah blah blah

and then once again instead of really shutting the sisters out and going on some vendetta or whatever we really see the sister sorta help billie through this once again strengthening the bond between the leads we know and love and billie bc if they all love billie i feel like we are much more inclined to like her than if billie just bugs the shit outta them.

blah blah blah i’m not bringing the triad back i’m not bringing christy back until like probs the finale or the penultimate episode the main villain i think would maybe just be like a warlock faction like the underworld’s been so pummelled no triad no source zankou’s gone the avatars wiped out a fuckton of them the charmed ones wiped out even more so if you were gonna make a move for the throne the time would be now. also be we got too many demons we need more warlocks.

also, in regards to christy, having her be raised by demons is really too morally dubious like again there’s just like this debate is christy actually evil or does she just have a really warped sense of right and wrong this new christy would have escaped from them young and begun this new rough and tumble life on the road training herself becoming powerful and honestly would probably end up more like canon!billie but uhh she has the skills to back it up. with then the dynamic becoming christy, as the eldest sister and the one who’s survived on her own for years always wants to do things herself bc a) she doesn’t want billie to get hurt and b) really was an insanely low life expectancy for herself and y’know billie’s in college and could potentially have a normal life whereas christy believes herself to be too far gone and then have billie really try to be there like yes you were alone but that doesn’t mean you always have to be and sorta the softness & sisterhood we would have seen with her and the charmed ones would really carry over into her own show as she and christy really work to y’know build that bridge

[zombiesbecrazy]

a moment of truce

Summary: "Kite Man?“ A deep voice broke through his fuzzy thoughts. "Are you awake?”

AO3

Even before he opened his eyes he knew he had no idea where he was, which historically meant nothing good. He could feel that he was moving, probably in a car or in the back of a van or something, but he didn’t remember getting in a car and he definitely wasn’t in the driver’s seat.

Yay, abduction. He hadn’t been abducted in forever. It was almost an interesting change of pace if he didn’t know from experience that he was going to probably going to bullied into doing something that he didn’t want to do. He wasn’t that type of guy most of the time.

He didn’t want to be a bad bad guy after all.

Whoever was driving hit a bump. It wasn’t big, just enough to jostle him and his head gave him the sharp notice that it must have been hit pretty hard recently and it wasn’t super happy about that and he groaned at the pain.

“Kite Man?” A deep voice broke through his fuzzy thoughts. “Are you awake?”

“Kite Man?” Whoever was talking to him sounded familiar but it he couldn’t place it. It wasn’t one of the usual suspects who had a habit of trying to kidnap him for whatever reason. Definitely wasn’t the Joker in a tenor that deep, so things could be worse. “Hell yeah.”

“Hrh.” Now that was a sound that Chuck knew like the back of his own hand. Or the back of the man who said it’s backhand. He opened one eye to see the silhouette of sharp pointy ears from the seat in front of him, dashboard lit up in multicoloured lights and the streets of Gotham passing by the windows before he let it fall closed again. “You’re going to have a headache. Grade one concussion,” said Batman. "You should probably get medical attention.”

Headache was a bit of an understatement, stampeding elephants much closer to reality. “They’ll check me out in lock up,” he mumbled, debating trying to go back to sleep before he had to spend the night in gen pop.

“Lock up?”

“Aren’t you taking me in?”

“Did you do something for me to have to take you in?”

“I don’t… not tonight?” The thought about it for a moment, but things were a little fuzzy and his thoughts weren’t exactly what he could call clear. He had plans for the night but something had clearly interrupted them because he could still feel his detonators in his pockets instead of on the safe door that he had been planning on blowing up. “Don’t think I got the chance.”

“Then I have no reason to take you in.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t what he had been expecting because there were plenty of nights that Batman had caught up to him when he was minding his own business, just soaring across the city, and taken him down and dropped him off at the nearest GCPD precinct. It was rude, honestly, even if he did have incriminating contreband on him. “If I didn’t do anything, why am I in your car?” That is when something further clicked and he opened both eyes this time and looked around. “And why am I in the backseat and not in cuffs in the trunk?”

He was well acquainted with the restaint seat that popped out of the trunk of Batman’s car. They were old friends.

“I may have to escalate your condition to a grade two concussion.” Batman’s eyes flashed at him in the rearview mirror, gloves tightening on the steering wheel. “Robin’s grapple line snapped. I was too far away,” his words were clipped and rough. "You dove in and caught him. You hit the side of a building.”

“Oh.” It was slowly coming back to him. The kid had been swinging high above and Chuck had heard a loud snap, a terrified scream, a deep shout and saw the small body fall and he acted before he could think about it. He caught the kid, but he his speed and weight had caused them to go off course and then… he couldn’t remember anything else. He rubbed his head, hissing as his fingers brushing against a tender lump on the side. “Is the kid okay?”

“Fractured wrist”

“I’m fine,” said a young voice. The kid was curled up in a small ball in the front seat and Chuck hadn’t even seen him until he spoke. He was wearing a velcro splint on one of his arms. "Thanks. You probably saved my life.” The kid was putting on a good show, but his words were shaky, clearly shook up. Batman reached over and ruffled the boy’s hair and he leaned into the touch.

A part of Chuck’s stomach tightened at the sight and he had to turn away. “No problem.” Sometimes things just hit him. A reminder that was a punch in the gut and reopened the old wounds that were never really healed, just ignored the best they could be, which was not at all.

A few minutes passed in silence, Chuck staring out of the window at nothing, when Robin piped up again, turning around in his seat to look at him, smile big on his tiny face, clearly not bothered by his injury. He looked young, but maybe not as young as Chuck had originally thought now that they were so close. “Can we drop you off at home?”

This night just kept getting weirder, which meant a lot because his tolerance for weird in this city was pretty high. Part of him wondered if he was imagining the whole thing. Maybe he was passed out in a dumpster somewhere, having crashed to the ground, and his concussed brain was giving him a crazy coma dream because the alternative that he was sitting in Batman’s car with Robin talking to him as if this was part of some regular carpool situation, was bonkers. “Hell yeah.” Batman cleared his throat, head tilting in Robin’s direction, which made him chuckle. The kid could leap off buildings but apparently a third rate curse word was a step too far. “Sorry, habit. Yes, please.”

He was about to tell Batman to take the next right when he noticed that he was already turning in that direction, maneuvering the streets to Chuck’s apartment without him saying a word. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that Batman knew where he lived, but in all honesty he couldn’t really be surprised.

The car parked outside of Chuck’s dilapidated building, and Batman got out of the car, to pull the seat forward to let him out onto the street. Chuck grunted his thanks and started walking towards the door, but was surprised when Batman escorted him from the car. He unlocked his front door, but didn’t know what to do, because Batman was just standing there, staring at him, and it was eerie. He had the urge to cackle and a leap and unfurl his kite, but that was just silly at this point, and not only because it was on ground level and there was no wind; it would literally do nothing.

Something about Batman just brought that impulse out in him.

He was about to just keep heading inside, leaving the Bat alone in the dark when finally “Charles.” His voice was a little less dark and a little less echoed and Chuck wondered if this was what he sounded without the voice modulator turned on. “Thank you for catching him.” Batman tilted his head back towards the car where they could see Robin, his face lit up, probably playing with his phone. Kids. “Most wouldn’t have.”

Chuck knew what ‘most’ meant. He was talking about the villains of Gotham. The bad guys. The people like him. He held onto the door handle and stared down at his shoes. He didn’t always want to be a person like him. A person lumped in that group with them. Sometimes he just didn’t have any other options.

“He’s just a kid,” he said finally. "Kids don’t deserve to die. Especially not like that.” He sighed and looked back at Batman, into those unblinking glowing eyes of his mask. “Charlie loved Robin. He would have wanted me to save him.” It was true. Charlie had grown up in a city where Batman and Robin were a staple and while Batman’s costume had given him nightmares, Robin had been his favourite hero. Chuck had to bribe him with cookies just to let him put his Robin pyjamas in the washing machine every once in a while.

He vaguely wondered if Batman had the same problem.

“He would have wanted you to turn over a new leaf.”

“We’ll never know that, will we?” snapped Chuck without thinking and surprisingly Batman shook his head and raised his hands in defense. “I’m sorry. That was…” he trailed off and looked back towards the car. “Losing a child isn’t something you can get over. I understand.”

“You can’t understand unless you’ve had it happen.” He had hated that. The people in his life who said that they understood. They didn’t. They couldn’t possibly.

“I understand,” said Batman quietly and the words just hung there heavy in the air. It was a strangely intimate conversation for two men who had spent a lot of time punching each other in the face only now to bond over something so deeply personal.

“I… oh.” He didn’t know what to say with this mutual understanding they now had hanging between them. “Do you want to come in for a beer?” It was a strange thing to offer, but why the hell not? Maybe that is all Batman needed to lighten up; someone to offer him a hand and a little time to kick back and relax.

“I have to get Robin tended to.” Batman said, but there was a smile twitching on the edge of his lips. Of course he couldn’t leave a kid in the car when he goes for a drink with one of his regular baddies, that is just bad parenting, but Chuck had to wonder if maybe the circumstances were different perhaps the answer would have been different as well, even for just one night in a moment of truce. “You shouldn’t drink with a concussion.”

“Yeah, well, there’s a lot of things I shouldn’t do.” They both knew that he was going to have that beer anyway. And then redraw up his plans for breaking into that safe on another night. “Have a good night, Batman. I’m glad your boy is okay.” He pulled the door open and stepped inside. “Tell him he’s worth the headache.”

“He’ll be glad to hear it from someone who isn’t me.”

“Hell yeah.”

[timeagainreviews]

Doctor Who and Video Games

We live in the era of the franchise. Everything it seems is getting the franchise treatment. After the success of the MCU, everyone wants that sweet sweet money. We’ve got the failed Universal Monsters reboot, the Harry Potter extended universe, and endless Star Wars movies. However, some franchises, it would seem, struggle to grow further than their core narrative. Star Wars never strays very far from the battle with the Empire. Which is one thing you can’t really say about Doctor Who. Doctor Who has done fantasy, sci-fi, period drama, schlocky horror, whimsy, and utter rubbish. I’ve always admired Doctor Who’s flexibility as a property. It lends itself beautifully to a wide range of mediums, such as audios and comic books. But what about video games? Are there any good Doctor Who video games? Could there be?

Over the past week, in preparation for this article, I've completely immersed myself in the world of Doctor Who video games. I feel uniquely qualified to have an opinion on the subject. But before we continue, I give a word of caution. I'm talking directly to you, now. Never in your life, should you ever play "Doctor Who: Return to Earth," for the Nintendo Wii. It's not worth the £1.80 that I spent on eBay. You don't ever deserve to do that to yourself. I don't care what you've done, nobody deserves that. If like myself, you have played this game, you have my deepest sympathies, especially if you paid for it new.

It doesn't interest me to make a list of the worst Doctor Who video games, as many people have done this already. It's nothing new to say that Doctor Who has a video game problem. When I wrote that Doctor Who should be run by Disney, I don't actually mean it should happen. I was merely illustrating that Disney knows how to take care of its properties. I would venture that Doctor Who has always had a bit of a management problem. Merchandise from Doctor Who has always reminded me of Krusty the Clown merchandise. So much of it is some bullshit they slapped a Dalek on said: "10 quid please!" Barring the occasional home run or third-party licensing, a lot of the merchandise is pretty uninspired. Which is bananas, because the world of Doctor Who has so much colour and potential.

Video games based off of movies and television are almost always as bad as movies and television based off of video games. They're rarely breaking the mould in their new medium. Most of the time, tie-ins such as these are quick soulless cash grabs. You can see this a lot in the Matt Smith era. There are at least seven games featuring his Doctor, and then a sudden decline. Matt Smith was the Doctor during one of the show's biggest points in popularity. Never before had the show been embraced on such an international level. Of course, the Beeb wanted to push as many video games out as possible.

The problem is, they didn't throw a lot of money at it, and not one project seemed to get the focus it deserved. I won't pretend to know the motivation behind the BBC's forays into video games, but it seems to be a trend with them to overdo something, and then be scared of it in the future. They changed the 5.5" figurine set to a 3.75" scale and nobody wanted them. Because of this, we haven't seen nearly as many 5.5" figures since. They once put out a figure of Lady Casandra's frame after she exploded into gore. We used to get figures like Pig Lazlo and the Gran from "The Idiot's Lantern." Now we'll be lucky if we get everyone's favourite- Graham O'Brien. They also did it with the Doctor Who Experience. They make this brilliant Doctor Who museum with the OK'est walkthrough story, and then put it right in the middle of Cardiff. They wondered why it never made any money. I've been twice, and I gotta say- they should have put it in London. It would still be open.

This isn't to say all of Matt Smith's video games are bad. In fact, the Eleventh Doctor adventure games referred to simply as "The Doctor Who Adventure Games," are some of my favourite in the entire lot. And as much as I would like to blame the BBC for their lack of caring, the fact is Doctor Who is not easy to translate into video games. Even if they do care, they still need the right team on the job. Oddly, it's one of the Doctor's greatest charms that makes Doctor Who hard to translate into a video game, and that's the Doctor's stance on violence. If the Doctor could pick up a laser pistol and just frag some Daleks, we'd probably have an entire series on our hands. Unfortunately, most developers go one of two ways. They either ignore the pacifism or we get countless mind-numbing puzzles.

Puzzles are by far the worst element of any Doctor Who game. In the browser-based "Worlds in Time," there were a plethora of Bejewelled type mini-games and pipe matching puzzles. The puzzles got increasingly harder even if the player wasn't also getting increasingly better. Even the platformer "The Eternity Clock," was mired in constantly stopping to do puzzles. They pop up in the Adventure Games, but other than the infuriating "don't touch the sides," puzzles, they don't detract much from the gameplay. There were moments where I felt a bit like a companion because I was decoding a Dalek computer for the Doctor, which is really the money spot for a Doctor Who video game. Any time a Doctor Who game can make you feel like you're in Doctor Who is time well spent.

When asking my friends what kind of Doctor Who video game they would like to see, many of them mentioned they would like a survival horror type game. We sort of get this in many of the Smith era games. In "Return to Earth," the mechanic is sloppy and infuriating at best. In "The Eternity Clock," and the Adventure Games, it's a little more manageable. It's a nice way to add a challenge to a non-violent gameplay style. It would be interesting to see what a game team from something like "Thief," or "Resident Evil," might do with the sneaking aspect.

Another way the games have completely side-stepped the non-violence and puzzles is by having the Doctor act as a secondary character. The player is put in the position of the companion or perhaps a UNIT soldier as in the case of "Destiny of the Doctors." If you've not played DotD, I wouldn't blame you. I was hitting my head against the wall just trying to figure out what to do. The only real reason to play that game is for one last chance to see the fabulous Anthony Ainley reprise the role of the Master. He's in totally smarmy ham mode, even if it's a bunch of gibberish they shot in a day. You can find the entirety of the footage on YouTube and it's surreal.

The problem with having the Doctor be violent is that it doesn't feel true to the character. Sure, Three did some Venusian aikido, Four broke that dude's neck in "Seeds of Doom," and even Twelve socked a racist in the face, but these are isolated incidents. The spirit of the Doctor is lost in 1992's "Dalek Attack," when the Doctor is forced to go full on bullet hell on a Dalek hover cart. It's funny then that one of my favourite Doctor Who games incorporates a violent Doctor. In the Doctor Who level of "Lego Dimensions," the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to make villains fall apart in a very safe Lego style violence. I can excuse this mostly because the game is not primarily a Doctor Who game at heart.

Funnily enough, the Lego game does something I've always wanted in a Doctor Who video game. I've always wanted to have a Doctor Who game where you could regenerate into different Doctors, and also go into their respective TARDISes. Sure, some of the games on the Commodore 64 allowed you to regenerate, but it was pretty naff in its execution. I tell no lies when I say I spent a lot of time regenerating and reentering the TARDIS to explore the Lego versions of their respective console rooms. Really, the biggest problem with the Lego Doctor Who game is that it wasn't it's own game. Lego Dimensions was its own failure. If TT Games would come out with an entire Doctor Who game, I would buy it yesterday.

The overarching problem with every Doctor Who game is the same problem Torchwood had- if it wasn't attached to Doctor Who, we wouldn't be interested. While I did have a lot of fun with the Adventure Games and Lego Dimensions, not one Doctor Who game has every element right. One has a good story, but poor mechanics, another has great mechanics but doesn't feel right. It's a bit of a tight rope to find the perfect balance, but I don't feel it's impossible

One of the reasons I would love to see a proper Lego Doctor Who game is that they have a history of good adaptations. They're not exactly beloved games, but I myself play a lot of them. One of the most impressive things I've seen them do was in Lego Batman 3, where they made each of the planets in the Green Lantern mythos a visitable world. Could you imagine the same treatment for Doctor Who? Visiting Telos and Skaro, and then popping off to medieval earth or Gallifrey? You could get different missions depending on which Doctor you were, or what time you arrive in. And the collectable characters! So many companions, and Doctors, and baddies, and costume variations to unlock! Doesn't that sound nice? You can buddy Jamie and Amy with Seven and Twelve and have an all Scottish TARDIS! A Zygon could ride K9!

The fact is, we probably won't see a very expansive Doctor Who game. I would be very enthusiastic for an open world Doctor Who game, but even as I type it, it sounds difficult to pull off. I may be able to say what doesn't work about the games, but saying what would work is admittedly, not as simple, but this doesn't mean I can't think of at least one good game. Piecing together some of the things I mentioned earlier, I think the best genre for Doctor Who is point-and-click adventures. I know I keep singing the praises of the Doctor Who Adventure Games, but it's because I think they were actually onto something. It's sad then that they scrapped any further developments to work on the inferior "Eternity Clock."

Could you imagine a point and click Doctor Who in the same vein as "Day of the Tentacle," or "Thimbleweed Park"? You walk around as the Doctor, pick up bits, talk to funny characters and solve complex problems. If you throw in a bit of horror survival, you've basically got the Adventure Games, which is my point- Do more with what they've already done. Grow the concepts. Improve the mechanics. A Doctor Who game should be jammed packed with Easter eggs, unlockables, and mystery. The point is, do more. Even their phone apps are abysmal. You know how much I would play a “Pokémon Go,” style Doctor Who game? You go around trapping baddies in cages you set off with your sonic screwdriver or something. I. Would. Catch. Them. All.

We still have “The Edge of Time,” coming to PC and consoles in October, and I'm pensively excited. While the graphics seem really top notch, in no way does it feel like anything more than a fun little VR experience. The game is going to remain exclusive to that small subsection of gamers that own a VR headset. Before it has even been released, it's closed itself off to yet another section of its very wide audience. Let's just hope that it doesn't scare the BBC away from making a proper Doctor Who game in the near future. And in the meantime, I'm going to have to borrow my friends' VR set, because of course, I'm going to play it. It's Doctor Who.

Well friends, thanks for reading! I had a lot of fun “researching,” this article. Playing Doctor Who games all week? Oh no, twist my arm! Sadly, a lot of these games are no longer available from their original sources. I was able to find a lot of them on the Internet Archive. If you want to give them a go, I would definitely suggest it. A couple of them are even capable of being emulated on your browser from the Internet Archive. The game I had the hardest time locating was “The Gunpowder Plot,” but I was eventually able to find it after some digging. I didn’t play any of the text-based games because I’m not very good with spatial awareness, and so text-based games are usually a nightmare for me. Sadly, Worlds in Time is lost forever, but I remember my character fondly. I also discovered I’m pretty good at Top Trumps: Doctor Who. Go figure.

[trifrost17]

YGO Advent Day 18: Adventure

Summary:  The gang plays the new Monster World VR game that Yugi created and things are going great until Atem and Yugi fall down a hole. Yugi doesn't take Atem being unconscious very well at all.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16811635/chapters/40398353

18: Adventure

“Ryou just messaged me. He’s on his way over now to our meeting spot here.”

“And Kaiba? Is he coming?” Yugi shrugged, sighing.

“I’m not sure. I texted him our party’s code so he could join the quests with us, and Mokuba, too, but I’m not sure if they’re going to join or not. He never responded back.”

Joey sighed, sitting on the ground and dragging the tip of his sword back and forth on the dirt. “I was hoping the whole gang could be here. Since Téa is supposed to come and all.”

Atem looked like he was going to say something but thought better of it, shifting back to stand in Yugi’s arms. Yugi instantly wrapped an arm around his husband, enjoying the feel of the costume that clung so nicely to all of Atem’s assets. He was very glad that Atem’s avatar looked identical to him. It would be so much harder to fawn over his avatar in the VR world if it didn't look like Atem.

“Hey guys, I made it! And look who I found on the way over!” Ryou grinned and pushed Téa in front of him. She laughed and waved, accepting all the cheers and hugs with relish from the group.

When they finally stopped, she turned to Ryou and Yugi. “This is amazing, guys. I almost feel like I’m here with you even though I’m halfway around the world right now. You guys did incredible on this game.”

“That’s all Yugi!” Ryou responded cheerfully. “I may have been the lead designer and story writer, but Yugi was the one who really put this to life with Kaiba. He’s a mad wizard at this VR stuff.” Yugi blushed, trying to wave off their compliments, but he did feel secretly pleased that they liked his game.

Monster World had been his grandest project yet, even when comparing it to Spherium II. It had taken him two years to program the game fully, even though the code had been something he had been working on since he began his programming classes in college. But it had always been one of his dreams to translate the tabletop Monster World RPG into a VR RPG. Kaiba had been fully on board with the idea and had helped him immensely with creating the game, making it compatible with the KaibaCorp VR Duel Disk-Headset.

He had asked Ryou to help him design the game and the story mode, too. In that way, it did make it less taxing than Spherium II since Yugi wasn’t responsible for everything. But after all their hard work, the game had finally been released.

And if the reviews, pre-orders, and first weekend sales were anything to go by, Monster World VR was turning out to be a big hit.

“All right, so I figured since we’re all different levels, we could start on a mid-level quest to encompass all of us. Téa, Tristan, and Duke are all low leveled, so you guys can get the boss kills and level up like crazy. Joey, Atem, Ryou, and I have all been playing in our downtime so we’re a little higher leveled." That was an understatement. They were actually rather high leveled, he and Atem especially. "We won’t take any kills, though. We’re just there for back-up.”

“No way!” Tristan exclaimed, pouting. “Let’s go on a hard quest! If we have you guys, we got this in the bag!” Yugi hesitated, looking around his group. Ryou and Téa shared his apprehension while Atem, Joey, and even Duke looked amped for a more dangerous mission.

Finally Téa sighed and shrugged. “Whatever. Let’s do this and make it epic. The hardest one that you have—that you know we’ll actually win!” Yugi nodded, pulling up his quest menu. He scrolled through it until he found the mission he was looking for. With a smirk, he nudged Ryou, who hissed when he saw it.

“Yugi, no!”

“Yugi, yes,” he responded with a grin. “They wanted hard. Let’s give them hard.” Ryou groaned while Joey and Tristan cheered. Even Atem looked excited.

Of course, considering it was rare for their entire group to get together and play games like this, no wonder everyone was excited. A more intense quest would make them play together longer and bring an extra level of thrill to the game. Yugi was okay with that, even if it would be more challenging and definitely way too much for the lower-leveled characters to fight on their own.

He clicked on the quest and the world melted around them, reforming into the new lands that applied to their new adventure.  

“So, this is called the Signer quest. We have to defeat six dragons to make the seventh and most powerful dragon appear. But after we defeat them, they’ll join our sides. Actually, whoever KOs the dragon gets the Signer mark permanently after that and can summon the dragon from here on out in the game.” Yugi grinned, shifting to the balls of his feet excitedly. “Then, if we beat this quest, it’ll unlock the Dark Signer quest. That’s when we use the seven dragons to defeat the seven Earthbound Immortals and the evil Crimson Devil. It’ll be fun!”

Duke was the one that opted to respond. “Sounds like it. After what you've made, if you're saying it's fun, it will be. Let’s go, then. Lead the way, Yugi.”

“Wait, wait, what is everyone?” Tristan asked, pointing at Atem for an example. “I'm a Magic Gunman. White Wizard for Ryou; Warrior for Joey; Téa is a... ?”

“Magician,” Téa supplied.

“Thief,” Duke said, pointing to himself.

“I’m a Beast Tamer!” Yugi told him. At Tristan’s blank look, Yugi elaborated, “It means I can convert enemies to our side. I already have a few from previous quests; I can only have six on me at one time.”

“And I’m an Illusionist,” Atem finished. “I can create images and mental traps to attack enemies with. I also got an ability to summon different magician friends, so I have four magicians I can summon to help me, too.”

Tristan nodded, seemingly pleased with the explanation. He gestured for them to continue moving, so Joey took the lead, loudly proclaiming he knew where to take them.

He didn’t. They wandered in circles, fighting enemy spawn after enemy spawn. After the third circle around a forest, Yugi waved his Marshmallon and Winged Kuriboh back to his side and reached out, halting Joey from going further.

“This way, Joey.” He pointed towards the left. “Kuriboh saw the pathway from over the treetops.”

“I knew that! I was just lettin Tristan and Téa level up and stuff.” Yugi gave him a patronizing grin and nodded. “Ah, hush up!” He gave Yugi a noogie before walking off in the direction Kuriboh was leading them.

They found their first dragon almost immediately once they were on the right path. It was sleeping on the ground, surrounded by plants. As soon as the party stepped into the pathway, the black dragon poked its head up, glaring at them. It flared its beautiful wings, covered in large rose petals, and stood, roaring. It’s spiked, thorned tail thrashed against the ground in warning.

“Yeah, this is what I’m talking about! Hiyaaa!” Joey let out a war cry and rushed forward, his sword held over his head. Tristan was hot on his heels, shooting magical laser shots from behind Joey.

Everyone grimaced as the dragon’s tail lashed out, catching Joey and Tristan in one fell swoop and sent them flying. “Yikes. Maybe we should be a bit more coordinated,” Ryou suggested. Yugi and Téa nodded.

“Téa and Ryou, you two should provide back-up since you’re both long-range. Atem can summon his spirits and provide extra coverage. Duke, you can dart in and out when the dragon is distracted and cut down its health points. We’ll let Joey and Tristan continue to be the distraction. And I’ll bring one of my own friends out to help defeat this.” With the plan set, the group spread out.

“Timaeus, come forth!” A miniature version of the green dragon rose from the ground. It nuzzled Yugi’s hand, wanting to be pet, before it turned to Atem and waddled over to him, nudging the magic user. He smiled and ran his hand up and down Timaeus’s neck.

Téa raised an eyebrow. Yugi laughed at the picture Atem and Timaeus made. “Atem and I sometimes just come in here to play with the pets instead of questing. Timaeus really likes him.” After the dragon had gotten his fair share of petting, he turned towards the Black Rose Dragon and zoomed off, shooting blasts of water.

Atem was next, summoning the Dark Magician Girl and the Dark Magician to his side. They were tiny, toon versions of the characters, both spirits that were missing legs and having ghostly tails instead. The two began to circle around the dragon, attacking, while Atem stood back and began shooting spells to disorient the dragon.

Joey and Tristan continued to get smacked around (keeping Ryou rather busy with constantly healing them) while Duke weaved in and out between people to slice at the dragon with his dagger. However, it was Téa that shot the killing blast. The Black Rose Dragon gave a cry and then exploded into a red light that shot down onto Téa’s hand, leaving a mark behind.

The group as a whole felt themselves level up, some gaining more levels than others. They collected the monster drops and loot, finishing up their first battle.

“Whoop! One down, six more to go! Let’s do this guys!”

Dragon number three was when Mokuba and Kaiba dropped into their team. Mokuba was a Bard while Kaiba was an Enchanter. While Mokuba played songs on a flute to up their stats, Kaiba used surrounding objects to throw at the current dragon—the Ancient Fairy Dragon—to weaken it.

Duke had defeated their second dragon, the Life Stream Dragon, and gained its power. As for this third dragon, Mokuba stole the kill right at the end from Joey, taking the Ancient Fairy Dragon as his new summon, too.

Their next dragon, the Black-Winged Dragon, was a tougher opponent that had Yugi summoning a second dragon. It was the Red Eyes Black Dragon and Joey nearly had a fit when he saw his favorite dragon at Yugi’s side.

“It was a new summon I found a few nights ago,” Yugi explained sheepishly. Joey continued to glare at him throughout the entire fight. At least until the dragon was defeated and Joey had a new target he could direct his pouting to. In this case, Tristan took the kill and Joey's whining.

Dragons five and six appeared together much to the group’s horror (besides Yugi, Ryou, and Kaiba who all knew what the quest entailed). They were the strongest dragons and Joey and Kaiba both fought over trying to get the final kill. It was a difficult battle, though; enough so that Ryou had to revive Joey twice and Tristan three times.

Atem had to summon his final two magician spirits: the Magician of Black Chaos and the Silent Magician. Yugi was also forced to summon his final two dragon companions, the Blue Eyes White Dragon (which had Kaiba apoplectic when he saw it) and Gandora, the Dragon of Destruction.

Atem nearly had the final kill but was nice enough to freeze the Stardust Dragon for Kaiba to take the kill. Ryou also had the final killshot on the Red Dragon Archfiend but Joey swooped in right at the last second and stole the kill.

“You’re lucky there is no friendly fire. If there was, I would roast you alive,” Ryou grumped out, pouting as the dragon’s mark appeared on Joey’s hand. “I wanted a dragon.”

Yugi nudged him and smiled. “Don’t worry. You can get the next one. Think of how cool that’ll look, too! Summoning that flaming beast will make you legendary.” Ryou gave a laugh, nodding.

“You’re right. I’ll be the most badass White Wizard in all of Monster World. Come on, let’s go get that Crimson Dragon!”

When they made it to the sacred summoning ground, the six members of their party who had the Signer marks had to lift up their arms to draw forth the dragon.

If Yugi was being honest, the Crimson Dragon was one of his and Ryou’s most beautiful creations. It was slender, like a snake, but it had flaming stick-like wings, almost skeletal in appearance. It was nothing but pure flame, though. No body, no actual wings, no teeth or claws; nothing but pure molten energy. They could feel the heat radiating from its body.

“Amazing…” Téa breathed, staring up at the creature in awe. Tristan and Duke both made similar sounds.

“Let’s take it down!!” Joey was the one to charge in first, again, like always. But this time, the creature was too strong.

“Joey, no!” Yugi reached out to stop him but was too slow. His best friend was slashed across the chest by the dragon’s claws, sending him to his knees.

“Joey!!” Their entire team rushed to his aid but everything happened in a blur after that. Yugi wasn’t sure what happened, exactly. He was reaching towards Joey, there was screaming, Téa went flying backwards beside him, Atem was yelling, Kaiba grabbed him and threw him backwards, and then there was a lot of earth shaking and rocks.

And then… and then the ground was cracking open and a huge fissure split the earth. Yugi was sitting up enough to see what happened and it was like a movie playing in slow motion. Atem was shoving Ryou out of the way from the hole but he didn’t move fast enough, and then he was the one falling down the crevice. Yugi watched Atem’s body disappear into the blackness and it felt like his heart stopped.

He knew, deep down, it was only a game and that no true harm would come to his husband. But in that moment, it was like his world stopped. He couldn’t hear anything around him, couldn’t see anything except Atem’s falling body, couldn’t think about anything except saving his husband. His heart thudded in his chest and Yugi simply moved on pure instinct. He dived after Atem, ignoring Ryou and Kaiba’s shouts for him to stop.

He managed to grab Atem around the waist, holding him to his chest, as they plunged into icy waters below them. Before he lost consciousness, he was horrified to feel his hands slip from Atem’s body.

Yugi blinked his eyes open slowly, feeling like his mind was in a fog. How he hadn’t died from the fall was beyond him. He should really be waking up back home, in the real world, after being booted from the game. But he wasn’t.

The rush of memories came back and Yugi sat up, panicked. “Atem? Atem! Atem! Where are you?” He stumbled over himself to stand, wincing as his leg nearly gave way instantly. Yugi groaned as he fell back on his ass. He pulled up his status menu, taking inventory of his wounds. It looked like his ankle was sprained, so until he found a healer, his walking ability would be limited. Luckily, that was the only real damage. Everything else was just bruises and cuts.

As well as the fact he was freezing. That was delightful.

He groaned, chanting a few spells to summon his dragons back to his side. All four appeared in front of him, as well as Marshmallon and Winged Kuriboh. “Timaeus, Blue Eyes, go search the surrounding area for Atem. I need to find him. Red Eyes, I need your flames to warm me up, but then I want you to go find our team and let them know where I am.” Timaeus and the Blue Eyes White Dragon took off at Yugi’s command, while the Red Eyes Black Dragon lit a small fire to let Yugi warm up.

Once he was dry and his body temperature back up to normal, the Red Eyes took off up the cliff to find the rest of their friends.

“Gandora, help me walk. I have to find Atem.” Gandora let out a whine, clearly wishing Yugi to remain sitting, but Yugi was stubborn. He stood, wobbling on his good leg, but began to hobble off, following the river he had washed up from. Gandora trotted along beside him, steadying him slightly. Kuriboh flitted around his head nervously, clearly worried about Yugi’s health.

Thankfully, Timaeus let out a cry that had Yugi stumbling towards him in a rush. The Blue Eyes found Yugi and steadied his other side, helping him get to Atem’s side faster.

And there was his husband, lying prone on the ground. He wasn’t moving.

It’s just a game. It’s just a game. It’s just a game. This isn’t real. Atem is fine. Atem is fine. This isn’t real.

Yet no matter how many times he repeated it, Yugi couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks or the panicked breathing. This was his husband and he was hurt and just lying there and Yugi didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t lose Atem again.

He made it to Atem’s side and scooped him up into his arms, shaking and doing his best to hold back sobs. “A-Atem, darling, please wake up. C’mon, babe, wake up. Please get up.” He gently tapped his cheek but Atem didn't stir in the slightest.

It was just a game but at the same time, it was way too real. Yugi felt this strike something deep inside him and felt as his innermost fears began to bubble up to the surface. He couldn’t breathe.

“Please, Atem, please. Please wake up. Please.”

It was like a nightmare. Yugi felt himself slipping into his darkest memories; he was back there, kneeling on the ground in a dark temple, watching the love of his life walk away. Feeling like he had killed him, forced him to leave. Watching the doors slide close behind his king, forcing a smile on his face as his heart shattered.

Yugi’s breath hitched and he let out a sob. “Atem! Please, Atem, please… Please!” He wasn’t even sure what he was begging for. He wasn’t sure why this was destroying him inside so much, but it was. Yugi couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t handle Atem unconscious like this, slipping away from him just like before.

He couldn’t have him walk out of his life again. Yugi wouldn’t let it happen. He’d die before he let Atem leave him again. This time, if he wanted to walk through those doors to the Other Side, Yugi was going to follow him no matter what Atem said.

“Yu… Yugi?” The voice was hoarse but it snapped Yugi out of his spiraling sobs, making him open his eyes and give a relieved whimper. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re okay,” Yugi told him, trying to steady his breathing. He was still hiccuping from his tears. “Gods, y-you’re o-o-okay.”

Atem looked perplexed for a few seconds but he seemed to realize that Yugi’s tears were not normal. And that was why he loved his husband because instead of probing and asking why Yugi was overreacting from a video game, he simply reached up and hugged him. “I’m here, Yugi. I’m not going to leave you. Ever.”

Yugi let out a sob, unable to hold it back. “I-I-I’m sor-sorry. I don’t—I don’t mean to b-b-be like this but… but… you were—-”

“Shh, shh, it’s okay. Don’t apologize; I understand. But I’m here, my love. I’m right here, solid, in your arms. I’m not going to go anywhere. I’m not going to leave your side for all eternity. Remember? We promised that.” Yugi nodded, unable to say anything.

“Do you want to breathe together? Or do you just want me to talk?” Atem asked him, stroking Yugi’s hair.

“J-just talk. I want to hear your voice.”

“Okay. I thought your dragon was beautiful. You and Ryou have done so amazing on this game. Even the pain reception. It’s not too much but enough to feel sore; to make it real. That heat, though, from the dragon! It was incredible, partner. I’m so proud of what you’ve made. And all of our friends are enjoying it, too. Even Kaiba is playing, so you know it’s a great game.”

Yugi felt his heart begin to fall into its normal rhythm. Everything was okay. Atem was there. Atem was real. Atem was alive.

“I love you,” Yugi whispered. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Yugi.” Atem seemed to feel him calming. “Do you want to talk about it? What triggered that reaction?”

Yugi took a few more deep breaths before he trusted himself to speak. “I saw you… just lying there. And all I could think was that you were… you were dead again. And then I remembered the last time I saw you die and leave me and I… I don’t want you to go away again. If you want to go back to the Field of Reeds, I’m going with you this time. I won’t let you leave me.”

Atem cupped Yugi’s cheeks, tilting his face down so he could reach up and kiss him. He kissed him long, gently, and deeply. He kissed him until Yugi felt like he was seeing stars; all he could think about was Atem. He could taste Atem, smell Atem, feel Atem, see Atem, hear Atem—Atem had his every sense and it was perfect.

He broke away and wiped the tear residue remaining on Yugi’s cheeks. “I will never leave your side. Anything we do, we do together. Until the end of time.” He didn’t wait for Yugi to respond, leaning back up and kissing him again.

Yugi wasn’t sure how long they sat there kissing, but it was long enough that all the traces of panic and anxiety eased from his chest. It was long enough that he could breathe normally and think logically again. He knew Atem was there and it grounded him to the present.

“Wow, seriously?” The annoyed tone of Joey had Yugi and Atem pulling apart with embarrassed grins. “Here we are, worried sick about finding you two, and it just turns out that you’ve run off to go canoodle! What the hell, guys?”

“It’s… not what it looks like?” Atem tried with a cringe. No one in the group believed it.

However, ever the perceptive one, Téa seemed to notice Yugi’s red-rimmed eyes and his death grip on Atem’s back and seemed to process that there was something underlying going on. She waved Joey’s rants away, rolling her eyes at him. “They’re the married ones; let them do what they want. After all, this is Yugi’s game. If he programmed spots to go be alone with his husband, well, he deserves to use them!”

Yugi gave a sheepish laugh, not feeling like correcting Téa’s assumption that this was a spot that he could do, ahem, other things with his husband. He technically couldn’t. Those spots had been programmed into the game, of course, though they were very difficult to find for other users. But this particular place wasn’t one of those spots.

Which was probably a good thing. Yugi wouldn’t have liked getting caught by all his friends doing his husband.

“So did we defeat the dragon?” Atem opted to ask, working on redirecting the conversation away from them. “Or after Ryou heals us, are we going back up there to give it another go?”

“We killed him!” Joey declared proudly, puffing out his chest. “It was hard. And Ryou had to revive almost everyone. But we finally did it!”

Yugi scanned their arms, trying to see who won. Ryou held up his arm, the crimson mark glowing all the way down the front of his hand to his elbow. It was in the shape of a dragon. “I did,” Ryou said proudly.

“So, we up for doing the next quest?” Duke asked the group as Ryou healed Yugi and Atem. “Or are we calling it a night?”

Yugi caught Téa glancing over at them worriedly; she could definitely sense there had been something else going on when the group wasn’t there. Giving an exaggerated yawn, she said, “I think we should call it a night. I’m beat. Remember, it is like 14 hours difference over here. So I know it’s like 5:00 over there, but it’s like 3 in the morning here. So call it a night?”

“Oh shit, yeah. Sorry, Téa. We’ll have to time this out better next time.”

“Meh, it’s Friday. No biggie. Anyways, don’t do the next quest without me! I want to use my dragon, too. I’ll see you guys later?” There were choruses of agreement all around her, making Téa smile. “Awesome. Later, guys.” Before she logged out, though, she flashed Yugi a look that asked, Are you okay?

He gave her a grateful smile, nodding, and mouthing, “Thank you.” She nodded and smiled back before logging out. From there, everyone else said their farewells and logged out after her.

Back in the real world, Yugi pulled off his microphone piece and headset. He took a deep breath, leaning back against the couch.

Only to open his eyes, startled, when a weight settled on his lap. “I thought I would show you how real and alive I am. Just in case you needed more convincing,” Atem told him, smirking flirtatiously. The look sent fire flooding Yugi’s veins.

“I think I’d like that,” he admitted.

“Good. I’ll make us both come alive.” And his husband proceeded to do just that.

[phantom-le6]

Film Review - Mortal Kombat (2021 reboot)

To kick off my between-series break of film reviews, I’ve decided to start by looking at a live-action film released earlier this year that is a reboot of a live-action film franchise based on an iconic series of fighting games.  In other words, this will be my take on the recent live-action film reboot of Mortal Kombat.

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

In 17th-century Japan, Lin Kuei assassins led by Bi-Han kill the warriors of the rival Shirai Ryu ninja clan led by Hanzo Hasashi, including Hanzo's wife and son. Hanzo kills the attackers before being killed by Bi-Han, resulting in his soul being condemned to the Netherrealm. Raiden, god of thunder, arrives and takes Hanzo's surviving infant daughter to safety.

 In the present, the realm of Outworld has defeated Earthrealm in nine of ten tournaments known as "Mortal Kombat"; if Earthrealm loses the tenth tournament, the rules state it will be conquered by Outworld. However, an ancient prophecy states that the "blood of Hanzo Hasashi" will unite a new generation of Earthrealm's champions to prevent Outworld's victory. Aware of this, soul-eating sorcerer Shang Tsung, who has overseen the last nine victories, sends his warriors to kill Earthrealm's champions, identified by a dragon mark, before the next tournament begins. One such champion, a former professional MMA fighter named Cole Young, is attacked alongside his family by Bi-Han, who now calls himself Sub-Zero. However, Special Forces Major Jackson "Jax" Briggs rescues the Youngs, directing them to find his partner, Sonya Blade. Jax stays to battle Sub-Zero but loses his arms in the process.

 Cole tracks Sonya to her hideout, where she is interrogating a captive Australian mercenary named Kano. She reveals that she and Jax have been investigating Mortal Kombat's existence and that the dragon mark can be transferred to anyone who kills the original bearer. They are attacked by Shang Tsung's assassin, Syzoth, but Kano kills him with Cole and Sonya's help. They travel to Raiden's temple and meet current Earthrealm champions Liu Kang and Kung Lao before being brought to Raiden, who is critical of the newcomers. They are joined by Jax, whom Raiden rescued and fitted with a set of mechanical arms. Shang Tsung attempts to attack the temple, but is stopped when Raiden shields it from intrusion. While Sonya helps Jax recover, Cole and Kano train with Kang and Lao to unlock their "arcana", a special power unique to all dragon mark bearers.

 During an argument, Kano awakens his arcana, the ability to shoot a laser out of his right eye. Cole is unable to awaken his despite his persistence. Disappointed with Cole, Raiden sends him back to his family, while revealing that he is a descendant of Hasashi. Shang Tsung gathers his warriors, including Kano's former ally, Kabal, to attack the temple. Kabal convinces Kano to defect and sabotage the shield. During the fray, Jax awakens his arcana, granting him strength and upgraded arms. Concurrently, the Youngs are attacked by Goro. Cole rouses his arcana, giving him a suit of armour and a set of tonfas derived from a strength bracelet made by Cole’s daughter. He kills Goro and helps repel the attack on the temple. Shang Tsung and Sub-Zero are infuriated when Raiden discloses Cole's bloodline before he teleports most of the Earthrealm fighters to the Void, a safe space between realms. Lao, however, sacrifices himself defending Cole.

 Cole proposes a plan to force Outworld's champions into a single combat with those from the Earthrealm before neutralizing Sub-Zero together, forcing the tournament that Shang Tsung tried to prevent. Agreeing with the plan, Raiden gives Cole Hanzo's kunai, which still has Hanzo's blood on it, telling him that using it would get Hanzo's spirit to fight alongside him. Raiden transports Cole and his allies to their targets. While defeating Outworld's champions, Sonya kills Kano and acquires his dragon mark, while also getting the ability to fire purple energy blasts as her own arcana, which she also uses to kill Mileena. Sub-Zero abducts Cole's family to lure him into a one-on-one fight. Overpowered by Sub-Zero, Cole uses the kunai and drains Hanzo's blood left on it, releasing Hanzo as the vengeful specter, Scorpion. Recognizing Cole as his descendant, Scorpion helps him defeat Sub-Zero and free his family before immolating Sub-Zero with hellfire. Thanking Cole for freeing him and requesting that he take care of the Hasashi bloodline, Scorpion departs as Raiden, the other champions, and Shang Tsung arrive.

 Shang Tsung vows revenge as he sends his champions' corpses back to Outworld before Raiden banishes him. Raiden declares his intention to train new warriors in preparation for the next tournament and assigns his current champions to recruit them. Cole then departs to Los Angeles in search of Hollywood martial artist and movie star, Johnny Cage.

Review:

As someone who prefers PC games of the military strategy or simulator variety, it’s fair to say I don’t have the greatest familiarity with the Mortal Kombat franchise, but it’s not something I’m a stranger to, either.  I grew up playing Mortal Kombat II with my older brothers on our old Commodore Amiga despite being too young by the age-rating systems later introduced due largely to this game series, as like a lot of kids who grew up in the 90’s, I also watched the decidedly toned-down animated series that was Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm.

 Based on this childhood nostalgia for the world of Mortal Kombat, the idea that films were being created in the here and now to reflect the franchise piqued my curiosity, so when this film came out on blu-ray, I bought it along with last year’s direct-to-home release animated Mortal Kombat films (which will be the next film I review after this one).  Given my relative lack of familiarity with the later incarnations of Mortal Kombat, I came to this film at a kind of tipping-point between the expert fan and the new audience member, trying as best I could to judge how the film would play to both groups while not really being in either myself.

 To my mind, a good first instalment in a Mortal Kombat film franchise needs to get three things in it and done right; the tournament itself and sufficient background exposition to explain it, a decent Fatality count to honour the very concept of the game, and accurate representation of the game’s longest-lasting and most iconic characters.  The first point is one the film only goes some way towards managing; the tournament of Mortal Kombat is mentioned and aspects of it are explained, but no origin is provided for it.  Game fans probably won’t mind this and may not need it, but the new fans coming into the lore through this film would need it.

 I imagine that like Star Wars, the powers-that-be probably think it’s not necessary to provide an origin for the whole concept within the continuity itself, but I disagree.  An origin, a proper backstory, adds context that better explains why the villains are villains.  Not every villain is meant to be like Batman’s Joker, a force of true evil and pure chaos that is best left unexplained to avoid humanising them and making them relatable.  In fact, most villains outside of a computer game fall flat, and it makes it difficult for new viewers to understand the stakes involved.  Ok, Shang Tsung and the Outworld crew want to enslave Earth – why? What does enslaving the Earth get them? Are they after it for our population, our resources, bragging rights – what?  This is often why adapting games into films is a bad idea; games can work without a lot of plot detail, films can’t.

 Second, the film seems to baulk at racking up much of a main character kill-count.  This is a problem that was also experienced in the DCEU when they did the first live-action Suicide Squad film.  Like this reboot, that film was also a Warner Brothers live-action film, and both are beaten in this department by counter-parts made by Warner Brothers Animation.  It feels like the studio’s live-action productions are being run by people who don’t get how to do adaptational work correctly.  If a franchise is defined by named characters dying, then you can’t be too squeamish about killing them.  There’s only about one death on the side of the good guys versus a lot of death, largely delayed, on the side of the villains (I discount what happens to the guy who becomes Scorpion from this as he’s very much an anti-hero by the standards of the franchise, and it’s the one “death” that’s never going to stick). I think the film needed more run-time for both exposition and a higher death-toll.

 Third, there’s the matter of character accuracy. In terms of the characters I know, most are faithfully handled, but I dislike the costume designs on the ninja outfits worn by Sub-Zero and Scorpion.  Remember how everyone hated Zack Snyder for toning down the costume colours for Superman in the DCEU?  Well at least you could still tell the colours were just toned-down versions of what Superman should look like.  In Sub-Zero’s case, there’s not a single iota of blue anywhere on his costume, and there’s no real attempt to honour the fact that the two characters were originally re-colours of one another.  Had I been making this film, I’d have given them outwardly similar costumes but worked differences into the details, and Sub-Zero would have sported the blue colour in his costume that he should do.

 Granted, I know the game series has tried to move away from the recolour concept for character creation, but to my mind it’s something that should be honoured for two reasons.  First, it’s an iconic part of the series’ history, especially for anyone who played the earliest games as I did.  Second, I think that while most character in the series look different outwardly, when you look at them more closely, they become a bit similar, almost to the point of being easily interchangeable.  If they have a very similar initial character design to start with, however, I think more work gets done to distinguish them from each other beneath the surface.  That, in turn, adds depth and resonance to their appearances and their fights that other characters lack.

 Beyond these issues, I’m also unimpressed with the audience-POV character of Cole Young.  At first, he seemed like a decent addition brought in as perhaps a more relatable character than some other existing candidates, and I thought the idea of him being descended from an original core character of the franchise was an interesting choice.  However, the moment I became thoroughly uninvested in the character was it turned out his powers were all derived from a little bracelet his daughter made for him. I mean seriously, how cliché, saccharine and just plain un-Mortal Kombat can you get?  The chap might as well grow fur and get a rainbow laser in his chest. If there’s one thing a Mortal Kombat film doesn’t need, it’s a bunch of touchy-feely b.s. like this.  The powers should have either been something else more in keeping with the brutality and seriousness Mortal Kombat demands, or they should have used another character that already exists within the franchise to act as the audience POV.

 All this said, the film does honour a lot of what the games are about, and the action is excellent, though I could do with the actor who plays Raiden diluting his accent a bit when speaking in English. At times he was impossible to understand without subtitles.  Overall, I think this is a half-decent start to a new live-action Mortal Kombat film franchise, but it has significant flaws to correct before it really nails the game in film format.  In other words, we need more colourful and similar-looking versions of Scorpion and Sub-Zero in the sequel, Cole Young needs to be killed off, the death toll needs to be higher, and we need to both get to the tournament and learn about its origins.  Overall, this reboot as is just earns a modest 6 out of 10.

[theperksofbeingatotalnerd]

Halloween Party

So, I had this idea in my head for a while now, and decided to write it! Hope you enjoy it!

You can read it in AO3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12555772

Harry yawned. It had been a rough day. Nothing made him happier than his job as an Auror, but things usually got a bit hectic. Now, he was sitting at his favourite Indian place, waiting for his two friends to arrive. Soon enough, he heard his friends walking through the door.

 - “Hey Harry!”

 - “Hey guys!”

 Hermione and Ron sat down and started going through the menu, even though they both knew they’d end up ordering what they always did.

 - “How was work?” Hermione asked.

 - “Mental, actually. Had to deal with some pretty nasty business involving two Dark Wizards.”

 - “You do look tired.” Ron stated.

 - “I’ll definitely head out to bed early, I’m wrecked. How was your day?”

 - “A bit full. George just developed a new love potion and the shop was crowded with people wanting to buy it.”

 - “I had a pretty busy day at the Ministry too. Loads of paperwork.”

 They continued the light chatter, as they ordered their food. Some time during the meal, Hermione suddenly exclaimed:

 - “Oh! I almost forgot! You guys know Halloween is next week, right?”

 - “I honestly didn’t even remember it.” Harry said.

 - “I do. We already have loads of new items in stock for the occasion.” Ron said.

 - “Right. Well, some of our former peers at Hogwarts are organising a party, and they want us all to go! Everyone we know has been invited. And apparently, the main idea is for all of us to choose a magical costume.”

 - “A magical costume? Of what sort?” Harry asked.

 - “It’s meant to be a costume that won’t reveal your identity. It’s rather brilliant, actually. I had already read about it, but now we get to use it! What do you think?”

 - “Sure, why not?” Ron said.

 - “Seems like fun.” Harry said.

 They continued to discuss the details for the party as they finished their plates.

 -

The day had finally arrived. Harry was rather proud of his costume. He had struggled to get it right at first, but he managed, mainly due to Hermione’s impeccable spellwork. He was a werewolf in its human form. It was very subtle, but his hair was slightly longer, he had grown a beard, his eyes were a completely different shade of green, artificial almost, he was bulkier (he had already put on some muscle due to his intense work, but this made it much more prominent) and he had a scar that crossed his whole face. He couldn’t help but reminisce to his years at Hogwarts, as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. It pained him to think about his third year, in which he had met two of the most important people in his life. Werewolves had always intrigued him, and after meeting Remus, he felt like it was an appropriate costume. Emotions were starting to get the best of him when he heard a soft knock on the bathroom door.

 - “Are you ready, mate?”

 - “Yeah, I’ll be right out!”

 He fixed himself up and joined his friends in the living room. Their costume was astonishing. They were going as Nicolas Flamel and his wife, Perenelle. Everything had been put brilliantly together, to the smallest detail.

 - “Shall we go?” Hermione asked.

 “Sure.”

 The three of them apparated to the entrance of the house the party was being held in.

 “Let’s do this.”

 They all walked into the house. They were immediately greeted by a merman.

 - “Hiya, guys!”

 - “Hi, Seamus!” Hermione greeted him.

 - “Seamus?” Harry asked, rather incredulously.

 - “Yup, that’s me! Isn’t this great?” Seamus was grinning widely. They just nodded. Apparently, Seamus had been one of the people that had organized the party, and he had told Hermione what he was going as.

 - “How are things with Dean?” Harry asked.

 - “Never been better. We actually just moved in together!”

 It had been no surprise to see that Seamus had ended up dating his Hogwarts best friend, Dean Thomas. They had always been close, and everyone could tell there was a lot more than just friendship between the two of them.

 Seamus kept talking about his life for quite a while, until they all decided to part ways. Both Ron and Hermione went straight to the dance floor, while Harry decided to head out to the bar. After a tiring week, he could really use a drink. He took one of the seats that were available, and asked for a glass of Firewhiskey.

- “Make that two.” said the man beside him. Harry couldn’t believe his eyes. The man was just about the most gorgeous thing Harry had ever laid his eyes on. He was meant to be a vampire. He had platinum blonde hair, that was perfectly slicked back, icy blue eyes, an incredibly defined jawline, and a pair of prominent fangs. The corners of his lips were covered in blood, that was dangerously dripping all the way down to his chin. He was wearing a black suit, with a white shirt. He smiled at him.

 Draco was completely stunned. The man that had just asked for a glass of Firewhiskey was breath-taking. A werewolf in its human form. Bright green eyes, that somehow reminded him of something, but he had no idea what it was, and quite frankly, at that moment he didn’t care, soft black hair, a stupidly sexy beard and possibly the most defined biceps he’d seen. Gathering some courage, he smiled at him, and said:

 - “Quite the party, huh?”

 - “Indeed.”

 - “May I ask, how old are you?” Draco was curious.

 - “21, you?”

 - “Also 21! What are the odds? Did you go to Hogwarts?”

 - “I did! Did you?” Harry couldn’t believe this could be someone he had gone to school with.

 - “I did too. That means we have crossed paths before.” Draco was intrigued, yet terrified. This could be anyone.

 - “Who are you?” Harry asked.

 - “Why spoil all the fun? Let’s keep it this way.” Draco had decided that he didn’t care about the man’s identity. He could be Neville bloody Longbottom for all he cared. He was attracted to him, and that was all.

 - “Sure.” Harry realised he truly didn’t care about who he was talking to. He just wanted to have some fun.

 They stood by the bar, drinking Firewhiskey and talking about everything that crossed their minds, for over an hour. Then, Draco grabbed Harry by the hand and dragged him to the dance floor.

 - “I’m not a very good dancer!” Harry shouted, over the loud music.

 - “Me neither, who cares?” Draco yelled.

 They both started swaying their bodies to the beat of the song that was playing. It felt exhilarating. Harry could feel the rush of adrenaline coursing through him. He was currently dancing with the most stunning man he’d ever seen, and he was genuinely enjoying himself.

 Maybe it was the light that was softly glowing over the other man’s complexion, maybe it was the rush of adrenaline that he was feeling, maybe it was the Firewhiskey, or maybe it was the combination of the three, but Harry decided he didn’t really care and just leaned into the man before him and put his lips on his. Their tongues met immediately, dancing around each other, wanting to savour everything the other had to offer. Harry had never kissed anyone like him. He could feel the fire burning through him. He wanted more. Just as if the other man had read his mind, he pulled Harry close by wrapping his arms around his waist, deepening the kiss. It became unbearable. Harry stopped the kiss and pulled the other man’s hand, heading towards one of the corners of the room in order to find some quiet place where they could be alone. He soon found an unoccupied bathroom. In just 3 seconds, Harry was locking the door and pushing the other man against the sink, making him sit there while wrapping his legs around Harry’s waist. They both continued the kiss. Soon, he felt the other man’s hands on his hair, gently tugging, as if asking him to move closer, even if they were already completely pressed against one another. The other man then started kissing Harry’s jaw, gently making his way down to his neck, where he started sucking and biting, making Harry moan. Harry went back to kissing him, putting his hands under the other man’s shirt, rubbing circles on his hips. Harry didn’t want it to stop. He wanted to be there with this stranger forever.

 After some more kissing, they parted. Harry was ready to take this somewhere else when he heard a gasp. The other man was looking at him in complete shock. Harry barely had time to register what was happening, before the other man ran to the door, quickly unlocking it and stepping out. He then looked at the mirror, and realised he wasn’t the unknown werewolf anymore. He was himself again. The spell had worn off, like he knew it would, even though he had completely forgot about it. He ran out the door, trying to find the other man, without succeeding. He wasn’t inside the house. Harry then tried to go outside, to see if he could see the other man. Then he saw him. Draco Malfoy, sitting on a bench, with his hands in his head, covering his face. And then he realised it. The man he had been with had been Malfoy. He knew the platinum blonde hair was familiar, but he hadn’t given it much thought.

 - “Malfoy…”

 - “Go away, Potter!”

 - “No, I won’t. I want to talk.”

 - “Fine, if you won’t leave then I will!” Draco started to get up to leave but Harry held his arm.

 - “Please hear me out! What happened in there was…”

 - “Insane!” Draco yelled.

 - “It was amazing! Malfoy, I had never felt anything like that in my whole life. And don’t tell me you didn’t feel it too, I could tell by the way you were kissing me!”

 - “Fine, Potter, I felt it too, what do you want me to say? We can’t do this!”

 - “Why the hell not? We parted ways on good terms at the end of our last year at Hogwarts. I know you and I weren’t exactly friends throughout our school years, but I understand what you went through and why you did what you did. I don’t resent you, and I know you don’t resent me either. Why can’t we do this?”

 “I… Potter, you do realise this sounds completely insane, don’t you?”

 - “I do, but so what? Isn’t that what our lives have been for the past years? What’s a bit more insanity to it, after everything we’ve been through? The conversation we had back there at the bar, I had never felt so comfortable with someone, ever! And that kiss… I might be completely irrational about this right now, but I don’t really care. What do you say?”

 - “I… We…”

 Harry stepped forward, looking into the familiar grey eyes. He gently rubbed his thumb over Draco’s bottom lip. Draco couldn’t resist and lightly sucked it. That made Harry smile.

 - “Malfoy, I…” He didn’t have time to finish the sentence because Draco’s lips were on his. It was gentler this time, each taking their time to feel the other. Harry put his arms around Draco’s neck, as Draco’s hands reached for Harry’s waist.

  Soon, all that could be heard was a loud pop. Harry had apparated them to his house. It was going to be a long night.

[spiderlingdaya]

Because of Her

Pairing: Peter x Michelle Words: 1635

The war was over. The world was saved. Thanos was defeated. But the damage remained. 

Not the physical damage-the wounds had healed, the city’s were taken care of due to damage control-it was the emotional damage.

Peter had not returned to school, it had been a week since the infinity war and the world was mourning Iron Man’s death-but no one mourned as bad as Peter Parker.

Peter’s phone had been silenced due to the plethora of calls and messages he’d been receiving. Some from Happy, the roles being reversed as now he double text him to ask how he was doing knowing he wouldn’t get a response. Some were Ned, asking him to open the door or if he was coming back yet-but Ned knew better and would visit almost every other day to check up on him. Some were from May, letting him know when she’d be home or if he’d wanted her to pick up something to eat-she too knew he wouldn’t answer but she felt hopeless not trying.

Peter received many texts throughout the day, some from people he didn’t even know he had the number to.

May had called the school and made up an excuse of a stomach bug that he caught and luckily they bought it, as long as he kept up with his work so he wouldn’t fall behind.

He didn’t. He hadn’t even lifted a book since he came back, his brain too numb to comprehend anything other than “pain.” It was useless, and May stopped trying to persuade him to do even a problem of a algebra.

Numb. Peter thought it was ironic, his entire body felt numb-yet the part of his body he wanted to be numb the most was what was the most active; his memories.

He laid in bed staring at the ceiling, recognizing every crack and deformity it possessed due to his constant stare, as he replayed every memory he had of Tony Stark.

From the first moment he saw him on TV confirming he was Iron Man, to seeing him in person as he saved his life and telling him “good job kid”, to being iron man for Halloween twice in a row, to seeing him on his couch conversing with his aunt and following him to Germany to fight alongside him, to him offering him a spot on the avengers and a new suit, to going to space to defeat evil and seeing him take his last breath.

He was his hero, and then a mentor, then became a friend, and was finally family when he was brutally taken away from him.

They had plans to go over Peter’s college essay to MIT when they returned. Peter was invited to his wedding. Tony promised to be at his graduation. And now that wasn’t possible.

Peter threw a pillow over his head, trying to get the image of Tony reaching up to him as he spoke his last words. He tried to forget staring into his eyes until his eyes didn’t stare back. He tried to forget Steve holding him back as Peter screamed in agony. He tried to forget-but he couldn’t.

His phone lit up catching his attention, he grabbed it from his bedside table ready to lock it when he saw who text him.

He reread the text over and over. He tried making sense of it but his brain fell short circuit.

Michelle -I’m sorry for your loss. Would you mind if I stopped by?

Peter thought he was seeing things. How could she know? Did May call the school and give another lie? Was she being literal or sarcastic about the loss of his “appetite” due to the stomach bug?

Without a second thought, peter unlocked his phone and typed “sure.”

Less than 15 minutes later, there was a knock on Peter’s apartment door. He willed himself to get off his bed and open the door, not really caring how he or his room looked.

He opened the door to a nervous Michelle biting lip and playing with her fingers, she looked up as the door swung open and her eyes met his tired ones.

“Peter” she sighed subconsciously

“Hey Mj” peter responded, a weak smile trying to make its way on his lips.

She bit her lip again, hitching her breath and internally cursing herself for forgetting what she had planned to say.

“Can I come in?” She hesitantly asked, hoping she wasn’t intruding-he did say sure didn’t he? Oh shit what if he meant “sure” as in he would mind? She was already beginning to apologize and leave when peter stepped aside and said “oh yeah, sure come on in.”

Michelle tightened her grip on her backpack strap and walked in. This wasn’t her first time here-in fact she had been over almost as much as Ned to study or to accompany Ned and Peter while they had their movie nights-but walking in that day felt like entering a brand new place.

She didn’t know how to react or what to say, so she silently followed peter to his room. Usually she’d make a sarcastic comment about how dirty his room looked or joke about all the clothes scattered on the floor but right then she didn’t even pay attention to his room, her eyes only on peter as she saw him sulk back onto his bed.

She stayed silent pressed against his door, waiting for him to say something while raking her brain to find something-anything to say.

Luckily she was saved from further making the situation awkward when peter opened his mouth.

“Sorry about not being there for chemistry, I know it sucks when your partner is absent. What have we been learning?”

Michelle laughed, actually laughed and Peter looked up at her in confusion.“Peter you’re such a dumbass. You think I actually give a shit about chemistry?”

Peter continued to stare in confusion. “Peter you went off to space to fight this big powerful purple alien dude and get brutally hurt while having to simultaneously witness your hero die in front of you and you don’t come back to school for a week while you sit here looking like all the life was sucked out of you and you wanna talk about chemistry?!”

Peter stayed silent and stunned as he watched Michelle pant due to her long speech.

He didn’t know what to say, he didn’t even know if words were acceptable at the moment. They stayed staring at each other in silence, both too scared to make a move or look away from each other. Finally, after what felt like hours of silence, Peter spoke up.

“How did you know he was my hero?”

Michelle let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and softly chuckled.

“Are you serious Peter? You had an Iron Man lunch box all throughout elementary and you went as Iron Man for Halloween two years in a row, you would of went for a third if you didn’t out grow the costume.” Michelle started walking towards his bed and sat down, facing him. “You also have an Iron Man sticker on your binder. Peter as soon as I found out you had the “stark internship,” she paused, putting air quotes around it, “I knew you were probably geeking every chance you had over the fact that he knew your name.”

Peter was in awe, he was speechless and wanted her to continue but was already fighting the tears threatening to slip out. As if Michelle could read his mind, she continued.

“Peter,” her tone got softer as she reached an arm up to rest on his shoulder, “he was a good man. He was misunderstood and one of the best superheroes this world has seen. He wasn’t just your hero, he was mine too,” she admitted timidly. “6th grade and every girl was a princess or an animal and I was Iron Man.” she softly laughed,  Peter’s eyes glossed over as he huffed out a small smile, somehow hearing this from her was mending his heart while simultaneously breaking it.

And then she said it. She giggled and raised and eyebrow, saying just above a whisper “Maybe this year I’ll dress as Spider-man since he’s my new hero.”

And that’s all it took.

Peter looked up, his eyes meeting hers; maybe it was the sudden rush of a week's worth of emotion he had lacked, maybe it was because she just admitted that Iron Man was her hero, maybe it was the way her eyes lit up with the hope his eyes once possessed, maybe it was the fact that he’d been in love with her for the past year-but he kissed her.

Full on the mouth, before she had a chance to blink, before any other word was said, he kissed her.

Michelle’s eyes widened with the realization that Peter Parker was kissing her. She would have pushed away if it weren’t for her heart melting right in her chest and the intense feeling she felt erupt in her stomach. With pink cheeks and shaky hands, Michelle kissed back.

They both pulled away, taking in shaky breaths as the reality of the moment set in. Peter gazed into her eyes, waiting for a slap or scream, but instead was met with a blushing Michelle-something he had never seen before.

They both smiled at each other, Peter finally feeling again. She quirked and eyebrow with her head tilted to the side;

“It was you picturing me in the spidey suit wasn’t it?”

And then Peter laughed. A real laugh. Out loud and full of life. It was the first time he had laughed in over a week. It was something Tony would have laughed at.

And it was all because of her.

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

Elf Duty

*Loki x Reader

*Summary: Reader takes her little sister to see Santa at the mall. Loki is one of his elves.

*Warnings: I think like one swear word, tell me if I missed anything.

Day One || Day Two || Day Three || Day Four || Day Five || Day Six || Day Seven || Day Eight || Day Nine || Day Ten || Day Eleven || Day Twelve

“C’mon, (y/n), you gotta hurry!” Your little sister, Isabel, said as she weaved through the crowd at the mall. At times like this, you were really glad that she always wore a bright pink jacket during the winter.  For an eight year old, she sure did move quickly. “We’re gonna miss Santa!”

“Santa’s gonna be here until Christmas Eve, chill,” you told her as your tried to catch up. The two of you had to make it to the center of the mall in order to get to Santa’s Workshop, and it looked like your sister would get there long before you did. You loved the kid, but you silently cursed your mom for making you come out here in the middle of Christmas shopping season.

“(Y/n),” she whined, stopping suddenly and turning to face you. “Hurry up!”

You finally caught up to her, taking her gloved hand in yours as you saw that Santa’s Workshop was only around the corner. You groaned inwardly as you saw the line of kids and (annoyed) parents nearly reaching the corner, but when you saw how excited your sister was, you sucked it up and got in line with her. “What’re you asking Santa for this year?” You asked her as you tried to ignore the screaming twins a few families ahead of you.

“I want a puppy and you to get a boyfriend,” she replied nonchalantly, as if she didn’t just roast the hell out of you.

“I’m sorry, what was that last part?” You asked, cocking your head slightly.

“Maybe Santa can help you get a boyfriend,” she said, looking away from the line and up at you. “I heard mom saying that you gotta get one before you’re too old.” Huh, so this is what it feels like to get roasted by a third grader. I don’t like it.

“You remember what I told you about home and public conversations?” You asked instead of the roast you wanted to attempt instead. Isabel nodded.

“Ooh, is this a home one?” she asked, eyes wide as the realization hit her. She’s too cute for the roast. I can’t do it. You nodded, and she muttered a small apology. You just shook your head, looking at the line in front of you that was slowly but surely inching forward. You figured that it’d take maybe an hour at most to get your sister to Santa, and then you could do some Christmas shopping yourself and take her out for dinner. So, you settled in, chatting with Isabel about whatever she wanted to.

You were wrong. You were definitely wrong. It had been over an hour and you and your sister were barely getting to the entrance of Santa’s Workshop. You had given Isabel your phone to keep her from whining, but now you were about to die of boredom. Your only saving grace had been the book you bought on whim from the bookstore you walked through to get into the mall. You kept an eye out for your sister and the progression of the line, finally putting away your book as Isabel followed the line into the ~official~ Santa area.

“Oo, there’s Santa,” Isabel squealed, practically throwing your phone back at you as she bounced in excitement. You fumbled with your phone before actually dropping it, watching as it slid away from the roped off area for the line.

“Shit,” you cursed softly, already starting to bend to reach for your phone.

“That’s not a nice word!” Isabel told you, looking at you with a pout. You just rolled your eyes, focused on trying to reach your phone. Just as you were about to duck under the line, you saw someone else grab your phone.

“I’m guessing this is yours?” They said, straightening up.

“Yeah, sorry about that. My sister got a bit excited,” you apologized, straightening up as well. You stopped short when you were met by a tall man with piercing blue eyes holding your phone out to you. You were so distracted by him that you almost didn’t notice the elf costume he was wearing. Almost. The gasp from Isabel made it practically impossible to ignore it.

“You’re an elf!” She said, looking at the man next to you. You could practically see the shift from however he was normally to little kid mode. “Why are you so tall?”

“Because I help with the reindeer but Santa let me come with him today,” he replied with a kind smile, crouching down to be at eye-level with Isabel. Despite the almost laughable costume, the way he was talking to your sister made your heart flutter. No, I’m not seriously falling for a dude in an elf costume. Am I?

As they were talking, you noticed the line moving quicker than before. You didn’t want to break the adorable moment that was happening, but you knew how much Isabel wanted to talk to Santa and the lecture you’d be getting if your mom didn’t get Isabel’s picture to put on the mantel. “C’mon, Isabel, you don’t wanna miss Santa, do you?” You asked, moving up with the line. With the look that she gave you, you instantly knew that she didn’t want to leave behind her newfound friend.

You were saved from having to pick her up to take her with you when the man stood and walked with the two of you. You wanted to get to know him a little more, but you couldn’t exactly do that without breaking the illusion for Isabel. He walked with the two of you for a while, before a redhead in a matching elf costume turned and saw him. “Loki, what’re you doing? Get back to your spot,” she told him with a withering stare. The man, Loki, turned and gave you and Isabel an apologetic look.

“Sorry, looks like I need to get back to where I was,” Loki told the two of you. “Be sure to say hi to Santa for me!” With that, he walked back to his spot near the entrance of Santa’s Workshop, leaving Isabel practically buzzing with energy.

“That was so cool! I didn’t know elves could be that big!” Isabel gushed as you got closer and closer to the front of the line. It seemed like Loki had taken all of her attention and enthusiasm that was previously reserved for Santa.

“I thought you saw that in Lord of the Rings?” You asked with a small smile. By now there were only a few more families ahead of you.

“Nuh uh, those elves aren’t real,” Isabel said with certainty. You almost laughed at the determined look on her face, wishing that you still believed in things with the fever that she believed in Santa. Before you could say anything, though, you were saved by the redhead from earlier calling you and Isabel up to Santa.

You stood to the side, waiting for the picture to print. Isabel was talking to a different elf this time, mouth running at a hundred miles an hour as the lady smiled and nodded along. “Hey, (y/n), right?” Loki asked as he walked up to you.

“Yeah, I thought you got yelled at if you moved,” you teased, a small smile letting him know just as much.

“I switched with another elf,” Loki laughed. “How long were you waiting in that line for?”

“Oh gosh, it must’ve been at least a couple hours,” you groaned. “Seriously, I’m probably gonna have to come another day to actually get my Christmas shopping done.”

“Don’t worry, I haven’t even started mine yet. Oh, before I forget again,” Loki trailed off, reaching into his pocket. He proudly held out your phone, which you graciously took.

“I forgot about this! Thank you for getting it, by the way,” you told him with another small smile.

“It’s no problem. I couldn’t let a pretty girl struggle like that,” he replied smoothly. You immediately knew that it was cheesy, but for some reason it worked for him. “I know this may sound a bit odd, but would you maybe be interested in getting a coffee with me? You know, when I’m not dressed like this?” With that, Loki gestured at himself, making you laugh softly.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” you told him. You unlocked your phone and handed it back to him to let him put in his number. After sending himself a text, he handed the phone back to you.

“I hope to hear from you soon,” he said, turning back to the printer. He turned back to you, handing you Isabel’s picture with Santa. “Have a wonderful night, (y/n), and merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to you too, Loki,” you replied, actually giggling and then wondering why you giggled. You turned back to see Isabel still talking the ear off of the other elf, so you quickly went to her. “C’mon, Isabel, we gotta get going. I’ll even buy you a hot chocolate on the way home.”

“With whipped cream and everything?” Isabel asked, eyes bright with excitement.

“Is it really hot chocolate without it?” You teased, taking her hand. You mouthed a ‘thank you’ to the girl she had been talking to. Isabel said goodbye to her new friends and walked off, happy with the promise of hot chocolate.

When you finally got back from the mall, it was nearing nine pm. You sent Isabel to go get ready for bed, and sat down at the kitchen table across from your mom. You put the picture on the table and watched her face light up when she saw Isabel’s excitement in the picture. “Thank you so much for taking her, (y/n),” she told you with a soft smile. “Did anything exciting happen while you were out there?”

“Other than waiting in line for two hours? Nah, not really,” you told her with a shake of your head. Just then, you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. “I think I’m gonna head to my room, call if you need anything.” Your mom nodded, so you stood and started making your way to your room. You looked down at your phone, smiling as you saw exactly what you’d been hoping for: a new text from Loki.

From: Loki 2 minutes ago

Would tomorrow be too soon for that coffee? I have the day off of elf duty.

[eyeofthewolfe]

Ninjago Movie: We Could Be Superheroes!

For my great friend, @yuki7900 who is full of so much love and talent! Here's a little fanfic for you!

Lightning snapped, fire roared, water soared, ice crackled, and the warehouse shook with powerful quakes. It may seem like it was the end of the world, but it was actually the opposite. It was Thursday, which was Lloyd's least favorite training day of the week. He didn't mind his job of encouragement, but watching his entire team use amazing and supernatural abilities while he watched is not something he enjoyed doing. Kai has been working on flying using his fire ability to spit fire from his hands and feet to keep him in the air. Jay has mastered throwing lighting, so now he was trying to bend it to create weapons. The best he's gotten so far was a lightning whip. Nya could move water as easy as it is to move her fingers, so now she teaching herself how to add or take water from any living thing. She was wilting and growing tulips. Zane started to make it snow inside the warehouse. Cole didn't have to slam his fist down or together to make huge vibrations, he worked it up to just focusing his mind on an object. Lloyd was sitting in a chair sitting in reverse with his chin squashed on his arms. "Good job," Lloyd droned for the third time that training day, but none of the other ninja heard him. Instead, they were excitedly giggling and sharing their newest developments to each other. It was as if Lloyd wasn't even there. With a yawn, he stretched his arms and ran his hands through his hair. He wanted to teach something, use some words of wisdom like Master Wu. But they seemed like they were using their powers really well, experts even. What were they not doing that they could be better at? Lloyd's eyes dragged from his superpowered friends to their weapons leaning against the wall, forgotten in all the excitement. With a snap, he felt something click. With a screech, he scooted out of the chair and got up. "Hey, guys-" Lloyd started, but a yell made him duck. A wave of fire rushed over his head. "Sorry dude!" Kai yelled from a few feet above him as he rebalanced himself in the air. "I lost control for a sec." Lloyd tightened his jaw, then nodded back. He turned to the others. "Alright everyone, time for a lesson." The ninja all slowly stopped using their powers and turned to Lloyd. They didn't complain, but they all didn't look happy about Lloyd interrupting them from their personal 'training'. "Alright," Lloyd repeated while rubbing his hands together. "Y'all are going fantastic with your elemental powers. I want to take this to the next level." His team all exchanged excited looks. Relief rushed over Lloyd. At least they were excited. "Go grab your weapons." They didn't even flinch. Their excited looks instantly vanished. Nya furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Wait...what?" She snapped. "Have you not been seeing what we've been doing for this whole afternoon?" Kai spoke in an aggravated tone. "We don't even need our weapons anymore! We've got superpowers!" "Elemental powers!" Lloyd snapped back. He could not believe that Kai had just said that. "And you have these Elemental powers to help you, but your weapon is your best friend. You need your weapon more than you need your powers." A few of his friends snorted at him and looked away. "That's crazy, Lloyd." Jay said as he rolled his eyes. "Our powers are part of us, and a weapon is the extension of our abilities." "Look," Lloyd rubbed his face. "Just, grab your weapons." Nya took a step forward. "And I'm telling you, we don't need them!" Lloyd felt his blood run cold. He narrowed his eyes at the team. "What did you say?"

Zane looked a little confused, but the others seemed as confident as Nya. Cole took a step forward to stand by the girl. "Lloyd, we don't need to be ninjas any more. We can be something greater now." "And what do you suppose that is?" The Green Ninja spoke coldly. Kai took his step forward. "Superheroes!" Lloyd took a deep breath. The others stared at him for a moment, waiting for his response. Finally Lloyd took a weakened step backwards. "I can't believe you just said that," he muttered to himself but loud enough for his team to hear. "Master Wu took us in and trained us in the ninja way, and as soon as you all unlock your Elemental Powers you throw all that away?" "Lloyd, we know how to fight, and we have these powers," Jay started as he too stepped forward. "I think we all would prefer to be superheroes rather than just ninja." Lloyd made a short gasp in his throat. "Just ninja? JUST NINJA? Ninja fight for honor! They fight for family!" "So do superheroes!" Nya interrupted. "But ninja are more honorable than any hero!" Lloyd shouted back. "It means more to be a ninja master than just a hero!" The others all looked at their feet, all but Nya. She instead shook her head. "Why does it matter to you, anyways? You couldn't understand." It was as if her spear had gone straight through Lloyd's heart. His anger vanished only to be replaced with shock. Did Nya just....say that? "Come on, lets go fight crime as superheroes." Nya shrugged to the team and they all slowly turned away from Lloyd to the door of the warehouse. Lloyd wanted to say something-he needed to say something, but he couldn't find the right words. Maybe Nya was right-he couldn't understand. He may be the Master of Life, but he couldn't do the things the others did. Maybe it was better if they were a team of superheroes. As the team vanished around the corner, Lloyd shook his head. He was crazy! They had to be ninjas, they were THE ninja! There had to be a piece missing in all of this. "I've gotta train some more," Lloyd grumbled to himself as he walked briskly over to the wall and snatched his sword off the ground. "These suits are so tight," Kai complained as he pulled at the upper thigh part of his costume. "Can't we just wear our ninja suits until we get actual super suits?" "We are superheroes now, not ninjas." Nya stated plainly as she fixed the party-store mask over her eyes. "Well get better suits later." Jay looked at the team. "We look stupid." As they all looked around, they realized he was right. Their neon-colored costumes were meant as cheap Halloween gear, and not professional crime fighting garb. Cole let out a defeated sigh.

"Maybe we should go back. Lloyd did have a point-" "We haven't even gone out yet to fight crime!" Kai snorted. "Maybe using our powers to kick butt will-" The wail of a siren broke out in the city. Crackles of gunshots were heard a few blocks up. The new super team all exchanged excited looks and they all dashed along the rooftops to danger. They came up to a shootout on the street. Six criminals were hiding behind cars and letting loose their pistols at cops a few yards away. "We aren't bulletproof," Jay hissed to the team, but Nya narrowed her eyes. "We got this! Split up and take them out one by one!" "Like a ninja?" Zane asked. "No-" Nya blinked, trying to think past what Zane was implying. "Like a superhero! Ready?" She extended her hand. They all followed Nya's lead and stuck their hands out and said, "Superhero-Go!" "That sounded so stupid," Cole chuckled under his breath as they all split up. Kai silently landed behind one of the criminals laughing and spraying bullets over the hood of a car. Cracking his knuckles, he cleared his throat. The criminal stopped shooting and slowly turned around before staring the teenager in spandex down. "Who the heck are you supposed to be?" He snorted. Kai smirked past his fear. "I'm....uh..." Kai realized he hadn't picked a name yet. He narrowed his eyes trying to think of a good name. "Uh...Flame...Welder..." The criminal paused before bursting into hysterical laughter. "What are you gonna do? Weld something for me?" Kai's smile was gone. "Okay, jokes over," he grumbled as he stuck his hand out, summoning his fire ability. Nothing happened. Not even one spark curled off his fingers. "What the..." Kai muttered as he looked at his hand. He tried focusing on his Elemental power, but nothing happened.

"Well, Fire Welder," the criminal rose his gun and aimed it right at Kai's head. "I bet you wish you had some sick moves to escape this!" The gun went off, but Kai was already in the air above him. With an expert flip, he came down hard on the criminal, wrapping his right leg around the crooks head and his left around his body. With a quick twist of Kai's hips, he turned the criminal in the decent and he slammed his face on the pavement. By the time he shook off the pain, both the superhero and his gun were gone. "Guys, my powers don't work," Kai spoke in the comms as he climbed to a rooftop. "Something's wrong." "Same here," Nya responded. "I'm with Cole and Zane. We can't seem to use our Elemental powers right now." Jay flipped up to where Kai was. He fixed his glittery cape with a few choice words, but then hit his comms. "What's going on? I can't even summon a spark!" "That's because you're doing it wrong." Nya, Cole, and Zane climbed onto the roof with Kai and Jay just in time to hear the familiar voice on the comms. They all turned to the silhouette of a ninja on a few roofs over. "Lloyd?" they all said together. The teenage ninja flipped over the rooftops until he landed delicately in from of them. He slipped his sword on his back before looking his team over. "You all look ridiculous," he finally said. "We feel ridiculous," Jay disclosed. "Why aren't our Elemental powers working?" Nya snapped. "Well-" Lloyd began, but a shout interrupted them. "There! The fruit colored superheroes!"

The team looked down to see the cops unconscious and the group of criminals pointing their guns up at the teenagers. "Crap!" Cole yelled as they all dove to cover. Gunshots began to spray on the shutters. "We need to attack all at once!" Nya hissed to the team. "Our powers must be activated with teamwork." Lloyd sat up, clutching his head. "Wait-" His team were already lunging off the roof. "Seriously...." he grumbled. He unsheathed his sword and dashed after them. As soon as the superheroes hit the pavement, the criminals had them surrounded, with their guns all pointed at the colorful teenagers. "You all really are that dumb!" one criminal cackled. "They aren't working!" Kai hissed. "What now?" Nya's eyes were wide with shock. "I...don't know!" "You're right!" Everyone looked up as the Green Ninja landed amidst the superheroes. However, he wasn't talking to his friends. Instead, he pointed his sword at the criminal who had spoken. "They really are that dumb." The criminal gasped and looked over at his buddies excitedly. "Did you hear that? The Green Ninja actually agreed with me!" "Shut up, Harry!" another criminal hissed. "Just shoot them!" The other ninja all drew together in fear, but Lloyd narrowed his eyes. Nobody saw, but his green eyes began to glow brighter than ever.

The criminals reached for the trigger, but Lloyd was too fast. With a swish of his sword, one gun was torn from a crook's grasp and was sent into the air. He did a cartwheel in the air without using his hands and used his back leg to knock him to the ground. "Shoot at him!" the crook bellowed. They began to fire at the ninja, but his sword was too quick. Deflecting every bullet, he high kicked one criminal and used the butt of his sword to knock out another. Hearing a shot, he backflipped over the speeding piece of metal before bringing his legs down on the fourth crook. "Darnit!" the main crook spat before turning his gun towards his friends. There was a tug in Lloyd's stomach, something he's never felt before. In a daring move, Lloyd flipped in front of his friends just as the fun began to fire rounds towards the superheroes. To everyone's shock, there was a flash of green energy that surrounded Lloyd and his team. The costumed superheroes dropped each of their jaws. It took Lloyd a long second to realize that the green energy was birthing from his own hands. His entire body was pulsing with energy, making him even more aware of his surrounding than ever before. His sight was sharpened, and he had the feeling that he could do anything. "What the," the crook muttered as the bullets dropped to the ground as soon as they hit the green force field. The other criminal made some panicked gasping sounds before turning on his heels and running as fast as he could away. Lloyd narrowed his eyes and willed the energy to surge forward, knocking the main crook onto his back and the second on his front. With a swishing sound, the green light was sucked away until it was just a small spark. Lloyd's knees buckled, but Nya and Kai were there as he fell. They grabbed his shoulders to hold him up. Cole and Jay lunged towards the fallen crooks and kicked their guns away. As Lloyd slowly regained his strength, more cops arrived and cuffed each gunman. After thanking the oddly dressed heroes ("We are actually not superheroes," Cole had told them), they took Lloyd to a nearby rooftop. "How...did you do that?" Nya asked Lloyd. He looked up at her. "The Master of Life...." he began before chuckling. "That's not who I am. I'm fact, I don't think there is a Master of Life."

Lloyd smiled, as if he knew something everyone else didn't. "That's because I got the word wrong. Green wasn't for life...it was for energy. I am the Master of Energy." "But you didn't have Elemental Powers," Nya stated. "Ah," Lloyd nodded as he slowly stood. "And yet when you all went to fight crime, you didn't have yours either." They all exchanged looks. "That's because your powers aren't just gifts you have at your disposal," Lloyd began. "They are abilities you earned through hard work, patience, and determination. All tools of a-" "A ninja master," they all said in unison. "We aren't acting like ninjas when using our abilities, so they don't work." Nya put two and two together. "But...you've been a ninja master along with all of us. Why didn't you unlock your powers earlier?" Lloyd looked off to the outline of the city. "I never tried. I was never told that I had abilities, so I never sought out to unlock them. It unlocked itself just now. I must of been ready for it." "Well, it was awesome!" Jay said giddily. "You were a true Elemental Master!" "And..." Nya looked down at her shiny feet. "...we were not. I'm sorry Lloyd, we should have never of said all that mean stuff to you." Lloyd walked over and rested his hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Nya, I understand." She looked up and met Lloyd's soft green eyes. She gave him a very small smile before looking back down. Lloyd looked at his teams outfits one last time before gesturing them to follow him. "Alright team, let's get your suits back on before Master Wu sees you all. After that, Master Wu might have you all wear that for a week!"

[starwriterulia]

Forgiveness, Thankfulness and Remembrance: Chapter 3 - Homeroom Thoughts

From my Quotev.

-❄❄❄ September 6, 2017. 9:01 AM  ❄❄❄-

        I look up from my phone as a cute, somewhat short male student with silky, light brown hair and beautiful brown eyes passes me. Oh, isn't he the second guy who passed us in the hallway? He gives me a brief, small smile as we make eye contact. He quickly reaches the fifth and final row to sit in the desk near the window. Ah, so this is our main protagonist.

        "Uh, good morning, Baekhyun." Mrs. Mok says, making a slight face as she turns on the SMARTboard behind her. Is this not his usual morning behavior? 

        He turns to her from looking outside for a moment. "Hi, Mrs. Mok."

        "Are you feeling OK today? You usually sit in the front, right beside where Eunju is sitting."

        Baekhyun catches my eyes that paced between him and Mrs. Mok. "Your name is Eunju?"

        "Yes, I transferred here from Canada for my last year. It's nice to meet you, Baekhyun."

        Baekhyun's chest slowly sinks as he exhales. "It's nice to meet you, too." He gives another little smile, but his expression reflects anguish. Should I... ask? 

        As I open my mouth, Mrs. Mok takes my place. "Baekhyun, are you feeling alright?"

        "Yes, I'm fine." His tone doesn't make it seem that way. Just as Baekhyun finishes his sentence, more students file in, filling the seats. I guess it's not my business to ask what's wrong, but I still can't help but wonder if his mood has something to do with the student he was walking with, this morning. The bell chimes again, then shuffling comes from the speaker on the ceiling's corner to the left of the door.

        "Good morning, SGHS." Oh, this is the secretary's morning announcement. "Welcome back from summer vacation, we hope you all had fun. Today's block rotation is 1-2-2-3-4 after homeroom. As a reminder, you only have to be in homeroom before the first block for the first week for attendance."

        "The first dance of the year is on the last Friday of this month, the 29th. The theme is Fall Fair, so dress in denim and plaid if you want to. As always, there is a small prize draw, and admission is ₩8200." That equals about $10 CAD. "You can preorder your copy of the yearbook starting October 1st by the office."

        "They are ₩45, 600 until December 1st, then they will then be ₩53, 900." That equals around $55 and $65 CAD. Ugh, my other high school had overpriced yearbooks, too. "That is all for today's announcements. This has been Seo Jeonghae, your secretary in the office. Have a wonderful day."

        There's a bit more shuffling as Jeonghae ends the announcement, then Mrs. Mok rises from her seat. "Alright, good morning class, I'm Mrs. Mok." She begins to write her name in Hangul on the SMARTboard with the black pen. "As Jeonghae said, welcome to the 2017 school year." Mrs. Mok adds her name in Hànzì underneath.

        "Mr. Jeup and I teach Korean, Japanese, English and Mandarin, so we collaborate our classes." She writes her name in Hiragana and English, then sets down the pen and puts her hands at her sides. "Our students often share one language and wish to learn another that a peer knows. It's a trade that has shown to be enjoyable and educational for everyone. Language has helped people communicate for generations, and it's my job to help you communicate wherever you go."

        "How many people here are looking to learn English?" A good half of the class raises their hands, and everyone looks around like curious puppies to see each other. I notice that Baekhyun is one of these people. "Ah, a big number, like always." Mrs. Mok smiles.

        "Good, very good. Who is here to learn Korean?" A small portion of the class raises their hands. "Mm, good. How about Japanese?" Another small portion raises their hands. "And, Mandarin?" I raise my left hand with a third small portion of the class.

        "Excellent, everyone here is looking to learn something different. Mr. Jeup and I enjoy posting videos of students talking to each other in their newly learned languages on our school's YouTube page. We have a collection of playlists that has been growing since 2012. We will teach you through various games, exercises, and activities. At the end of every week, you will be tested by talking with me using what you learned that week. If everyone does well, you all get ice cream. Does that sound good?"

        We cheer and applaud collectively, laughing at ourselves. "Now, may our new student come to the front and introduce herself, please?" I rise from my seat and walk to Mrs. Mok's left side. She gives me little nod and smile. "When you're ready."

        I huff, nodding firmly, then turn to the class. "Hello, my name is Young Eunju, I'm in this class to learn Mandarin. I am in twelfth grade. I am a transfer from Canada on two scholarships. I enjoy writing and can make friends easily because of my personality. I look forward to knowing you all; please treat me well." I bow to finish my speech, and the class gives me a warm applause, Baekhyun included, who looks a little interested and a little relieved of stress.

        "Thank you, Eunju. You may return to your seat, now." Mrs. Mok says, and I nod in response, doing so. "Now, let's go over the course assignments and begin the first assignment." Mrs. Mok picks up the keyboard on her desk and closes the application, Word 2017 beneath it.

        She puts down her keyboard and hands a stack of booklets to the leftmost student in the front row. "Please take one and pass it on." After everyone had taken one, Mrs. Mok proceeds to go over the assignments for the course. Our first assignment was to create a poster in our chosen language, with help from Mrs. Mok, of a small self-introduction. We would present them to the class on Thursday, then they would be posted to the bulletin board outside for a week.

        We began to work on our projects, making rough drafts on lined paper about what we wanted to put down. I met Hyejae, who's in twelfth grade, during the class's Q&A time featuring me. She was adorable and idol-image-material with big, dark eyes and short, black hair. We clicked right after I mentioned we were both lactose intolerant, knowing the struggles of not being able to find vegan ice cream so easily.  She turned out to be vegan as I am, and she cosplays as Kagamine Rin, so we got excited about Vocaloid, too. 

        I received many questions from students about my home country and town, which is Vanderhoof, located in the geographical heart of British Columbia, scholarships, dwarfism, and the way I walk. Of course, this lead to a brief explanation of my knees for the upteenth time. I discussed my other interests, starting with Pokemon and my preference of Water and Fairy types and favoritism of Mudkip and Sylveon, and Project Diva, and that I like music and can sing but wouldn't sing then and there. I talked about Minecraft and why I don't play online or Story Mode, cosplaying, and that I don't own a maid outfit and sew the costumes myself, and how I play Magic: The Gathering casually and attend Friday Night Magic.

        Everyone who asked me questions and listened seemed thrilled to meet someone as unique as me. It didn't surprise me because I knew my appearance alone would raise questions. I noticed that Baekhyun was among the intent listeners, quietly working and smiling a little when I talked about how I adore Miku and all of her possibilities, and why I'm not a great Magic player: unlucky decisions. After everyone had asked their burning questions, I thought about Baekhyun and the student I saw him with. Baekhyun's face was red, and the way the other person was holding his wrist was a clue that something was happening.

        Maybe someone did something to anger the other person, like try to... take... Baekhyun away. Oh my God, I think they might be a couple. Pretty fucking sure that guys don't hold each other like that unless they're gay. The latter being totally fine to me, I mean, hell, gay and lesbian etc. people can be just as wonderful as straight people. They probably went somewhere more private than a bathroom, they missed two of them by the time I stopped looking their way and missed if they turned the right corner or went down the stairs at the end of the hall.

        I think the former option is most likely because Haeun told me that the door to the fenced school rooftop is always unlocked. The door follows the Information Technology and Law classrooms, on the right, and the third set of stairs, on the left, at the end of the hallway after the turn. The History, Social Studies, and Planning classrooms are on the left wall as well. They might have went there and had a talk. Oh geezums, now I'm curious and worried, when it's none of my business.

        I quietly sigh, looking to Baekhyun from the protection of my hair over my desk. I hope everything's OK, he seems to . Also pretty sure that if I asked someone about the two, I'd get some raised eyebrows. Or, maybe I wouldn't. Hm, I'll observe people in the school a little more, see if I can spot Baekhyun with anyone. Or, maybe I'll meet someone who knows Baekhyun and what's going on, and they'll tell me. I... I fucking hate being an author, I overthink things way too easily. Eh, at least I've got a plan. 

        I feel like a fucking cool-ass teen detective too, like Nancy Drew, but with brown hair and green eyes. Even though I'm naturally a dark blonde, so there's that, too. After everyone was working for fifteen minutes, the bell rang. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow for the double block." Mrs. Mok says, standing from a helping a student at their desk while everyone hastily packs up.

        I wait for everyone to file out so I don't get run-over, insisting to Hyejae and a few other students that I was sure of my choice. Yeah, I'd say this is going pretty well. Mom's gonna be glad to hear about this. I look over my left shoulder as I watch Baekhyun approach me. "Hi, Eunju."

        "Hi, Baekhyun. Did you need something?"

        "No, I was just wondering what your next class is."

         "Oh!" Not a question I expected from him. "After ASWM, I have Visual Arts."

        "Really?" Baekhyun gives a light huff. "I have those courses, too. Do you wanna go to math, together?"

        "Sure, I wouldn't mind." Baekhyun nods, then we take a right to the staircase that way.

        "So, ASWM, huh? You're not good with math, either?" I chuckle.

        "No, I'm not very bright in math or science." He lowers his shoulders. Oh, something's telling me his parents may have high expectations for him. 

        "Are you good at art?"

        "I'm not bad at scenery painting." Baekhyun answers as we descend the staircase. "I'm good with people and gardening, too. I might go into social work, or my parent's business at the greenhouse." I give an 'mm' in reply. "What are you going into, Eunju?"

        "Something with writing, if I'm lucky. I have a business certificate, and I've worked at a bank before, so I could work in an office, too. Something where I'm not up on my feet all day." Baekhyun nods a little in understanding. "By the way, what grade are you in, Baekhyun?"

        "I'm in twelfth grade, too." He answers, waiting for me at the bottom of the first set of stairs. "So, your knee incident actually happened?"

        "Yeah," I answer, starting the final set. "I'm wearing black pantihose to help hide my scar. I mean, I shave, but I had a habit of scratching at mosquito bites as a kid, so I have circular scars all over my arms and legs. That's why I chose to wear the long sleeved uniform." Baekhyun gives a low 'mm' in understanding.

        When I was a little more than halfway down the stairs, the student that Baekhyun was with this morning halts in front of the opening into the hallway from the right. I never realized how tall he was until now, and his face is kind of baby-like, his eyes are very dark, piercing brown. "There you are, Baek. Are you coming?" Whoa, that’s a deep voice, if I ever heard one.

        "Chanyeol, you still have to go to class, after homeroom." Baekhyun replies, reaching the bottom. "We have to wait until break to..." He pauses, then shakes his head a little as I finish descending. "...To talk on the roof."

        "Just for a minute, come on..." Chanyeol whines.

        "Nope, we're going to class." Baekhyun replies, taking Chanyeol's left hand and pulling him along as we go to the math classrooms down the hallway. Chanyeol's face holds this bewildered, judging and pleading expression, telling me that they're a couple, and that Chanyeol is the masculine figure who is currently confused at his partner's actions. He's also judging me because he may think I have something to do with it, and pleading to be released from Baekhyun's hand so he can recapture it and away with Baekhyun. Just... just fuck my analyzing brain; I'm thinking too much, and I have math, next.

-Forgiveness, Thankfulness and Remembrance-

WE: 2260 words, yes, very good. To clarify, if an idol is born before '95, they are in tenth grade. '95 liners are in eleventh grade, and '94-'90 liners are in twelfth grade. There are many exceptions for the sake of ship-relevancy for idols who are in twelfth grade. Yep, you heard that right. Ship-relevancy. Thanks for reading!