#I’m once again putting out drafts as final versions

[horseshoe-bay-ledger]

Stasis

I was bored. I wrote this. It’s something. It’s also not the requests sitting in my ask box so sorry once again to those who have left them. 

Essentially we’re in Curse Era but Ace shows up at Nancy’s door injured.

———

“Ace?”

There was panic in Nancy’s voice, the same that always came when she knew Ace was in danger or could possibly be hurt.

Except this time that possibility was very real and right in front of her. The physical proof stood in the entryway, leaning uncomfortably against a dooway and bleeding from a cut above his right eye.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Ace promised.

He was still trying to reassure her even as he bleed onto her floor.

“Ace,” she sighed, as an admonishment almost. He was downplaying it because of course he was, it was Ace she was dealing with after all.

He seemed to take it as a critique of his presence there instead, though—like she was at all worried about him bothering her.

“I know. I’m sorry. I thought it would be maybe Carson and, um, or Ryan here.”

“No, just me,” she explained quietly.

Ace looked at her with an expression of unsureness to the point that he almost looked contrite. The wrongness of it echoed throughout her very being. She could feel herself frowning. It was the exact opposite of what they were and she could only really blame herself. It was an awful decision to be made, but in the end it was her who had made it.

He seemed to take her continued silence as an ostracisation rather than a lamentation of circumstance. That was another thing she could probably blame herself for—making him doubt how he understood her, what he saw when he looked through her eyes.

“I—I wouldn’t have come it’s just… I lost my keys at—uh, somewhere. Here was the closest. And there’s just no way I could go to my parents’, you know? Not with my dad right now. Not like this,” he waved his arm gesturing to himself. “And—”

He was more concerned about justifying his presence there than the potentially bruised ribs he was maybe carrying. She knew it was her fault he felt like this but it still pierced her heart like like a shard of glass, and the very fact it was her fault actually made that glass even sharper.

Of course he could come here, come to her, for help.

“Ace,” Nancy said one more time, decisively to cut off his unneeded apology. “Come in. You know your way round. You can stay here tonight but we need to clean you up first.”

She turned, hugging the door so he could pass. And he did—just very slowly. Not a good sign. All she wanted to do was reach out and help him. She settled for supporting his elbow a few steps.

“I’m okay,” Ace lied.

“Hmm.”

“I promise.”

“I know you, Mr. I’m Okay. I know you’re alright no matter what but that doesn’t mean you always have to be okay.”

She was telling him something about herself.

“C’mon. Kitchen stool’s probably best. I’ll run upstairs and grab the first-aid kit.”

She made her way hastily up the stairs and once she’d pulled the kit out from under the sink she took the briefest of moments to herself. She clutched the basin with her hands and let gravity take the weight of her head if just for a second. Then she drew herself up, wiped her face with her hands and took a deep breath. She made eye contact with herself in the mirror and did her best to muster some semblance of a brave face.

As she glided back down the stairs she saw that Ace had uncomfortably settled on one of the kitchen stools. Without looking at him directly she put the first-aid kit on the kitchen island with a loud thunk and opened it dramatically.

“Quite the extensive first-aid kit,” Ace commented.

Nancy hummed in agreement.

“I was a troublesome child,” she replied.

“I don’t doubt it.”

Her eyes flicked to his then. The look they shared was loaded and utterly unconnected to the words they were saying.

There was a long stretch of silence as Nancy tended to his (visible) wounds. Ace was trying to be stoic but she saw the slightest scrunch of his nose when something stung or hurt. She hated to admit she felt every single thing along with him. Awful thing to have your heart exist outside of your body.

She didn’t like she was adding to his pain either, even if it was helping him. There was some broader metaphor there but she was too emotionally exhausted to pay too much attention to it.

He was right though, it wasn’t as bad as it looked. He had that going for him at least.

“So,” Nancy said eventually, not as a beginning of a sentence but as a full sentence.

Ace only raised his eyebrows in response to her raised eyebrows so she decided to make the conversation, if you could call it that, more productive.

“You going to tell me what happened?” she prompted.

Ace just sighed, considering.

“Had a thing. Dug a bit too deep,” he said. “Some people didn’t like what I found.”

“Ah,” said Nancy. “The Nancy Drew Special.”

She granted him some time away from her probing questions, but they both knew that she wouldn’t drop it forever. He had known that when he said it but he had been asking for some time, a moment, some room to breathe—so she relented.

“You don’t have to do it on your own, you know,” she said after a beat.

“I know, I was going to call but…” he paused. Nancy knew exactly what the ‘but’ was about.

“Right,” she said, pausing. “Well, next time I’d still rather you call.”

Ace nodded.

“Noted,” he replied kindly. “Thanks.”

She gave him a tight smile and went back to work. She felt the weight of his gaze on her as she did.

Once she was done fixing his face up best she could she surveyed him. His face looked much better but he was still sitting awkwardly.

“I need to look at your side.”

“W—why?”

“Because I can tell by the way you’re leaning something’s wrong,” Nancy explained. “Can I please just have a look at least, I’ll be gentle.”

Ace gave her a discerning and somewhat disbelieving eye.

“Okay,” she conceded. “As gentle as I can be. Can I?”

She ran her fingers lightly along the hem of his shirt. His face hardened briefly before he quickly schooled his expression and nodded shortly so Nancy pulled up his shirt to see.

She poked around, but gently as she promised. She rode every wince with him, hating it all the way.

She pulled her head back after her examination. But her hands remained where they were. They feathered lightly over his side now, barely touching him and not with enough pressure to hurt. It was almost instinctive and she couldn’t help herself.

She needed to stop.

He blinked quickly and she thought she heard a stutter in his breath.

“I, uh,” Nancy tried, swallowing thickly. She hadn’t fully registered—or allowed herself to register—until just now how close he was and she was beginning to feel unsteady, a little heady.

She could not be distracted.

She would not be distracted.

Her mouth was slightly open now, she was probably going to say something but she had no idea what it would be, if it was anything at all.

Why was he looking at her like that?

She wanted him to stop but, also, she never wanted him to stop.

They both looked down at her fingers still traitorously tracing thoughtless shapes along his skin.

“I don’t think your ribs are bruised or broken,” she said more composed than she felt but barely above a whisper. It was easier now he wasn’t looking directly at her. But only marginally. “You’ll probably have a nasty bruise but there’s, um, not a lot to be done. I can grab you an ice pack or something.”

“Uh-huh,” Ace said, far off. He brought his hand up and grazed it along her wrist, cradling it in.

His fingers were barely touching her skin but she felt goosebumps in their wake. That was to say nothing of what it did to her heart. It felt like it was about to explode even with the most inane of touches.

His head was still bent, silently looking down at his right side—their hands. They were so close she could feel his hair brush gently at her forehead. She didn’t know if she had forgotten how to breath or whether she just unable to in this moment. Ace had stolen that away from her with just an index finger. She felt utterly and overwhelmingly entranced.

She should have left immediately—gone and got an ice pack freezer but instead she continued to stand in in place. Her feet, too, had turned traitors it seemed. What had happened to her will power? But she knew what happened: Ace had eroded it without even really trying.

If they just stayed like this, though, that would be alright. She could look at the nook of Ace’s elbow and want to push her thumb into it. She could think of doing the same to the crease now between his eyebrows. She could think about kissing him until neither of them could breathe, and then just a little bit more. She could do all of that and it would still be alright. No harm done. No fatal curses triggered. But then he had to go and look at her again.

And everything came undone. All her resolve, all the work she had done these past weeks to avoid him, everything. Her ears were ringing and the only sound she could make out now was that of her thundering heartbeat and Ace’s uneven breathing. Or maybe that was her uneven breathing—it was hard to tell.

They had a silent, one-second conversation that lasted a lifetime.

Then she saw the glint in his eye, and she knew the moment he decided he was going to lean forward and cross a threshold that could not be uncrossed.

Something screamed out a warning from deep within her and, suddenly, it was like someone had dumped a bucket of water over her head.

It took everything in her, but she pulled back. For him. Anything, even this. Even hurting him to help him.

She cleared her throat loudly. Ace was startled into refocusing on her abrupt re-routing of the moment. She could see him clock it, recover from it and put it away so he could dissect it later. For just a second she wished they weren’t so similar.

“I need to, uh,” she was quickly forgetting how words worked. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ice pack.”

When she came back with a bag of peas (it was all they had), she did her best to be as even and perfunctory as possible.

“I’ll bring a mattress down so you’re more comfortable and you don’t have to go upstairs,” Nancy said. “I can sleep on the couch.”

Ace’s throat bobbled and he looked like he was going to confront her. It was nothing but misplaced hope on her part that made her feel like there was even a possibility of avoiding that. How could she have made such a disastrous misstep? How would she parry this one?

She felt herself subtly pleading at him with her eyes. Desperately trying to reach out from behind the façade she once again had to put up.

She saw his expression change as he looked at her and his mind deviate at the last second. He knew her too well for his own good. She let out the breath she had been holding.

She knew that it was only a stay of execution. They were too much alike for him to be able to drop it entirely. She just hoped it could be delayed for as long as possible until she could figure something else out.

So he chose something else to argue with her about.

“I’m okay on the couch,” he insisted. “I’ve disrupted your night enough already.”

Nancy just shook her head and he relented. Normally he would keep insisting and end up taking the couch but he looked… tired. He probably figured out that she didn’t have the bandwidth to fight him on it either. Not after they had reached some sort of multifaceted truce on confrontation.

She went about setting them up for the night. Ace kept trying to help to the point where she literally had to slap him away at one stage.

“What’s the point of me doing this if you’re just going to hurt yourself more?” she’d said, buried under an armful of blankets and pillows.

“You wouldn’t have to carry so much,” he said simply.

He was telling her something about himself.

“Sit there and drink your tea. It’s some fancy brand Ryan bought and he’d be mad if you wasted it.”

That seemed to finally strike a chord with him and he sat back down.

In all honestly, she could’ve taken one of her dad’s beds but she wanted to be near so she could be sure Ace was okay (that was what she told herself anyway). It hadn’t passed by her notice that he could definitely have picked the locks at his own place but they’d deal with wherever Florence was tomorrow. And the fact Ace probably needed to see a doctor.

They just needed to get through the night.

“Ace,” she whispered into the dark. “If you snore I will kick you out.”

There was a moment that all her anxieties threatened to rush up and fill but then…

“Fair,” he replied sleepily.

It was quiet after that but Nancy knew it would be short lived. She found that, not for the first time, she was somewhat dreading her morning coffee.

[samkerrworshipper]

las 15.

mapi leon x reader, alexia putellas x reader (platonic)

warnings: the spanish federation ick

erm look at me posting something 😮 anyways enjoy haha i kinda hate it but need to feed yall somehow

“You need to be aware of the consequences of what could happen if you sign this document.”

You stared down at the mahogany surface of your lawyers desk, it was dark, sanded, smooth and shiny. Contemporary, but it also looked old, like a heirloom. It distracted your from the non stop drawl.

“I don’t care, I’m signing it.”

Your eyes travelled along the surface, lookinbg at the different waves of wood and the way that the dark colours marbled together.

“The RFEF could come for you, they could try and take your license. You might not compete at the world cup, the press will come for you, Vilda will come for you, Barca could reduce your playing time, it could be the end of your career. There are other negatives.”

You’ve thought about all of them of course, how could you not?

“I’ve already said it, I don’t care. Let them come for me, let them do whatever they want. I am done with it all. Fourteen other players have signed it, no? I will be the fifteenth and that is final.”

You weren’t a big fan of your lawyer, he was old and money oriented. He also didn’t have your best interest in mind, his sole focus was earning you as much money as possible, which had been fine up until today.

“So what? You plan to be the best in the world and never play international football again? This will ruin your career, it will put an end to the Ballon D’or campaign, it will change things for you, you can’t just do this because your girlfriend does it as well, this will be detrimental for you.”

The wood grooved at the edges, flattening out and curving so the edges weren’t too sharp.

“I refuse to stand by and submit myself to abuse. That’s what happens every time I go to that place, every time I go to camp I submit myself to abuse, torture, horrific conditions. The fact that you would even dare imply that I would do this for anybody but myself is preposterous. I am better than the condition I am being subkmitted to, I deserve better than to be objectified and treated as if I am dirt on that man’s shoe and I refuse to be treated as such. I have standards for myself and the people around me and I refuse to live by these for much longer. I’ll draft up the letter, I’ll send it to you for editing purposes and once your done you will send it to the RFEF, consequences be damned. You should be glad that I lasted two more windows then everyone else, honestly I’m ashamed that I didn’t do this earlier, but I’m ready to take a stand with everybody else now. I don’t want to play in a World Cup if it means this is how I will live my life.”

You looked up at your lawyer, hoping the fire burning in your soul was reflective in your eyes.

“This is a bad decision, you are thinking with your heart and not your head, this is unlike you.”

You pulled your eyes from the mahogany, standing up from your seat slowly.

“No, I’m thinking with my own interests, not yours, not my managers, not my bank accounts. I’m thinking with my mental health, my emotional health and my physical health. For the first time in my life I am taking time to focus on myself, so tyeah maybe it’s unlike me, but I’d like to think this might be the a better version of me, I’ll email you my letter, all you havr to do is forward it, if it’s such a struggle don’t even bother reading it, I don’t care what you have to say, I’m legally obligated to make you aware of any contractual issues so here I am. Give a fuck, don’t give a fuck, it doesn’t change anything for me, I’ve made my decision and nothing or nobody will make me change my mind.”

You didn’t wait around to hear what he planned to say in rebuttal, exiting the stuffy office as quickly as your legs would allow.

You made it to your car before you felt the tears flooding down your face. Even now, even after you’d tried to speak out you still felt like you were being silenced, like nothing had changed. That’s why you were doing what you were doing, why you knew this was what you needed to do. It didn’t make it any easier though, knowing that no matter what choices you made, even if they were for the good of you there were still going to be people around you who condemned them.

You were supposed to be at training, but you’d taken the day of to finalise all this bullshit. It was frustrating, knowing that the choices you were making for the good of yourself could end up being harmful to your career in a multitude of ways, it was all so fucking hard.

Everybody was at training, and yet here you were balling your eyes out in the carpark of your stupid fucking lawyers office.

If you hadn’t hit rock bottom at the last camp, the this was it, this was your final straw.

It was all too much, you’d been holding out for too long, but the mixture of the other 14 girls refusing to come back and Alexia’s injury had been enough of a motivation for Vilda to try and ruin your life. It had started with extra training after your sessions, then sessions in the mornings, then separating you from the rest of the team, limiting your diet, gym sessions, changing your schedules to everybody elses, punishing you for nothing, treating you like you were a slave to the Spanish Women’s team.

You were the best midfielder they had, excluding Alexia, and she was hurt, you were the scapegoat for the team, you were responsible for the wins and the reason for the losses.

You knew that with your leave, somebody else would end up taking your role, probably Aitana who was far to young to deal with that kind of pain, and you felt bad, you felt more guilty than you thought possible, but you couldnt do it for any longer, you couldn’t act like it wasn’t killing you on the inside for every second that you spent away with those people.

You hated it, you hated feeling like nothing, you hated feeling worthless, you hated living your life like it was pointless, you couldn’t do it for any longer, not when you were giving up every single part of yourself to keep yourself together.

You couldn’t stay how you were, crying in the drivers seat of your car milling over the memories of your last camp, you needed to leave, needed to go somewhere, needed to talk somebody.

Before you really knew what you were doing you’d started driving, letting the tears drip onto your lap and the steering wheel as you frantically drove your way through the city.

You couldn’t be alone, but you also couldn’t handle all the eyes of your teammates, so you drove to the one other place that you could think of where you hoped somebody would be.

You tried your hardest to wipe the tears from your face, but they kept falling, the sleeve of your shirt getting damper by the second as you tried to wipe up the evidence of your breakdown. It was useless, and eventually you gave up, stepping out of your car and ducking your head as you walked towards the lift and navigated your way through the apartment building.

The person you were looking for didn’t answer the door, instead you were put face to face with Olga.

“Hola chica, Ale didn’t tell me she was expecting visitors.”

You bit down on your lip, tapping your foot against the floor as you peeked around Olga, searching for the person you were seeking out.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t tell her, I can go home, I know she’s been busy with her rehab, I don’t even know how I ended up here.”

Olga tugged at your arm before you could spit anything else out, tugging you through the door and closing it from behind you.

“Nonsense chica, you’re very welcome here, Alexia is sitting out on the balcony doing her exercises, she’ll be more than happy to have your company, just head on through, your always welcome here.”

You nodded at Olga, smiling at her as much as you could with your lip still stuck between your teeth.

“Thank you, thank you so much, I really appreciate.”

You tried to ignore the tears that were still dripping down your face, it didn’t feel like you were crying, even though you were, it more felt like you were shedding a layer of yourself, the layer that was holding all of the trauma that you’d been holding in, like it was your way of getting rid of it all.

Alexia’s apartment was meticulously clean as ever, but you spotted her out in the sun easily.

She was standing outside, in a pose similar to ones you did in your yoga sessions.

She looked at peace, like she was calm, like she was serene, the complete polar opposite to how you felt and you really didn’t want to burden her with your problems, but you were here now anyways.

You tiptoed over to the glass sliding door, pushing it open, causing Alexia’s head to peak up at you. She looks at you with curiosity, but doesn;t move, instead her head nods you towards one of the outdoor lounges beside her, which you beeline for.

She stays in her position as she addresses you.

“The appointment with your lawyer didn’t go well then?”

You did a double take as you stared at Alexia, shocked at the information she’d somehow managed to obtain.

“You don’t take me for a idiota do you? Mapi told me you had a appointment you were keeping quiet about this morning, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out who it must have been with, considering recent events. Although your girlfriend wasn’t smart enough to work it out herself.”

Alexia stayed in her stretch, looking at you as if to prompt you to tell her more.

“Yes, I had a appointment with my lawyer, Alexia.”

Alexia smirked to herself, she was one of the most obersvanet people you knew, nothing got by her, you weren’t all that surprised to find out that this hadn’t.

“You’ll be joining the group then?”

You hadn’t really comes to terms with it, let alone saying it out loud.

“That’s the plan, should be official by tomorrow.”

Tears were still dripping down your face, you couldn’t find yourself caring though.

“Good for you. You deserve better, we all deserve better, may we all hopefully make a change.”

Alexia wasn’t officially a part of the movement, but she was everyway besides a signature as equally involved as everybody else.

“It just feels like i’m letting the team down, that I’m letting everyone down.”

Alexia nodded at you, finally coming out of her stretch and walking over to sit down next to you.

“You’re doing what’s good for you chica, your doing something that is going to make you happier, that is going to make your life better. Nobody else matters beyond that, trust me.”

Alexia looked at you, like she was genuinely struggling to help you out in the moment. She had been your mentor at Barca for forever, you seeked out her advice more than anybody elses, especially in this moment.

“I don’t know how to do it anymore, it’s like he was trying to ruin my fucking life, like his whole purpose for everyday was to make my life a living hell, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t walk around camp acting like it was fine, I couldn’t smile at cameras and talk to the press and tell them about how great I was feeling when it was all lies, all I wanted to do was leave, or sleep, or die, all because of his and his staff. They were hardly feeding me, hardly letting me sleep, hardly giving me a break and expecting me to perform at the same level as everybody else, if not better. I just couldn’t do it anymore Ale, it was too much.”

Alexia’s arm placed itself on your knee, squeezing your covered skin.

“You shouldn’t have to, you needed to leave and you did, you made the right decision chica, you made a impossible decision that will make your life 100 times easier, it doesn’t make you weak, it makes you so incredibly brave for being able to identify that you were being treated wrongly and that you needed to remove yourself from that space.”

The tears kept falling, your pants were slowly becoming soaked with the raw emotion.

“Mapi did it because of the abuse, because she had a legitimate reason, I’m leaving because they worked me a little bit harder than everybody else, it feels like I’m overreacting.”

You could feel Alexia rolling her eyes from beside you.

“Really? Has Mapi told you that?”

Mapi had told you that you deserved the world, you deserved everything you wanted, you deserved to be treated like a queen, not how the RFEF was treating you. She’d told you the decision was yours, that she would support you no matter what you did, but she’d also told you that after every camp you came back with a little bit less of yourself, that Vilda was stripping parts of you away to use at his mercy.

“It’s not the same thing, Patri, Pina, Mapi, they all have good reasons, they’ve all been hurt, Vilda is just trying to make me better, trying to make me worthy.”

Alexia’s hand squeezed tighter.

“You’re lying to yourself and you know it. As long as he is in charge, you aren’t going to get treated how you deserve, none of us are. We’ve all paid our dues, yet they don’t give a shit, they break us all down until we’ve got nothing left to give. They broke me down until I did my acl, if you hadn’t of left they would have done the same to you. It’s nonstop, even if it isn’t the same kind of abuse as Mapi, it’s still abuse, they still rip out every part of you in the process. Each time you come back you have less of yourself to offer, but they keep taking, and taking, they make us feel nothing. It’s a waste, it’s a waste of the wonderful life we’ve all been gifted. We deserve to be happy, we deserve to be free of the pain.”

You nodded your head, you’d been avoiding telling Mapi about all of this. You were conscious that she was still working through a lot of her own trauma, and you didn’t want to reopen scars that were only just beginning to heal.

“I don’t know what to do Ale, I sign the papers, I write the letters and I’m taking a stand, I’m trying to make a change. I stay, I wreck it all, but I keep my career. It feels like I’m at a crossroads with myself, and I can’t talk about it weith Maps because god forbid shes already been through enough with her own struggle through it all, she doesn’t need me on top of that.”

Alexia stood back up, getting back onto her mat and pushing herself into another stretch, all whilst she maintained eye contact with you.

“Mapi’s talked to you about her struggles, si? She’s burdening you with her own problems, yet it doesn’t feel that way, because you love her and you’d do anything to make her pain less. I guarantee she’d feel the exact same way. You’ve been through a lot, none of us will ever be able to completely comprehend what you’ve been through, but if you started talking to your loved ones about it we’d be able to support you better. Or a therapist, I know Barca has been giving you sessions, but I mean a real psychologist, not just a person who tells you that you need a day off. You need somebody to help you, to actually make you feel like you deserve better than how they treated you, because I know that you know that but I don’t think you really believe it.”

The tears were slowly coming to a standstill, slipping less frequently down your face as Alexia talked to you.

“I don’t want to make her hurt any more than she already has.”

Alexia just looked at you, with that double eyebrow raise and little crinkle in her forehead.

“If you think that Maria wouldn’t do anything for you, even if it meant sucking every single inch of pain from your body and putting it into hers, she would do it and she would do it with a smile on her face. Her whole world, her whole solar system revolves around you and she’d want you to talk to her about this. She knows better than anybody else what you’re experiencing, she’s literally been where you are, so why not talk to her about it?”

It was true, for as long as Mapi and you had been together she’d tried to fix every single thing, she would do anything to make you feel better, this didn’t feel the same though.

“She deserves to live in a world where Vilda, where the RFEF, don’t affect her anymore. She signed the petition, she’s cleaned her hands of it all, and I should have done it with her, but I didn’t. I chose to keep playing for the benefit of my career, because I was greedy and decided that a Ballon D’or and any kind of accolade I was a shot at was more important then taking a stand and I hate it. I hate that now that I’ve won things that suddenly it’s all hit me that I don’t like what’s been happening, and I don’t want to support it. Mapi doesn’t deserve to go through it a second time, all because I was greedy.”

Alexia switched sides on her stretch, the sun was radiating off of her olive skin and her blonde hair, she looked ethereal.

“Have you told her anything about it?”

Alexia was frowning, like she was shocked by your actions.

“She knows that I was struggling at camp, she told me I was welcome to talk to her. After the last one she knew something had changed, she told me she was worried and I shook her off, because I thought she was being overprotective, but she was right, she had reason to be worried, I wasn’t okay. I’m not okay, i don’t know how to process it all.”

Alexia nodded.

“Go home, tell her what’s happening, see what she says, I think it’ll be a lot better than whatever you’ve thought up. Mapi has been my bestfriend for years, she’s dated my sister, she’s dated my friends and I can confidently tell you that she loves you more than any of them, you’re her do or die, all she’ll want to do is support you, please just go and talk to her.”

Alexia looked at you with such conviction and honesty that you couldn’t find it in you to try and fight her on the topic.

“Thank you Ale, I needed this, I needed to talk to somebody, needed to feel less crazy.”

Alexia did one last stretch before standing up, pulling you into a tight hug before you could pull away.

“You’re not crazy chica, you’re going through a very real, very hard time, and you deserve to have the people around you show you how much they love you.”

Alexia let go of you, shoving you back towards the door.

“Go talk to your girl, and sign those papers, and be happy, enjoy life, enjoy peace. You deserve it, chica.”

You nodded into Alexia’s shoulder, letting go of her and slipping back into her apartment, leaving her to get back to her stretching.

You shivered when you spotted Mapi’s car already parked in her spot. You knew you’d be cutting it close with getting home earlier then her, but you’d held a silent hope that you would be the first home. You hesitated to exit your car, scared of what the inside of your apartment held. You weren’t scared so much, more a little bit tentative of the conversation that you were about to have, knowing that it could majorly impact your relationship. In your heart, you knew that Mapi would love you no matter what, but it didn’t calm the nerves inside of you as you pulled your keys from the ignition, pulled out the papers that your lawyer had given you and exited your car.

The whole walk from your car, to the elevator and then down the hallway to your apartment had your heart thrumming inside of your chest. Your hands were quite literally shaking as you pushed your key into the door.

You toed your shoes off at the door, slotting them down beside the door before slowly walking your way through the entrance. It wasn’t hard to find Mapi, she was right in front of you, sitting down at the island bench, patting Bagheera and eating a post training salad. You knew that there was one meant for you still sitting on the shelf of your fridge, from when the two of you had meal planned yesterday. She looked so undisturbed, with the afternoon light coming in through the gaps in the blinds and the general silence that you were about to break.

You announce yourself by slinging your bag down against the wall, a loud enough noise that seems to wake Mapi from her happy daze.

She smiles as soon as her eyes set on you and it only makes the weight in your gut feel ten times heavier and the pain in your heart ten times worse.

You wanted to turn around and walk right back out the door you’d just walked through, but you couldn’t, not with the way that Mapi looked at you, like her whole day had been made by your appearance.

“Hola bebita, how was your meeting?”

Mapi’s smiling ear to ear, quite literally, you swear you can see every single one of her teeth. It had hurt you to lie to Mapi about where you were going today, telling her that you’d had a crucial appointment with your manager about some media things, it wasn’t a direct lie. You had met with your manager, instead of it being positive though, it had been quite the opposite.

You didn’t have any words to reiterate to Mapi, so instead you just picked up the papers that were tucked away in your hands and placed them down on the island infront of her.

Mapi looked at you with confusion for a few seconds.

“Just read them, you’ll understand it more once you have.”

Mapi didn’t hesitate, picking up the first piece of paper and scanning over it, before moving onto the second, then the third and so on, till she’d made it through the entire stack.

You stood anxiously on your toes the whole time, balancing from one foot to the other as you contemplated how Mapi was going to reply to this sudden change.

When she did finish, she looked up at you, a lot of questions hidden behind her curious eyes.

“I’m resigning, or requesting they don’t call me up. I don’t want to play for a federation that doesn’t care about me. I’m sorry I didn’t do it earlier, but I wasn’t ready and I’m sorry I’m bother you with it now but I’m also sorry I didn’t tell you about it earlier, I met with my lawyer for the first time today to sign the documents and write my statement. If it all goes to plan then they should be out in the next week. I don’t want to do it anymore, I can’t do it anymore, I’m sorry.”

Mapi blinked a few times, like you’d just blindsided her completely, and you figured you had.

“I didn’t even really know it was happening until after last camp, and I just realised that I was so exhausted and so tired and so sick of it all that I couldn’t do it again. I should have done it earlier, I should have been a part of it all from the start but I was scared and I still am scared Maps. This is supposed to be my job, I’m supposed to be grateful for the opportunities I’m given and yet I feel like I’m a fraud and I’m lying when I say that because I’m not grateful and I’m not happy and I can’t do it anymore, I just can’t. I’ve been praying every night that I get injured, so that I get a break like Ale, and I don’t want to feel like that anymore.”

Mapi just stood up and pulled you into her arms, silencing the rambling and making you realise that you were now crying again.

She slowly led you towards the couch, bringing you into her arms as you tried to take control of yourself.

It felt like every piece of anguish, every piece of fear, every piece of internal hatred was slowly being pulled from your body and it felt so good, like you were somehow being healed.

Mapi wiated until you were coherent enough, until you felt more resurfaced, and less like the bloodn was rushing through your ears and every though of self-doubt was spirally through the different ridges of your brain.

“Princesa, you’ve made this decision for you, si? Not because of me, not because of anybody else, because you believe this is best for you?”

You nodded into her chest, enjoying the feeling of your own skin pressed directly to hers.

“I’m sick of them making me feel this way Maps, I don’t like it, I don’t think it’s right.”

Mapi’s body was surrounding you, her scent, her feel, her everything, and it was all you’d needed today, everything that Alexia had assured you would make you feel better.

Mapi’s salad was forgotten on the counter.

Bagheera was somewhere else.

It was just the two of you, just the two of you to face everything.

“We’re put into boxes, as women, men try to make us be everything and yet nothing. It’s not right, we’re expected to be as good as the men, but we have to behave eloquently, say our pleases and thank yous and never be ungrateful for the piss poor conditions we put up with. We’re supposed to be passionate, but we’re not allowed to over react in any way. We can only underperform, not overperform. There are no expectations for us, because we’re women and we’re supposed to be worse than the men, but they’re are also so many expectations for us to meet. It’s okay for you to be done with that, there is nothing wrong with you saying no to constantly being abused. You’re not a fraud bebita and I’m here for you no matter what. You’re my girlfriend first, a person second and a soccer player last. It doesn’t matter, none of it matters, you matter, you’re feelings and how you feel is what matters.”

Mapi’s hand pulled your head from her neck, her lips connecting with your forehead with ease.

“I’m not doing it anymore Maps. I want to be strong, I want to say no. I want to be a part of the right side of history. I don’t want to sit around pretending everything’s fine when it’s not fine. It’s nowhere near fine and until there is a change it won’t be.”

Mapi nodded, pressing a series of kisses to your forehead.

“Then we’ll work it out, you’ll keep me in the loop and we’ll figure it out together, no more hiding these big feelings from me. We’ll go and see our therapists and take soe time off and do whatever you need to feel safe and happy, because what matters is you, nobody else, si?”

You nodded your head once again, enjoying the same smile that her face was covered in. her lips migrated down to your cheeks, pressing kisses to the rosiest parts, pushing the tears away.

“I’ve got you bebita, we’ve got each other, we’re going to be fine, we all are.”

[writingwithcolor]

Author with cultural disconnect: How do I write without making it seem as if I hate my own heritage?

Anonymous asked:

I’m a white-passing Asian author, and I’ve never felt all that connected with my heritage. My current story centers on a fairy (re: fantasy-world POC) child and ends with her realizing that her parents are toxic af and her human best friend’s family takes her in. This is the perfect opportunity to sort through my own issues with my heritage and finally convince my monkey-brain that it’s okay to not know how to cook Vietnamese food or celebrate tet or speak Vietnamese… But I also realize that if I’m not careful, this could easily slip into “Hey, I hate my heritage and so should you!” So how can I stop that from happening?

Writing for yourself first, not an audience

I ask you a simple question: why put pressure on yourself to have any sort of non-offensive messaging for a story that hasn’t been drafted yet and is to convince your monkey brain it’s okay to exist as yourself?

That seems like the fastest way to stop the story from being actually cathartic and instead a performance art piece when you already feel hung up on performing as “properly” part of your culture.

As I said in Working Through Identity Issues and Other Pitfalls of Representation, not all stories you write need to be for public consumption. Especially stories you’re using for your own self-processing and therapy, because you’re trying to get a cathartic moment that is rewriting your own story.

At what point does the public need to be involved in that?

I do understand the compulsion to want to post—I have definitely posted some Questionable™ material in my drive to get validation for feeling the way I do, wanting people to witness me and say “same.” It’s a powerful urge. Sometimes it’s worked, but most of the time it’s just made me feel horrifically exposed.

But you really do not have to post in public to get any sort of validation. Set up a groupchat with friends if you want the cheerleading and witnessing—people who will know your story and give you good-faith interpretations and won’t accuse you of anything. Honestly I’d suggest setting up this groupchat anyway; as someone who just got one again after quite a few years without it, my productivity has skyrocketed from being around supportive people.

Let the monkey brain have its monkey brain moment and shut off the concept the story is for the public. Shut off the concept of performing for an unknown audience. It’s for you. Be authentic, no matter how bad it would look to outsiders. They’re not reading it. Part of getting catharsis, sometimes, is being the worst version of yourself, somewhere nobody else can see it.

Deciding to publish the work

If, after you do write it, you find that you actually do want to polish it up and put it somewhere… edit it. Rewrite it entirely if that’s what it takes. Take the story through the same drafting process every story needs to go through, ripping out the unfortunate implications as you go.

Editing can be its own form of healing, as you try to figure out what this character would need to not be hateful. As you realize, once this longform journal entry is out of your head, what was bothering you now that you can see it pinned down on a page. But you absolutely do not need to write with the intention of editing in that healing. When I’ve tried, it’s fallen flat.

The healing will come from being yourself, no public involved, and writing about your feelings in their rawest form. Anything else is extra.

There’s no point in trying to put guard rails on the drafting process, not for a deeply personal piece. And by the time that drafting process is done, you’ll likely have specific scenarios and contexts that you can ask about, and you might even have ideas on how to fix it yourself once the story has a shape to it.

This is 100% a situation where there’s no real sense in idea workshopping something in the plotting stage. You’re doing something for you. Decide if it’s for public consumption later (while acknowledging “no” is a perfectly valid answer), and only figure out how to make the story not overtly harmful if you decide to put it out into the public.

~ Leigh

[corazondebeskar-reads]

save your tears

Joel Miller x f!reader

originally for Febuwhump 2024 Day 18 - too weak to move | Febuwhump masterlist

words: 1.1k

summary: What would have happened if you went with Joel and Ellie instead of staying in Jackson?

-- I cheated a little for this one but this is an alternate universe scene from "you know you never stood a chance" (spoiler warning). BUT this can be read as a standalone.

warnings: established situationship, canon-compliant-ish, canon-typical violence, description of wound, description of bodily fluids related to a wound, realistic thoughts about a survival situation, hunting and eating of animals

dividers by @saradika-graphics

A/N: this is what I call the silver lake alternate version. in my very early draft of the story, you did not stay in jackson. you got mad at Joel for abandoning Ellie and went to the stables in the morning, planning to go with Ellie and Tommy. The rest of the events happened as per canon. However, as I was writing this scene, it became quickly apparent that it was the wrong narrative choice. but just for fun, here's a snippet after Joel is wounded. (stay tuned in the end notes for the one single David line I wrote).

“You can’t shoot,” Ellie says. She won’t look at you. It’s not mean; it’s just another way you’re failing them. 

“I’m sorry.”

“I’ll be back,” she promises. 

You hate this. But there’s no time for self-loathing. What you can do instead is boil snow. 

You creep up to the main level of the house. When you’re sure it’s clear, you crawl through, trying to stay out of sight through any windows. You’re able to scrounge up a few containers of dubious origin and cleanliness but better than your two canteens. 

You light a fire in an old ration tin and prop a steel mixing bowl (the best find of the lot) on top. The first round of snow goes to scrubbing out the containers with an unfortunately large sliver from your bar of soap. 

It’s a loss, but you can’t risk putting dirty water on Joel’s wound. 

Once you have one clean bowl of water, you set another to boil and pull back his shirt and bandages. 

It’s bad. You know it, Ellie knows it, Joel knows it. But you have to try. You have to, or all three of you are dead. 

Well. Maybe not Ellie. She’s tough and capable. Maybe she could make it back to Tommy without you slowing her down. 

You have nothing remotely sterile, so you mentally set aside the next bowl of water for cleaning a scrap of fabric. For now, you try to flush the wound with a slow stream of warm water. 

You’ve been talking to him quietly, explaining to him what you were doing, though his consciousness is dubious at best today. But when you start to pour, his eyes snap open, and his hand flashes out to squeeze at the bones of your wrist. 

“Joel, it’s me, it’s just me,” you say quickly. His grip is grinding, and things are not going to be helped by a broken wrist. And you know it never really healed right, that breaking it a second time would mean it possibly never working the same again. You try not to panic. 

“Joel, please,” you whimper, and he seems to finally recognize you. His fingers loosen, but don’t let go. 

“I’m just trying to help,” you say. You feel like the basement is getting smaller, darker, like it might swallow you up. Someone is breathing shakily, and you’re humiliated to find out it’s you. 

His thumb rubs against your pulse for a moment. “Take Ellie and go,” he whispers, voice hoarse and cracking. 

Instead of responding, you bring the canteen up to his mouth and let a little water drip into his mouth. His eyes close for a moment. 

He purses his lips too soon, a tiny shake to his head. 

“It’s okay, I’m boiling more, please drink.”

But he’s already passing back out. You reach up and stroke your fingers through his hair. It’s damp with sweat despite the crystalline spread of ice inside the windowpanes. 

Sweat is good, right? It means his body is burning the infection. At least, you think so. 

You pause to switch the water so you can get a clean rag. Maybe when Ellie gets back, you can try to ransack the other houses for anything of use. 

You wait until you have a full slate of clean water before you drink any. When it hits your tongue, you think you might cry. Pacing yourself is so hard. 

He wakes up again when you try to clean the wound with the fabric you’d torn from your ragged t-shirt. Every breath draws bile you have to swallow again and again, a fruitless endeavor that ends with you scrambling to throw up outside, terrified of introducing any other contaminants to his environment. 

When you scrub at the wound, he’s awake enough to struggle with the pain but not awake enough to be aware of what’s happening. So he tries to move away, to fight you off. 

It’s worth it, you tell yourself over and over. You’re able to get some of the dirt away with some soap, and some of the pus flows, but not enough. You don’t put pressure on it, afraid to push the infection deeper. 

The skin around his stitches is puffy, red, and oozing. Dread settles deep. You’re probably going to need to cut them and clean the wound. But not now; you can’t force yourself to at this moment. Plus, you might need Ellie to help in case he tries to fight it. 

Instead, you use a clean corner of the rag to wipe dirt from his face and another to try and drip a little more water into his mouth. Suppressing a sob, you press your lips to the burning skin of his forehead. 

Ellie comes back a few hours later and a few rabbits richer. She’s skinned and prepped them when she comes inside, and you set to boiling the meat and bones. 

The two of you eat the meat, and you spend the rest of the evening trying to drip broth into Joel’s mouth. 

It turns into a rhythm. Joel doesn’t get worse, but he doesn’t get better. Sometimes, he wakes and tries to convince you to leave again, to take Ellie and abandon him. Neither of you are very tolerant of his arguments. 

Once, when you’re alone, he seems a little lucid. Ellie is out checking traps, and you’re sitting helplessly next to Joel, sniffling. You’ve got squirrel boiling in the little can fire, but it takes a long time, leaving you with little to do but wait. 

“Why’re ya cryin’, sweetheart?” His voice cracks from disuse, and he tries to clear his throat. 

You’re up on your knees with the canteen to his lips in an instant. He drinks a little and swats it away, reaching a shaky hand to cup your cheek and brush away a tear with his thumb. 

“I know y’ain’t cryin’ over me,” he scolds. 

It only makes you cry harder, though you scramble to choke it back. You peel his hand from you, holding it for a moment in both of yours before giving it a gentle squeeze and placing it back on the mattress. 

“Let me get you some broth,” you mumble, wiping your eyes on your dusty sleeves. 

He lets you feed him a little. 

“C’mere,” he says when you’ve reluctantly stowed the broth. He tugs you to his uninjured side, and you have to squeeze your eyes tight as you gently curl to him. “Remember when you used to be a good girl and do whatever I’d tell ya?”

“We’re not leaving you, Joel.” You’re so tired of this conversation. Actually, you realize as his heat seeps through your clothes, you’re just so tired. 

“Even though I was gonna leave you?”

“Shit, you’re right,” you say and watch exasperatedly as he has the nerve to look a little hopeful. “You nearly leavin’ me behind in the safest place you know is the same thing as leavin’ you to rot in a random filthy basement.”

“Stubborn brat,” he grumbles before he falls back into a fitful sleep.

BONUS — The one line I wrote for a scene with David:

“something rude,” says David.

*title from "Save Your Tears" by The Weeknd

[ellievickstar]

Only You (Xavier Thorpe x Fem!Reader)

A/N: I drafted this whole thing in English class. In my notebook. On the spot. I was like: Oh this is cool and I started writing the basic details so this is a more defined version of what I wrote in that notebook. I think this was a super cool idea and definitely one of my better ones. 

Summary: The Addams twins are the newest addition to Nevermore Academy, a school for outcast. Y/N Addams soon learns that nothing is as it seems. 

Inspiration: I didn’t have one this time. 

Request: Not requested, unless I count my brain.

Parts: Part 2 /…

Warnings: Near-death, music-loving reader, thoughts of torture, mentions of pain, magic, mystical creatures. 

(Not my gif) 

~*~*~*~*~

As Wednesday’s twin sister you were supposed to keep her out of trouble. Despite that, you had to admit that you were almost as bad at Wednesday. You were different where you preferred archery to fencing and you preferred music to writing. Socialising was also something that you could do if need be while Wednesday liked to do things with you or on her own. 

This time, however, it was definitely your idea to put piranhas in the pool. It wouldn’t be your first time getting expelled but the disappointment in your Mother’s eyes were palpable. You focused your gaze on the principal as she began to speak. 

“Well, we don’t usually accept students mid-term, but given that they both have perfect grades, I managed to convince the school board to give you both a shot,” She smiled but it slowly faded as you and Wednesday stared at her with no reaction. She soon led us to the dormitories where me and Wednesday would be sharing a room with someone else. Usually, it was two girls to a room, however, it was requested that the two off you share a room with someone else, just to keep an eye on both of you at the same time. 

The girl was Enid, and she was interesting, to say the least. Trying to hug the both of you, and rainbow every where. You scoffed at the thought as you stepped out from the bathroom after changing into your black school uniform, another thing that had been specially requested. 

“Eek you look so cute,” She said as she looked up and down, she leaned forward for a hug but you stepped out of her reach. “I’m sorry, Wednesday and I aren’t that used to touching others,” you apologised and she nodded with understanding. Once Wednesday stepped out, Enid begun to show the both of you around. 

It was all quite pleasant, until an ignorant boy named Ajax came your way. 

“Enid, you’d never guess what I heard about your roommates, they said that she eats the people that she kills,” Enid tried to smile awkwardly before side-stepping to show you and Wednesday behind her. You frowned as Wednesday gave a clipped answer about how she fed the body parts to your pet spiders. The boy paled and quickly walked away, coward. 

~*~*~*~*~

You and Wednesday finally finished the tour and began to walk together to the front of the school to bid your family goodbye. Without turning your head, you spoke to your sister, “What do you think?” Her scowl deepened, clearly unhappy with the question. That’s when you heard it. 

I think I better start plotting our escape. You stopped, as you gaped at your sisters unopened mouth. “Did you say anything?” You asked, convinced that you were going insane. “No, did it happen again?” She asked, as she paused and turned to you. You nodded before readjusting your posture and continuing down the hall with your sister. 

You had been plagued by these voices, other peoples thoughts, you realised. You didn’t know how, but you could hear certain thoughts of people. It came randomly and you couldn’t control it. When you told your sister she had confessed that she too, had been confronted with visions. Different, yet they both started to occur a few months ago.

Soon, you were in front of your mother as she smiled sweetly at you and Wednesday. “I hope you will find to love Nevermore, as I did,” She sighed as she looked at teh school with so much nostalgia it made you sick. “I will never be like you, mother,” Wednesday said, “I will never grow up, find love, or have a family,” Mother sighed at Wednesday’s harsh words. Though I agreed with Wednesday, she could have been gentler with her words. 

“I was told that girls your age say harsh things and that I shouldn’t take it to heart,” Mother swallowed. You shot her an apologetic look. That’s when she bent down and whispered, “If you try running away, I have already told all family members to call me the second you show up on their doorstep, don’t test me, the both of you,” You blinked once without any indication of a reaction, “You are cruel mother,” You said. And she smiled, turning to leave. 

It soon began to rain and your lips twitched a little. What wonderful weather to go with your less then pleasant day. Wednesday nodded to you as she left for fencing and you nodded back as you turned to leave for the music room. 

While Wednesday played the cello, you played violin from a young age. You dreamed to be as good and make music as well known in the future as Niccolò Paganini’s caprice 24, or his La Campanella.  You grabbed your violin which you had left on the floor before tuning and playing your favourite pieces. 

When you had finished Beethoven’s Spring Sonata, movement 4, you heard slow clapping from the door. You turned to see the school’s artist, Xavier. You remembered him from his grandmother’s funeral a few years back when he had somehow gotten himself stuck in her casket and was nearly burnt alive. Wednesday thought it would have been funny, however, you slammed the button at hot prevented the casket from being any nearer to the incinerator. 

Last you recalled, Xavier had been in your debt ever since. 

“You’ve grown a lot taller since we last met,” You pointed out as you bent to keep your violin. He chuckled and the sound made your heart flutter. Strange. Maybe you should go visit the nurse later to see if something was perhaps wrong. He began to talk but you tuned him out as you walked towards Wednesday’s fencing class.

It was only when you saw your sister swiftly exiting her class did you finally pay attention to you surroundings. You walked towards her before you heard crumbling above you and saw a stone gargoyle tumbling towards you, broken off from the roof. 

At least you’d have an imaginative death, you thought before you closed your eyes, the last thing you remember was being pushed and you name being called as you gave into the darkness. 

~*~*~*~*~

Your eyes flung open and you sat up instantaneously, scanning your surroundings. You’re sister sat on your left as she placed a hand on yours, showing that she was here for you. You looked to your right and saw Xavier, gaping at the small amount of physical contact given by my sister. 

You glared at him and he quickly shut his mouth. You looked back at my sister as I asked her what happened. 

“I was exiting the fencing class feeling self-pity when I saw you walking towards me and noticed that a gorgon was going to fall onto you, that’s when Xavier pushed you out of the way,” You looked at Xavier and back at my sister. “Please tell him that if he’s looking for some kind of damsel to fall for his heroic acts, then he’s saved the wrong person,” You deadpanned. Wednesday nodded and stared at Xavier, awaiting for his response. He just rolled his eyes as he mumbled about how someone usually just said ‘thank you’. 

You ignored him as you were helped up by your sister, you shifted you head slightly, showing your thanks, she blinked back her answer. You both exited but you paused a few steps from the door, poking back, you could have sworn that you heard that familiar tapping of fingers. 

You turned to your sister and saw her doing the same as she eyed the same spot you were just looking at. She glanced at you and you shrugged before following your sister back to Ophelia hall where you would be making some adjustments to your room. 

~*~*~*~*~

The rest of your day was interesting, to summarise, Enid and Wednesday argued like dogs and cats, Ms Thornhill interrupted and gifted you and Wednesday flowers, the you found Xavier again, spoke to each other — though it seemed that something was on his mind — before he rushed off and you returned to your room. 

Your sister was typing away at her type writer when you entered, the sound of ruffling sheets caught you attention, and Wednesday instantly stopped typing. You lifted the sheets of your own bed to see thing. You glared the hand and grabbed it while it seemed to shriek and try and grab the mattress. 

“You have two options,” You threatened, passing the hand to your sister while she opened a drawer. She calmly, slowly began to lower the hand as she continued your sentence, “We can lock you in this drawer for the rest of the year, you will try and crawl your way out as you are driven crazy, your nails slowly becoming bloody and battered at your failed attempts,” She blinked once at you and you smiled, thee smile was small like and adders as you approached like a wolf surveying it’s prey. “Or, you can pledge your undying loyalty to us and help us escape,” Thing frantically nodded. Wednesday closed the drawer and set thing down on the table, and so he began to pledge his loyalty. 

“Now,” You started again as you let your smile drop, “How an we escape this hell?” And for a second, you could have sworn that your sister’s lips twitched up in answer. 

~*~*~*~*~

You decided to go for a walk around the school campus, that was when you spotted a rundown shed. You entered slowly before you realised that Xavier was inside, painting… 

“What is that,” You asked as he jumped slightly at the sound of your voice. You approached the canvas gingerly. He looked back at you and to the canvas as he sighed. “I don’t know,” He admitted, “I get these visions, every night of his monster, and it’s s overwhelming, so I just…paint,” He gestured to the large canvas where the monster was staring menacingly, it’s large mouth was open, showing it’s menacing fangs. 

That’s when disaster struck. 

The second he waved his hand, the monster came alive as it reached out and scratched Xavier’s neck. You stepped back, shocked that Xavier would let the monster come to life. “I thought you had control of your power,” You said as you rushed to get a clean cloth near-by. He pointed to a medical kit he kept by a bed. You grabbed some bandages and cleaning solutions to clean the fresh wounds. You stood in front of him and peered up at his neck, that was when you realised he was too tall. 

“Sit down,” You ordered. He chuckled as you grabbed a stool for him to sit down. “You’re short,” “No you’re just tall, who the hell is 6 feet these days,” You snapped back. Since you were feeling annoyed, you didn’t warn him before pressing the alcohol covered cloth to the cut. He hissed and bit his cheek as he clutched the edge of the stool. A snort slipped out as you continued to clean the cut. 

“Was that a laugh, Ms Addams?” He tried to look back but you slapped the back of his head, making him laugh, again. “Tell anyone and they wouldn’t believe you, and I will bury you alive,” You threatened. 

And that’s how you spent the rest of the night, laughing and making jokes with Xavier. Well, he made jokes and you laughed, but only a little. 

~*~*~*~*~

A/N: They are SO CUTE!!!! What do you think? I think I’m in love. This is only the first part, but I plan to recreate the whole series with YN Addams inside. I think it would be a fun way to practice my writing and get a better understanding of every character before season 2. 

Tag list: @poppet05​ @cityofidek​ @write-from-the-heart​ (If you want to be tagged please specify if it is for all Xavier fics or just this series) 

[solar-tl-27]

HEY

Whoah I’m posting

All by myself ??

Woah woah woah woah! I am here to show SOME art!

A while ago the announcement of the next pokemon game came out! And with my favorite region returning there was only one thing I could possibly do!

Hyperfixate on my own oc lore in the Pokémon universe so much that once again i’ll only be disappointed by the game in the end lol. So…. Let’s talk about them!

This will be a collection of some of my older art to finally end up on the most recent art i just finished so if u don’t care about Pokémon plz scroll down and appreciate my art ( ToT )

Ok so! I always make original characters to be my protagonist is Pokémon games so when x& y came out i created a character named colette

A woman in her mid 20’s that I totally 100% didn’t oc x canon ship with the villain (i did)

A looong time skip later pokemon sword shield came out which led to the continuation of the colette storyline!

With her daughter Pandora and her friends! Causing the creation of joshua & sapphire (the original image is definitely created with bases so credit to pokemon for the original art & selenaede for the bases)

(Draft didn’t save here so aha sob)

They have been through several versions since then, all slightly different over time

You had pandora: a smart and elegant young girl and the protagonist

Joshua: the nerdy one but also the one that helps everyone no matter what

Saphie: the one who likes cute things and fashion

They were pretty basic characters and evolved but this is theee base line of their characters up until their last design

Just 3 teens on an adventure

BUT NOW

Timeee skip babyyy the return of Colette’s home means i wanna drag her daughter there!

The teens are now young adults! Trying to figure out what they wanna do in life and i can FINALLY MAKE BIG CHANGES TO SOME OF THEM

Let’s goo!

Their outfits are loosely based on the pokemon xyz legendary Pokémon but i also wanted them to be able to stand on their own!

They are now young adults trying to figure out what they want to do with their life and having a change of scenery so

Let’s get into it!

Saphie

Saphie’s finally got his cute accessories back!! He’s finally got a cutesy outfit which suits his style and iiii finally got rid of the side shave going for a complete adorable vibe for him instead. With bows, beads and a new cute hairstyle he’s finally ascended to adorable! He’s easily home sick and going with his friends on this journey sure is a big change. Someone who’s unsure of his future but knows he always has his friends to rely on!

Joshua

Joshua is definitely still the nerdy one, he’s got the clearest vision of what he wants his life to be, not always understanding his friends but always trying to be supportive. His style is definitely the one that changed over time, leaving the nerdy studious look behind to try something new!

His friends definitely chose this outfit for him and it’s actually the closest he’s been to his oc predecessor as he was actually recycled. Sadly that art has been lost to type but, before he was joshua from this group he was joshua a character who was definitely a lot more edgy and artistic. I wanted to bring that back with this design and I personally think i did his original design justice.

Pandora

Pandora always changes the least, her design has always been clear to me in ways but i did want to try new things. Finally deciding i cant choose between the 2 eye colors she’s had I decided i don’t have to choose SO I JUST GAVE HER BOTH. Putting her into something that’s just her style but also trying different colors she’s now more confident and determined, she’s on this journey to learn more about her family and try to choose what direction to take her life in.

Proud to see her friends figure out who they are but also sometimes feels like depending on what choices she makes could have them drift apart. Having to remind herself to have fun on the trip as well she’s probably the one who’s choices will make the biggest difference in what her life will end up being. A true protagonist with issues to deal with and secrets to uncover!

Thank u forrr looking at my little art post!

Now! I have a secret for all my winx people

Guess who’s back in the building again teehee

Ok bye bye!

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Excellent Bugle episode this week, episode 4311. I’d wondered for the last couple of days why it hadn’t come out, because they’re usually recorded around Saturday and released on Mondays. This one came out on Wednesday, and as soon as I started listening to it, of course I understood why. They presumably waited a couple of extra days to record to see if more news would unfold in the Trump situation, so they wouldn’t have to talk about something that people knew nothing about.

I guess it’s also worth taking a bit of time to plan your wording instead of responding to that incident immediately after it happens. Find a way to say both “Obviously you shouldn’t assassinate people” and “We still hate that guy though”, strike the balance in a way that won’t have the Daily Mail announcing WOKE SOCIALIST COMEDIANS SUPPORT POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED MURDER AND JACK BLACK WON’T MAKE MUSIC WITH THEM ANYMORE. I think they did a pretty good job of avoiding that, though Andy might have toed the line a little when he read out a list of victims of successful assassinations who deserved to die less than Trump did. I enjoyed that list.

Anyway, I was pleased when the episode appeared in my podcast app this morning, and even more pleased when I clicked and saw the lineup. Andy Zaltzman, Tom Ballard, Chris Addison. Tom Ballard hasn’t been on The Bulge in a while so it was nice to have him back – he was there in person, as he’s doing WIPs in London right now. Which I know because I’ve been checking the London comedy venues for stuff to see while I’m there, and learned that I could see a Tom Ballard WIP if I were there just a few days earlier. But it’s all right that I’ll miss it, since I’m seeing him in Edinburgh. I think his current WIPs are less about working out the show in general, as he did have it finished, but more about translating the Australian politics-focused material to Britain for an Edinburgh run/British tour. I’m really looking forward to seeing the show.

So I was pleased to hear from Tom Ballard on The Bugle again, but I have to say, the only small downside to this fantastic episode is that Tom Ballard didn’t actually get all that much of a look-in. And that’s not due to any weaknesses in what he had, it’s because he was on with Chris Addison, and the other guests always get pushed to the side of the edit when they’re on with Chris Addison, and rightly so.

I’ve said before that Chris Addison is an amazing Bugle guest because he doesn’t do stand-up anymore. The Bugle isn’t a fully improvised podcast; Andy and the guests turn up with prepared material on topical subjects and then present it and react to each other’s stuff. But most of the time, the comedians are writing for lots of different things at once, and put down a few bullet points worth of ideas for stuff to say on The Bugle. If one of those ideas is deemed good enough to make their stand-up show, they’ll polish it up for that. The version they take to The Bugle is their rough draft.

But not Chris Addison. He doesn’t have a stand-up show to be the final version, or other areas to spread out his ideas. He’s writing multiple finished, polished stand-up monologues for each topic they discuss. He’s throwing all his gold at The Bugle, because he doesn’t have to save any for anywhere else. Andy and other Bugle guests have stopped more than once during his episodes to admire his work/admonish him for making everyone else look bad. One time when Nish Kumar did this after one of Addison’s routines, Chris Addison explained that he just comes across this way because The Bugle is the only opportunity he’s had to write new comedy material in over ten years, and he misses it and enjoys that chance. Which made me say, how many other talents are being wasted out there because Andy Zaltzman didn’t work with them in the early 2000s and put them on the Bugle 15-20 years later? How many brilliant comedians don’t write stand-up material anymore, but are just itching for a chance to do it again, if only an old friend would invite him on a podcast?

That’s what Chris Addison does normally, and this latest episode was no exception. If anything, I think he was on stronger form than usual. He had multiple monologues across the episode that were formatted like a proper, fully-formed stand-up routine. He had tags on tags, of the sort that most comedians only develop after months of WIPs where they think of one or two more words at a time. One of his monologues had a callback to something from a previous monologue. Oh my God, Chris, just fucking book some stand-up gigs again. You can still write your sitcoms and whatever else you’re doing.

So that was great, once again. But that isn’t actually the reason I wanted to write this post. The reason I’m writing this post is to call attention to this exchange, from fairly early into the episode:

Andy Zaltzman: I’d like the Republican Party to become a serious political organization again. That’s right up there with my absolute top pipe dreams, along with eternal peace; guilt-free foie gras; a functioning rail network; compulsory lanyards for all – everywhere, all the time, so we don’t have to remember anyone’s name; a ceasefire in the culture wars – and an equitable and lasting ceasefire, not just one that bumps all the problems down the road, [cough] Versailles; competent top-level administration that safeguards the future of Test cricket for at least the next 4,000 years; and having a head like an orange. Those are my top pipe dreams. Chris Addison: [laughs] That’s a very, very good – very in-joke.

That is an excerpt from Bugle episode 4311, released on July 16 but recorded on July 15, 2024. Now I would like to draw your attention to an excerpt from a questionnaire that sketch comedy duo Zaltzman and Oliver filled out about their 2004 Edinburgh Festival show, published on BBC.co.uk on July 28, 2004:

If the Edinburgh fairy could grant your wish, what would your wish for? AZ: A head like an orange. JO: A head like an orange.

Here’s the important thing about those two quotes: I have carefully combed through the entire individual and combined back catalogues of Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver, and I am pretty confident that those are the only two references ever made to having a head like an orange. This includes within the two sources – I have quoted the entire relevant passage both times, there is no context around it to explain what the hell they’re talking about. They made this joke one time in 2004, I read that questionnaire ages ago and wondered what they were talking about, and now they’d done it again, nearly exactly 20 years later. Like, within two weeks of being exactly twenty years later. And they will not tell us what they mean.

Now, it is possible that I’m just forgetting something here. The fact that Chris Addison recognized the joke in 2024, and that it apparently originated in 2004, makes me wonder if it could have been from The Department, the radio show that Andy Zaltzman, John Oliver, and Chris Addison wrote and starred in together in 2004-2006. I’ve heard every episode of that show a few times each and I don’t remember anything about a head like an orange, but it was pretty dense writing so I could have missed it.

The other possibility is that this is something from Political Animal, the stand-up night that Zaltzman and Oliver ran in London/in Edinburgh during the festival, starting 2003. They’d host it and other comedians would come on to do exclusively political stand-up material, and I know Chris Addison was one of the people who performed there a lot in the early days (Andy, you need to re-start Political Animal in 2024, just so you can make Chris Addison do a set). Some of this got recorded for BBC Radio 4 as well, and there were a lot of weird Zaltzman and Oliver sketches that appeared in the radio show in between the guests, and someone having and/or wanting a head like an orange seems like the sort of thing that could have happened in one of those sketches. I don’t remember it happening, but it’s been a while since I’ve heard that show, so it could have been in there. Even if it never appeared on the radio show, my best guess for the origin of the Orange Mystery is that it was some inside joke from their many Political Animal live shows that didn’t get recorded.

I really want to know this now. I wanted to know before, that 2004 questionnaire is one of my favourite of the weird like Zaltzman and Oliver historical relics. But I want to know even more now that it’s been referenced for only the second ever that I can remember, twenty years later, and we have confirmation that Chris Addison knows what it means. But he’s not telling. And neither is Andy.

I mean, they didn’t tell us, there. Didn’t say they’d never tell. I do pay The Bugle approximately $28/month – by far my most expensive monthly direct debit (well over twice the amount that I pay every month for any other one thing, besides, you know, rent and bills), even though I keep telling myself I need to be careful with money and should probably cancel that one because I can’t quite afford it, but I’ve taken so much free entertainment from Andy Zaltzman that it feels like the least I owe him.

The point is that because I pay this much money, I am a premium subscriber who can access their monthly show in which Andy answers questions submitted by premium subscribers. I just recently wrote a post about how I tend to be horrifically embarrassed by the thought of interacting with comedians I like, normally I’d never do this. But I’m thinking I might, in this case. It’s a reasonable question, isn’t it? Why does Andy Zaltzman want a head like an orange? I might send that in. Interacting with famous comedians does feel slightly more justified if I've paid for the privilege.

It originated way too early to be a Trump joke, no one was talking about his orange head in 2004. I keep trying to picture a head like an orange, in the hopes that that that will jog my memory of some other time when that image has been in my head, perhaps due to some other reference that I’d heard Zaltzman and Oliver make to it but had since forgotten. But every time I think of it, all I can picture is the curious orange from This Morning with Richard Not Judy, and that’s not it. I have never heard Zaltzman and/or Oliver reference Lee and/or Herring, I can’t imagine they’d start with this. My only other vague guess is maybe a joke about the colour of Andy’s hair? But why?

@lastweeksshirttonight @nyomkitten @bimwi, any of the Tumblr Buglers recognize this? Can any of you read this post and say, "How on Earth is Meerkats forgetting the very obvious [old Bugle episode in which they clearly explain their in-joke about a head like an orange, which I am somehow the only idiot who can't remember]?" Because if none of you tell me that's the case, then I'm emailing Andy Zaltzman to ask. Well, I'm emailing Producer Chris, and I'll just have to hope he puts the question to Andy.

Although I recently heard someone else get the opportunity to put just one question to a comedian, and they went with "Fuck marry kill - Rob Beckett, Ricky Gervais, Daniel Kitson", and it did make me think that is the perfect use of an opportunity to ask a comedian one question, and that should be the only question asked by any fan who's ever in such a situation again. Sorry to betray that by asking about a head like an orange instead. Andy Zaltzman and Daniel Kitson sharing a stage/radio studio has delivered some of the most awkward, social chemistry-free energy I've ever heard, so I'm sure he'd have a fun answer to that question too. He might have to let Ricky Gervais live just so he could avoid a marriage or sexual situation in which someone made him do a Marvin Gaye impression in the middle of it.

Edit: Okay, I've been informed that apparently there is an old joke about a man wishing for a head like an orange from a genie? I'd never heard it before but a guy I knew from England told me it was quite well known (and showed me a link to an American site, so apparently they had it there). I had never heard of this. Am I the only person who'd never heard of this? It hadn't occurred to me that Andy Zaltzzman would be referencing a joke he hadn't invented.

[xaharadesert]

Kidnapped MC Turned Bandit Leader - Headcanon Pt 1

Julian Devorak x MC

TW: like 1 swear

A/N: this is another year old, pretty specific anon request that I’m only now getting to. The essential premise that was requested was for MC to be kidnapped, only to show up a few months later totally fine and leading a group of bandits— the initial request asked for Julian, Portia, and Asra, but since there’s a lot of content to cover, I’ll be splitting this into 3 parts :) also, special shout out to the two anons who both sent me some version of “hydrate or die” within moments of each other— also also everyone say thank you to the anon who said they bet I couldn’t finish this draft even though I’ve been staring at it for ten minutes, you’re the real MVP here

❤️Julian❤️

When you initially went missing, this man obviously went into no-sleep panic mode

He immediately swore to search every corner of the Earth until you were found

Nadia convinced him to stay put for at least a few days, since it was unlikely that you could be taken far in a short period of time, and her guards were more likely to find you than he was alone

Shockingly, this was one of the exceedingly rare instances in which Nadia was wrong

Her guards did not find you, and this only increased Julian’s ungodly level of panic

He hadn’t slept since you were taken, save for the 16 hours he was passed out after smacking his head into a low doorway while pacing

Honestly, he wasn’t even borderline delirious, this man had passed clearly into hysteria territory

So needless to say, he began his travels to find you

However, with no clear direction, and no clues to go off of, the nonexistent trail quickly grew cold

The countless letters from his friends in Vesuvia were what brought him back, and even then, it was mostly Nadia’s point that if you were to ever escape of your own accord, you would likely make your way home

When he returned, his mental health only continued to decline

He felt useless— he couldn’t do anything to help you; all he did was sit and wait, and it was driving him insane

The only times he could be dragged out of his home were when Portia or Mazelinka made him

For a usually sociable man with a tendency to hide his self hatred behind humour and charisma, this was a terrifying change

He made absolutely no attempt to move on with his life, and insisted that everyone should leave him to wallow

Of course, they did not

It was on one of the rare occasions that Portia managed to pull him out to the Rowdy Raven that you finally returned

Honestly, he thought he was hallucinating until Portia confirmed his hopes by asking “Holy shit, is that them?!”

You looked completely fine; in fact, you looked like you were having fun

Julian still couldn’t quite believe his eyes, and stared, open-mouthed, as he tried to process that, yes, this was really you

(Portia gave him a little shove to get him started)

When your eyes locked with his, he felt all the excitement and anxiety of new love all over again. It was like all the emotions that he had felt over the months that you were gone came crashing back into him all at once

So needless to say, it was a tearful reunion, especially on his part

You didn’t stay at the tavern much longer than that; Julian really wasn’t in the right headspace for drinking or chatting with friends

The two of you went him, with him clinging to you like a koala

Obviously you were in for a long night of explaining yourself

He listened to every detail, never interrupting

Once your story was finished, he felt his heart settle in a way that it hadn’t since you left

And of course, with that sense of calm came all the exhaustion of having the world’s worst sleep schedule

He wanted to pass out immediately, preferably in bed beside you, but first, he had a few choice things to say to you

One, how dare you have such an amazing adventure without him?

Two, how dare you risk your life with bandits for months?

Three, how dare you do all of the above without contacting him?

And finally four, he loves you so so so much, please never scare him like that again, and obviously he doesn’t blame you for being kidnapped because that’s not your fault so please don’t blame yourself, but also please come home faster and don’t get involved with bandits, because believe him, he’s been down that road and it can get really messy really quick, and while he knows you can take care of yourself he really doesn’t want you to get hurt without him even knowing

He got a bit ramble-y at the end, but he was so tired that he really couldn’t process his own grammar

He asked you to come to bed, which the promise that you would talk more thoroughly in the morning when he could think properly again

And by morning, he meant like 24 hours later, because this man was practically in a coma

Later on, he would ask to meet the members of your bandit crew

He phrased it as wanting to “meet your friends”, but really he was heavily judging them to decide whether or not you were safe with them

Julian isn’t really known for being on the right side of the law, so he wouldn’t dare lecture you for your legal choices, but he does need to know that you’re being relatively safe

If this is the life you want to lead, then obviously he’s coming with you

Seeing you happy, and being with you, was more than enough for him

[morvantmortuary]

it’s my mom’s birthday today!! 🎉

she told me she wanted to read the mortuary recently, when she let me infodump about the Morvants last, so as part of her birthday presents I spent the day compiling a readable draft of the October Arc for her

part of this was editing out the pretty blatant smut, because like. I know in theory that when I publish the manuscript version with Blair as the Final Them, any of my family members could pick that shit up and get a whole eyeful of the inside of my brain!!

…but I still feel a little odd handing all the smut I’ve written to my mom while the story’s still in like. second person. :’D she knows I ~write horror erotica~ but like. she can just know that in theory.

that means though there’s a lot of moments in different chapters where I leave an authors note that look like:

[More fooling around, but I wanted the scene to establish that Maxi is very meticulous about asking what pronouns his person prefers that day and checking before he touches anything that could cause dysphoria]

so that way at least she gets the broad emotional strokes of the scene, but not like, the other strokes.

I know we’re both adults, and so does she, but like!! still!! idk, call me sensitive, but I don’t need her to have that much info about my praise kink or my blood kink or my knife kink :’D y’know?

anyway, the other major change I had to consider was that the October Arc as it exists here started with a kind of random oneshot that eventually spawned a whole plot, which definitely feels a little random when you don’t have the context of “here’s my new oc guys!!” lmao.

so I actually wound up re-cutting lovesong so all the flashbacks to the meet cute in the graveyard and y’all’s first date are actually their own chapters that come first, with tear you apart actually coming in as chapter four. I also cut spellbound (reprise) in halves, and put Hex and Rora’s detour to recover Sky’s body in there so she could spend more time with them too.

all this to say, with the entire October Arc plus “and absolutely no one’s dead” as the epilogue, even minus the smut, the .pdf clocked in at about —

450ish pages? :’D

now, that might just be bc I had the font set a little bigger than normal to help my mom’s eyes, but I don’t know that it would’ve made that much of a difference? I might reset it with a different font and see what happens

point is, though, if I’m going to try to pitch the manuscript version to a publisher one day (if I don’t try to self-publish through mine and my friend’s small press but that’s a whole other story), I might, uh. Might have to consider making the October Arc two books instead, if I don’t go back and edit down a lot. :’D we’ll see.

all this to say, thank you to everyone who’s been kind enough to read through the whole saga with us, and are still here 🖤🖤🖤 y’all are wonderful, and I hope your holidays are being cooperative so far 🥰 I’ll be trying to catch up on correspondence between now and xmas, once my word reservoir fills back up again!!

we love y’all always, and we look forward to sharing what comes next with you too ♥️💜💚

[bettsfic]

I finally tried the “if you’re having trouble writing a scene, first write the worst possible draft” and holy shit! What a lifesaver! I’ve been putting off this scene, totally intimidated by everything it has to do; by giving myself permission to write the obvious (no obfuscation, no embellishment) it all came pouring out and most of it I’m actually super happy with! Now to try this with all the other scenes I’ve been putting off (I.e. the second half of the book 😂 )

i'm so glad to hear it! when it comes down to it, i really don't think anyone can expect their brain to create a whole scene in one go, you know? like sometimes you need to write the bad version just to figure out what happens, then you need to rewrite it to make it sound decent, and then (for me anyway) rewrite it again at least once more after the whole project is finished.

also "permission to write the obvious" is a great way of putting it. sometimes when i get stuck i just ask myself "what do i know so far?" and write that down, and then try to carve out the specifics of what i don't know and tackle those next.

thank you for sharing!

[loveislandthegame]

finally, my thoughts on todays volume ! first, let me say that was a damn mess. i had to replay . i was going to wait for the next recoupling, until i realised that you get partially locked out of your OG LI’s route if you picked the vicky/bonnie/OG LI option during the uma convo (such false advertising)

for example, this middle dialogue option didn’t appear when i was with vicky (i chose it out of curiosity, but ended up replaying cus i don’t like it)

imo, that’s awesome if you want to focus on the girls/the guys to stop bothering you, but they should’ve made that more clear. i want rafael back (and the islanders acknowledging we’re still together, in an unofficial couple) so i had to pick the evan/travis/OG LI option. FB cant code for shit. moving on:

the audacity of this man . i took every possible disinterested/mean-ish/”i want to be with rafa” choice & he still behaves like this. FB once again wasting such cute sprites on bullshit 😭

movie night was … certainly a movie night ! i posted the vicky version i got. can’t put every screenshot here because mobile tumblr has an image limit, but the travis version was even more ridiculous. a conversation where my MC was clearly not showing interest in him? thank you evan for being the only islander with common sense

fun fact, in my draft i wrote about how i was glad travis wasn’t like “🥺 that conversation was special to me MC,” but little did i know… 🤦

the evan date was nice, i like him a lot, but my head won’t be getting turned in this playthrough !! rafa apologises for getting jealous over literally nothing, we kiss and make up. everything’s gucci.

overall the volume wasn’t too bad, but MC’s movie night clip was aggravating as somebody that’s on a loyal route, we had the option to defend ourselves but it was half-assed. i wish we could borrow s1 MC’s backbone and tell OG LI’s ex to wind her neck in

(plus i’m disappointed i cant stay with vicky😭)

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #27 | 01.24.23

Hi everyone!

Wow, it’s been a while! I didn’t realize how long it’s been until I had to go searching for the last devlog to see what my progress has been since then LOL. I hope you all have been well and that 2023 has been kind to you so far <3 

Before we start, I wanted to show our holiday art in case anyone missed it! For the end of the year, we met Fenir under the mistletoe and many people gave him kissies (someone also grabbed his face).

We also wanted to celebrate Lunar New Year with bunny Aisa 🥰

Now for the actual updates. I’ll put them below the cut, so I’m not clogging up everyone’s feed! 

Writing

Last time we talked, I said I was making headway on Druk’s first draft. That was a lie LMAO. I’ve switched from Druk to Fenir and have been spending most of my time getting Fenir’s first draft finished. I am VERY close to finishing the first draft—I only have one chapter left.

I think by the time the first draft will be finished, we’ll be sitting at around 30k words; however, this is before I’ve put in things like fun little romance scenes, choices and branches, etc. So Fenir’s route is shaping up to be in a similar range to Kayn’s \o/

Regarding Kayn’s route, we are sitting at 50k+ words wee! I’m super happy with where the script is at right now, especially for it being the developmental phase ^^

Art

golden hour in alaris ✨ 

In general, the BGs needed for the demo are wrapping up. Because I anticipated this part to take the longest (since there’s just SO many BGs), it means I’m going to be balancing more of my focus on the updated demo as well—focusing more on updating the CGs, coding the soundtrack and VA in, updating the script a bit, cleaning that godforsaken bug, etc. I don’t have a solid estimate on when the updated demo will be ready, but I will update you all immediately when I do <3 

Recently, Vui finished up Etza’s room as well as the Market date BG. He also has been working on the Cafe BG, which in my biased opinion looks sososoosososo cute. I just have the sketch right now, and because of Lunar New Year, he is on a (much deserved) break. But I’m very excited to show you all (because obviously I’m going to show you because I have no impulse control and I get excited over everything) the final product! 

kayn’s updated demo cg

I’ve continued to work on CGs. Some of it has been updating demo CGs, while some of it has been working on CGs for Kayn’s route. As you can see, with updated ones, my style has changed a lot since the demo. So I’ve slowly been going back in for each of the LIs demo CGs and updating them! It hasn’t been too bad, but I am nervous about the duo ones lmao. I’m not very good at composition that involves more than one subject, so we’ll see how those go ha... ha...

I sat down and actually planned out and did the math for the CGs required for Kayn’s route, and it’s looking like it’ll be around 8-10! Because this amount will be consistent across routes, it means the final CG number for Alaris will be around 48-60 CGs. Looking at that number makes me want to cry a bit, but I know I’ll be working on these throughout the entire year, so it hopefully won’t feel as overwhelming as it looks on paper.

I have most of the sketches finished for Kayn’s CGs (and even some sketches/finished pieces for some of the other LIs), and it honestly hasn’t been too painful of a process, so hopefully it stays that way lol! 

Additional Notes

Something I’ve had to start thinking about is getting beta testers again.  I bring this up mainly because once Kayn’s route finishes the developmental phase, I’m going to start creating the beta version of their route. Additionally, the new demo will need beta testers.

I’m realizing now with the scope of Alaris, I’ll probably need.... a lot lol. The Alaris demo has a bug that didn’t come up for my beta testing team but has affected some players, and the bug literally makes a part of me die every time I think about it. The demo was much smaller in scope compared to the full game, and I kept the beta testing team small because I didn’t think I would have to make it super super big. But now, I’m realizing the more people involved with the beta testing process, the better so I can ensure a cleaner product.

I’m still not sure how I’ll go about “recruiting” beta testers. It will most likely be a tier available in the upcoming Patreon, but aside from that, I’ll have to give it more consideration!

“Market Research”

And then of course I have been playing visual novels and simping---who do you think I am?? I recently finished V’s route in Mystic Messenger. Wow, that was a ride LOL. I don’t actually have anything drawn up for him, but the experience was so wild, I felt the need to share anyways. 

I started playing Piofiore, though! I’ve surprisingly been enjoying it. Nicola is my bbg. I only have Dante and Gilbert’s routes left, so we’ll see if one of them changes anything!

It was also Toasty’s birthday recently, and while I hadn’t planned on drawing anything to celebrate, I did because a sleepy Toasty was too powerful to ignore. 

[androgynousdeer7]

Said in an earlier post I would post the first chapter before I go through and edit it all. So this is sort of a rough draft since I haven't had my editor friends to go through this, but I did go through it a couple times. If theirs still issues they will be gone in the final version.

The forest is Silent - Chapter One

Dust hits my ankles as we walk up the trail, Airilyn walking a couple feet ahead of me while the rest of the group follows a bit behind us. The hot sun slips lower and lower in the sky as we make our way to the campsite, ‘only a couple more miles’ I think, sweat dripping down my face as a cool breeze drifts past us.

   “How much further do we have to go?” Leana asks, her curls now a frizzy mess loosely wrapping around her head.

   “Five or so miles I think?” I turn to face her, slowing my ascent slightly.

  “Alright, can we stop to drink water real quick then? My legs hurt and I forgot to take my water out of my bag earlier.” Her hair covers her face as she slouches forward a bit, wiping away sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her arm.

   “Yeah, good idea.” Airilyn stops, her pink hair cascading down her back, a couple of strands falling in front of her face as she walks back down to where the rest of us are. I step up to a large rock on the side of the trail and sit down on one of the many flat surfaces as I pull off my bag, placing it down on the dusty ground. Everyone follows my lead, finding places to sit and taking off their bags, taking out their water bottles while catching their breaths.

Once everyone is rested we pick up our bags putting away whatever we had out, and begin our way up the mountain again, the talk amongst the group much louder now that everyone is feeling better. Airilyn slows down to my pace, now walking next to me,

    “What do you want to do first when we get to the campsite?” Her blue eyes shimmering in the sunlight as she looks over to me, the question hanging loosely in the air for mere moments as I stare into her gaze before I respond.

   “Sleep” I answer honestly, “Walking all the way to the campsite drained me.” I laugh, the overall exhaustion of walking all day in the heat gets to me, but she laughs too, and for a little bit we just walk in silence, the trees become denser around us, their leaves covering the trail in shade as the sun begins to dip below the horizon.

   “So what do you want to do tomorrow after we all get some rest?” I ask, a gust of cold wind blowing past us.

   “I don't know, maybe swimming? We haven't gone swimming in forever and it would be nice to do that again.” She pushes a stray strand of hair out of her face, the early night sky reflecting in her eyes.

   “Yeah that would be nice, the lake is gorgeous this time of year.”

   “Well, I hope it's as good as you've hyped it up to be seeing as though I can see the gate!” She speeds up to a jog as we get closer, and within mere seconds we finally reach it. The partially rusted gate towers over our small group, the dim moonlight reflecting off the silver bars. I pull out an equally rusted silver key, slotting it into the metal lock. With a turn and a click the gate door slides open, a sharp creaking sound piercing the near silent night. We all slide through the doors and I make sure to lock it again behind us.

The forest within the gate becomes visibly more lush, the trees looming above the trail, thick bushes outstretch past the tree line, coating the ground in brambles and thorny vines. The pathway transitions from a crumbly sand to a dense dirt, muddy patches sticking to our boots as we slowly make our way down the path.

   “Wow, it really is as pretty as you said it would be…” Aila mutters out, his voice barely above a whisper. Everyone nods in agreement, slowly making our way closer and closer to the campsite.

   “I’m excited to go hiking more over the next week, it's been awhile since i've been able to.” Evelyn beamed, her syrupy brown hair partially tied up into a bun while the rest flows down her shoulders.

After an hour of walking we begin to see the campsite, the large trees parting to show the wooden lodges with thick patches of tall grass encircling the camp. As we make our way to the bonfire I go to stand on the stone ledge, stepping up to be above everyone else.

   “Alright everyone, we're going to split off into three groups because we can't all stay in the same cabin, who wants to stay with who?”

   “Me and Evelyn want to stay in one of them together.” Ado announces, and soon after Leana follows their lead,

   “Me and Lila are okay with sharing a cabin.” Lila nods in agreement, standing closely to their now cabin mate.

   “Alright that's settled then, Aila and Airilyn you're with me, were going to be going to the large cabin with the heart symbol,” They signal this was fine and start heading off to their cabin, 

   “Ada and Evelyn you're going to go to the cabin with the diamond shape,” They nod and start heading off to their cabin leaving only one group left, 

   “Leana and Lila, you're going to the cabin with the circle symbol.” They nod and head off to their cabin, leaving me in the dark alone for a few seconds before I turn and make my way to my cabin, the cold air making me shiver as I step up onto the wooden porch, grabbing the cold metal door handle and twisting it, pulling the heavy wood door open with a creak.

I step inside, my boots making a soft tapping sound against the tile flooring, the sound of Aila and Airilyn talking echoes through the house, the only light coming from upstairs barely illuminating the downstairs, leaving shadows in the corners of rooms, but I build up the courage to walk through the house, shutting the door behind me before making my way to the staircase. As I make my way up the sound of talking gets louder and clearer until I make it to the top of the staircase,

   “Hey, have yall picked out rooms yet?” I ask just as I walk up to them.

   “Yeah actually, Aila is going in the room to the far left and I'm going into the middle room, if that's alright with you.” Airilyn spins around to face me, her hair pulled up into a messy bun, the yellow light making it look shinier than usual.

   “Yeah that's alright. I’m really tired so I'm going to unpack my things and head to bed. I'll see y'all in the morning.” I wave my hand to them as I spin the opposite direction and step up to my room's door, twisting the door handle and stepping inside, shutting the door behind me.

[bvannn]

Weekly update March 22, 2024

I’m still exhausted beyond words. I’m also on a bit of a spiral where I’m worried about the quality of my art and about my output, but it’s okay because I’m chipping away at old big projects still and as soon as classwork is subsided I’m going to try to learn a new skill, because any time I feel insufficient I learn a new skill so I can be better. Classes have been kicking my ass mostly but hopefully big things will be coming sooner rather than later.

I’ve been doing a number of drawings to time myself and update my comms. Turns out I’m a lot less consistent than I thought so it’ll be a bit longer till I get prices sorted out but it’s coming along. Also good chance I’ll add more on to it later once I sort out more things I can offer. My usual drawing style will be the main one, but I’m hoping I can also add the epithet erased style, the chibi dnd mini style I do sometimes, options for backgrounds, and eventually also music.

Problem with music though has been my exhaustion. The only music stuff I’ve really been drilling at has been bigger projects, but I’d like to just sit down and do a small beat as well at some point. Once I catch up with classwork I might try. I have been chipping away at a couple instrumental pieces, as well as the larger vocal cover and I did some lyric writing today for the two ‘finished mostly’ ones I’ve been sitting on. I did have to scrap and redo a character theme for the second time this week but once I have some time with a clear mind I can reroute that one and use the melody I wrote for the last draft. In development right now are an ambient character theme, a 16bit-ish instrumental theme, a Zelda medley, a song cover with Kyo, a small gabber song with no affiliation to anything, the two original vocal songs, one symphonic rock and one EDM, and a handful of others that I haven’t been actively working on. As soon as I have significant time I’m going to try to finish off some of them.

Once the music is finished I’ll have to throw visuals together for them too. I really want to put in effort to make animation rigs again but I don’t have the time or energy. I might do one for the vocal cover song since I could be reusing the character but I’m not sure it’ll be necessary. Once the cover is done I’ll storyboard something and decide then.

Comic is also still going, I haven’t had a ton of time to do thumbnailing/writing, but I should be down to the last scene. No guarantee I won’t have to add more after editing, but it’s getting there. Once that’s done I’ll try to post roughs of specific panels so it’s a bit easier to keep track of where it’s at. The thumbnailing is a big bottleneck right now because it takes a lot of brain power but it’s almost done. If I get myself together this next week it should be done by the next update. No promises though, I have a lot of classwork.

Last couple things, a good amount of my exhaustion is the result of insomnia, but I’ve been using that time to plan out TTRPG campaign stuff. I think I have some really fun creative encounters. I think I probably will try to write it out and find a way to release it, just in the interest of getting more people to play the anime campaign system (or whatever they end up renaming it to when the epithet erased version of the rules drops… eventually). I might throw together art for that too, but that’ll be a ways off, after the writing and encounters are done. Plus ideally I’d want the module to be available for free, so I don’t need to add too much anyway.

Last thing, as I mentioned I’m a bit unsatisfied with where I am with art stuff. I want to thank everyone who has been sticking around, I am trying to make it worthwhile for you too. But whenever I am unsatisfied with myself I need to learn a new skill, so I may be dipping my toes into pixel art soon. I do have that 16bit ish instrumental song I mentioned, that’s been on the back burner since January but I’ve finally been hit with the inspiration to finish it, and a little pixel animation would be nice to go with it, but that would require me to learn pixel art itself first, so I’ll try to do that in the coming weeks. Idk how soon though.

This next week will be primarily dedicated to clearing up schoolwork and fixing my sleep problem. After that I’ll try finishing up that cover song, finishing up comic thumbnailing, and finishing up that instrumental song, in that order. Anything else is a bonus. Will class work and insomnia get in the way? Probably, but I’m still doing my best.

[princepestilence]

NYR: November in review.

Post-November horoscope: “I do not need to be good at the things I love to do them.”

And what a November! We’re properly moved in now, aside from the many boxes left to be unpacked and/or cut down and recycled. Some of what’s been going on:

finished moving in. Sort of! I think it’ll be an ongoing process for probably the next little while, but our home is now super functional and we have a huge comfy new lounge that I am in love with. 

poetry reading! It went well. Very cool established people made a point of complimenting me, which I’m still a bit giddy about. 

thesis! Technically, I finished the chapter draft yesterday, but I feel like it still counts. Now onto the final chapter. 

fifth month milestone at work. Not that anything’s different except that it would be a lot harder for them to fire me now if they wanted to (which they extremely do not). I am very content. Also it was the season launch but whatever. 

ttrpg work. The editing part is yet to come but the starter scenario is finished! I’m very happy with the final product. It’s very much a love-letter to my home and the people I’ve known in this strange, gorgeous part of the world. 

medical appointment. Will find out the results next week and then hopefully be able to start remedying things, which will be nice. Being sore all the time is not really very fun. 

my birthday! I’m very happy and feel very loved. I’ve got big dreams for next year’s birthday festivities and it’s been exciting to share an imporant project with my friends as part of the twelve-month countdown to the thirty milestone. Should actually put that on here as well, now I think about it.

In December, I will:

write thesis chapter four. The fourth and final chapter of the thesis draft! Once it’s done, I’ll be taking a month off to relax and refresh before jumping into the major redraft/rewrite/restructure and edit process in February. 

ttrpg editing. It’s exciting to get to see the final version after hearing about the game for so long. 

novel feedback. I’ve already read it through once, so now it’s time for a close read of the work and some feedback.

last board meeting of the year. The board I’m on convenes this month for the last meeting and a little dinner together, which marks my one year anniversary of becoming a member of the COM. I’m looking forward to more years, and taking on more responsibility once I’ve got the thesis off my plate. 

New Year’s Eve party. We’re thinking it would be nice to do a house-warming + new year welcome here, especially since a lot of friends still haven’t had a chance to visit the new place yet. 

think on new year’s resolutions. It’s almost time to begin the journey again. 

[karlachgale95]

Hearts of the Multiverse-Chapter Fourteen: Overwhelmed

“Sokka, what are you doing?” Katara asked.

              “I’m helping to decorate for the Summer End Festival,” he answered, putting brush to paper, smashing it down like a mad man. “Rei said I could help advertise and decorate and gave me some words to copy.”

              “Is…is that us?” Miles asked, looking at the weirdly drawn people standing in front of the questionably drawn shrine. “Why is my hair so poofy?”

              Giorno pointed to the paper, “And why is my hair only three circles at the top?”

              “At least you have hair!” Luz objected. “What’s with the triangle on my head?”

              “It’s your witch’s hat!”

              “Can’t be Luzara without a witch’s hat,” Amity said sardonically.

              “Why do you and my sister sound so similar?”

              “Why am I so short?” Gus asked.

              “Why are we representing the shrine?” Zuko asked.

              “Because we’ve been here for a few months now,” Sokka said. He was right. It’d been two blissful weeks since they’d beat Kaolinite and Belos. “I thought I’d help Rei paint the environment.”

              “I think it’s cute,” Suki said. “Hopefully Rei agrees.”

              “Look, you even painted Yuichiro!” Usagi said, gaining the floppy-haired guy’s attention.

              “Yo! Let me see!” Yuichiro took the drawing and examined it. “Not bad, dude. Not bad.”

              “He’s only saying that because all the hair in his face is blocking his vision,” Josuke said. “What’d you do to my hair?”

              “I tried!” Sokka said. “Cooler hairstyles are hard to draw!”

              Nice save.

              “I’ll take that as a compliment…um…Sokka, your sleeve is on the corner of your drawing. It’s messing up your ink.”

              Sokka glanced down to the sleeve of his shirt. It was, in fact, coated in stripey lines of ink. Sokka yelped and slammed his face down on the table in defeat—right into the freshly drawn photo. When he came back up, he had a miserable frown and poorly drawn versions of himself marred across his face.

              “Head’s up,” Joey said, walking into the room with Yugi. “Kaiba said he’s coming by later, something about monthly philanthropy and helping with the festival.”

              Sokka groaned. “I was in the zone, and you had to bring in news like that, Joey?”

              Joey snickered, but Hunter cut him off. “I think there’s more to Seto than meets the eye.”

              “Yeah, we know,” Joey said. “The problem is, even if you’ve had a hard life, you can’t go around treating other people like trash. Also, he’d probably sue you if he knew you called him by his first name.”

              “I know,” Hunter said. “But maybe he can be better.”

              “He’s coming to study group, too,” Willow pointed out. “Maybe you can talk to him there.”

              “If someone wants to change,” Aang said. “You can’t make them change. They have to make that decision themselves.”

              Now that Kaolinite was gone, Kaiba had come around to asking them about the functional and physical aspects of everyone’s universes. He’d employed Miles’, Penny’s, Richie’s, Connie’s, Gwen’s, Pav’s, Robin’s, and Ami’s help to rebuild some of the lost code that might be able to get them home and finally separate every dimension again. Miles wasn’t so sure he wanted to be separated from his friends again, but he had a time, a place, and a canon event to stop. Kaiba had guaranteed if they did the calibrations right, it should get him where he needed to be. He’d be there to stop his father’s death, and Kaiba swore his silence in return for getting the device working. No questions asked. Miles had even proposed a plan where they created something that would allow them to slip through every once and a while. Once Miles drafted the schematics, Kaiba had been so impressed, he offered Miles a job…intermittently, when he could travel back to his dimension.

              Job or not, it would be nice to nice to see everyone here again, especially Mako and Giorno.

              “Speaking of change,” Usagi said, looking around the room. “Has anyone noticed how Rei skipped the last two study sessions?”

              “She’s slacking,” Anne agreed. “But it’s her business, right?”

              “You should totally scope out what she’s doing!” Marcy suggested. “I mean, what if she’s in danger and secretly needs help?”

              “Or give her some privacy?” Anne suggested.

              “Exactly, everyone deserves to have their own personal business,” Arven agreed.

              “Okay, but what if she’s in trouble again?” Usagi asked. “What if the witches are back? What if she needs help? WHAT IF SHE’S GOT A BOYFRIEND?”

              “A boyfriend?” Yuichiro questioned. “Rei’s never said anything about some guy to me!”

              “Maybe she doesn’t want to hurt your feelings,” Usagi said, giving him a sympathetic look and pat on the shoulder.

              “Ahh! You guys have gotta go check it out!” Yuichiro said. “If I do, it’ll look too suspicious!”

              “You can count on us!” Usagi said with a two-finger salute.

              “This does seem a little invasive,” Yugi pointed out.

              “It’s all for the greater good, Yugi!” Usagi said. “Besides, where is she right now?”

              “She said she had some things to work on for the festival,” Katara said. “I really think that’s where she’s been.”

              “You should try asking her tonight,” Giorno advised, glancing to his communicator. “She said she’s going to be here tonight.”

              “You asked her?!” Usagi said. Confusedly, Giorno nodded. Usagi sighed and shook her head. “It’s fine. But now she’ll be onto us.”

              “What’s this ‘us’ business?” Arven asked, crossing his arms.

              “You’re no fun, Arven!”

              “What? Am too!”

              “You haven’t even helped us catch Pokemon yet,” Usagi argued.

              “If he’s slacking,” Nemona said. “I’ll gladly help you!”

              “Really?” Usagi asked, eyes lighting up.

              “Of course!” Nemona said. She pounded her fist against her palm and then grabbed Usagi’s hand. “In fact we can go looking before study group tonight! I can teach you everything I know and then we can battle together!”

              As Usagi was helplessly dragged away, two teenagers entered the room—Virgil Hawkins and Danny Fenton. Now, Virgil had the right idea about his superhero identity. His name was Static Shock. It was far removed from his original name. The last part in Danny’s superhero identity almost sounded like his actual surname. Sure, it was cute, but cute doesn’t disguise well!

              “What’s up, Virgil? Richie not coming today?” Miles asked.

              “Oh yeah, he is. He just wanted to take a look at a few of the shops before he met us up here,” Virgil explained.

              “So, no new monsters?” Danny asked.

              Miles shook his head. “I know that TV guy was on their side. Do you think he’s done with them? Or do you think we’re going to see him again?”

              “Hard to say,” Virgil said. “I mean, Richie’s been trying to get the deets on his location, but they’re pretty good at covering up their tracks.”

              “If there are more evil witches,” Willow said. “We’ll handle them.”

              “Nothing else we can really do,” Arven muttered.

              Hunter began looking uncomfortable. Miles wondered if he knew about the talisman. But that shouldn’t be a problem; Luz swore them all to secrecy. She didn’t want to stress him out even further. Besides, hopefully that secret died with Kaolinite…

              Then again, Lucifer had decided to spare Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. He was sure they couldn’t obtain heart crystals without help from a daimon, but the fact was they still posed a threat…even if they seemed reluctant in their business.

              Usagi was safe with Nemona. He was sure the big, fire-ghost crocodile she had could eat any monster that came their way. Steven seemed to be safe in the Kurrain Village. Aang said he was. Plus, Josuke’s scary nephew was staying there. He was like 90% safe.

              “Uh-oh, uh, Yug, guys, I think someone else is giving Kaiba a run for his money at the festival,” Joey showed the screen on his computer to everyone.

              It was Champion Leon hosting a casual tournament to introduce others to Pokemon battling. The tagline was ‘Let the Champ Show You How to Battle!’ Kaiba had planned to introduce dueling to people who attended the festival. It was going to be a huge marketing ploy.

              “Maybe he won’t notice?” Sokka asked.

              At that moment, the door flew open. Kaiba stormed in, appearing severely enraged; so, slightly worse than usual. He grumbled a ‘hello’ to the people he passed, handed Miles a folder, and asked, “Where’s Mizuno?”

              “After school program,” Virgil answered. “Maybe you should sit down?”

              “I’m comfortable standing,” Kaiba said, pacing the room.

              Miles flipped through the blueprints. These inscriptions were absolutely rushed. It looked like a doctor had written a prescription rather than instructions on a reality manipulator.

              “I’ve been experimenting,” Kaiba said, brusquely. “The charred remained of Charlie’s…abilities left behind contained daimon DNA. I recreated one just to see if I could beat it with some of the cards in my deck.”

              “You did what?!” Hunter asked.

              “It worked. My Blue Eyes beat it; turned it to ash,” Seto said. “I can teach people how to use this to defend themselves, but, no! Some idiot in the most outlandish attire wants to show off his dragon!”

              “To be fair, Charizard is Fire-Flying, not dragon,” Arven pointed out. If looks could kill, he’d be dead. “If Nemona heard you insulting Champion Leon, it wouldn’t go well for you.”

              “Is that a threat?”

              “No, it’s a fact,” Arven said. “She’s super nice until someone annoys her, then she’s a nightmare. I’ve only seen it once, in a battle against a Team Star member. It was scary.”

              “Why is entry to the festival so expensive?” Zuko asked. “Festivals should be enjoyed by everyone.”

              “Everyone?” Kaiba questioned, straightening his jacket. “And what if those witches come back? They won’t stop until they get what they want. And if they can just casually stroll up to a free event, do you think they’d hesitate to attack you?”

              Miles saw Hunter slowly leave the room. Poor guy. Luz, Willow, Amity, and Gus seemed to be the only other ones who noticed. They left, too.

              “I’ve got passes for anyone who needs one,” Kaiba said.

              “Quite charitable,” Joey said.

              “It’s not charity,” Kaiba snapped. “It’s insurance. Having people there who can actually beat daimon would be good. And with your fourth-rate deck, well, you’re not defeating any monster.”

              “But with my Time Wizard, I can just—!”

              As the others continued to argue amongst themselves, Miles snuck past everyone and headed to check up on Willow, Luz, and Hunter. He could sense someone following quietly along.

              “You know, Spidey-senses work on stand users, too, Giorno.”

              “I’ll never get used to a non-stand user being able to detect me,” Giorno said with a small laugh.

              “Yeah, well, I’m built different,” Miles said. He paused. “Hey, Gio, I was wondering about something.”

              “Go ahead.”

              “Where did you live before all this? If it’s okay for me to ask?”

              “…It’s not important,” Giorno said.

              “Look, all I want to know is if you had a good place to live,” Miles said. “You never talk much about it, so I was worried.”

              Giorno chuckled. “It was rough for a while, but I live comfortably now. Why with the sudden concern?”

              “I don’t know,” Miles shrugged. He was concerned. He knew, from Giorno’s dad, that his childhood probably wasn’t a happy one. Maybe he could get him to talk about it. It could help. “It’s just, I miss my folks, but you’ve never mentioned yours.”

              Giorno paused. “There’s no need to. You’ve met Mista, Bucciarati…and Abbachio, I guess.”

              “Are they like family friends?” Miles asked.

              “No,” Giorno said. “But we accomplished the impossible together.”

              “Which was?” Miles pressed.

              Giorno looked at him for a second and sighed. “Miles, as much as I trust you, I don’t want to talk about that.”

              “Oh…um, I’m sorry,” Miles said. “I guess I was just curious. Sorry.”

              “Miles, let me give you some advice,” Giorno said.

              “We’re the same age.”

              “Just listen to me, okay?”

              “Alright.”

              “I don’t know what’s going to happen going forward, but I do know that things are going forward,” Giorno said. “You can’t be bogged down by your past if you want to achieve anything. That’s not how dreams work. What matters is we’re all here and alive. We have the power to make a difference in our own futures. Remember to keep looking forward.”

              “My Uncle Aaron told me to keep going,” Miles said.

              “Smart man.”

              “He turned out to be a merc called the Prowler.”

              “…If he killed bad people—”

              “He tried to kill me at one point.”

              “Oh. Um, sorry about that. That is some heavy baggage.”

              “He didn’t know it was me, though.”

              “Unfortunately, we all do what we think is right, even if it goes horribly wrong,” Giorno said.

              “It did for him,” Miles said. “He died because…of me.”

              It was quiet for a minute.

              “He may be alive in this reality. After all, Kakyoin, Bucciarati, and some of the others were dead before we came to this strange new world. Perhaps you can keep an eye out.”

              Unless it was the wrong Uncle Aaron. Miles had set out to ask Giorno about his homelife and he’d ended up spilling more about his own. At this point, he didn’t want to say anything more.

              “Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?” Giorno asked.

              Miles shook his head. “No. Thanks. I’m just gonna go check on the others.”

              Miles walked ahead, a little unnerved. Talking to Giorno sometimes threw him off. He didn’t even know why.

              They walked until they reached the room the others holed themselves in. They were…talking. Laughing, even. Luz looked up, saw it was just the two of them, and waived them inside.

              “Hey, how’s it going?” Miles asked.

              “Oh, we’re fine,” Luz said. “Just relaxing away from the others. It was getting a little too much in there.”

              “I can understand,” Miles said. “At least there hasn’t been any more monsters.”

              “Don’t will them into existence, Miles,” Gus scolded. “Saying that something isn’t happening is the fastest way to get that thing to happen!”

              Miles could’ve sworn he saw Hunter’s eye twitch.

              “Which it’s not going to because we beat Kaolinite,” Luz added in swiftly and with a nervous chuckle.

              “But what if they come back?” Hunter asked. He stood and started pacing the room. “What if someone worse replaces her? What if they attack someone else? What if—?”

              “Then we’ll be ready,” Giorno said. “I’m not tied to Alastor’s deal anymore. And none of you’ve seen the full strength behind Golden Experience. It will be alright.”

              “But, if we beat the enemy,” Amity spoke up. “Why aren’t we able to go home?”

              Good question. Kaiba said Kaolinite probably wasn’t the cause of the universal conglomeration, but rather a symptom. Whoever did this was planning something bigger. Something catastrophic. But Kaiba had said to keep it under wraps while he figured it out. Which was more than likely for the best. Unwarranted panic wouldn’t help.

              Suddenly, Yuichiro stuck his head in the doorway. “Hey guys, everyone is sort of…fighting. So, can one of you greet the guest at the entrance of the shrine? I need to help Yugi and Katara settle this *as they’re the only ones trying to be diplomatic*.”

              “Sure,” Miles said. He turned to the others. “Anyone wanna help me out?”

              Giorno nodded. “Sure. It’ll give me something to do.”

              “It could be someone really cool,” Luz said. “I’m in!”

              “I’ll go, too,” Amity said.

              “I think I’ll stick around here,” Hunter said with a nervous laugh. “You guys go ahead.”

              “Then we’ll stick with you!” Gus said, pulling Hunter and Willow into a side hug. “Oh, but if it’s Mr. Wright, tell him I’ll be back a little later!”

              “Will do,” Luz said. As they walked along, Luz kept talking, “I’m glad almost everyone’s here. I wonder if Vee or anyone else ended up in this place.”

              “Maybe she’s the guest,” Amity said. She turned to Miles and Giorno. “Vee is a very shy basilisk. She’ll probably look human if she’s here, but if she’s run out of magic, she may look like a basilisk. If you see a girl like this,” she held up a photo of a creature that kind of looked like an anthropomorphic green slug. “That’s her.”

              “She’s as sweet as can be,” Luz said. “We’re siblings!”

              “How many adopted siblings do you have?” Giorno asked.

              “Do friends count?”

              The quartet reached the entrance to see a man with wiry, brunette hair, long-sleeve tan trench coat, navy pinstripe suit, and red converse investigating the wish tree that had once been a daimon that attacked Rei. Miles immediately became suspicious.

              “Guys,” Luz whispered quietly to the others. “That’s the Doctor!”

              “Doctor who?” The three asked almost simultaneously, making Luz laugh.

              “He’s a time traveler,” Luz said. “He might be able to help us!”

              The man looked up and spotted them. He smiled and waved. “Hello!”

              “Hi,” Miles said. What else was he supposed to say?

              “Doctor!” a woman’s voice called out. A woman came up the tall stairs and strode over to the man in the suit. She was wearing a dark magenta jacket, green blouse, jeans, and sneakers. Her dark hair was in a short ponytail. She turned to the group. “I’m so sorry, we were just running a few scans. We’ll be out of your—.”

              Giorno cut them off, “Why are you here, really? No lies.”

              “Don’t worry,” the man, The Doctor, apparently, said. “We’re here to help.”

              “If you try anything, with anyone here, I will make you wish you never had,” Giorno warned.

              “A very fine greeting, this one, yeah?” the woman asked.

              “We’ve had a few problems,” Luz explained. “You see—,”

              Before she could explain, the Doctor cut her off. “So we found out. We found Kaolinite’s broadcast amongst a myriad of other things yesterday. This place…everyone here…it’s the origin for something big. I’m not sure what, but it’s almost like some sort of calamity nexus soup at this location.”

              “That still doesn’t answer my question,” Giorno said. “What are you doing here? Are you here to hurt anyone?”

              “W-what? No! Absolutely not!” the Doctor said with a scoff. He said it so earnestly and genuinely, it was almost enough to make Miles believe him. Giorno stared at the Doctor, his eyes faltering for a second. This did not escape the attention of the man. Then Doctor eyes turned to Miles. “Oh, you mean the situation with Mr. Morales and his father. Well, technically speaking, that is a bit beyond my reach. Anyways, any death that may or may not occur in his universe doesn’t seem to be a fixed point in time.”

              “So, Miles can save his dad,” Luz surmised. Everyone looked at her. “Fixed points are spots in time you can’t change.”

              “We call them canon events,” Miles explained.

              “Canon events? Oh, I do like that,” the Doctor said with a wide grin. The woman beside him coughed. “What? Right! Sorry. I’m the Doctor!”

              “Martha Jones,” the woman said with a small smile. She turned to Luz, “You seem to know a bit about time travel.”

              “My mom is into a lot of sci-fi,” Luz explained. “My name is Luz Noceda! It’s nice to meet you!”

              “He already seems to know who we are,” Miles pointed out.

              “But formalities are still nice,” Luz insisted.

              “If it’s any consolation, I don’t know who you are,” Martha spoke up.

              “Then allow me to introduce myself,” Amity spoke up. “My name is Amity Blight.”

              “Giorno Giovanna.”

              “I’m Miles Morales.”

              “So, Doctor,” Luz began. “Be real with me, have you seen any more monsters?”

              The Doctor sucked in a deep breath of air. “I’ve not seen them, personally, no.”

              “But they’re out there,” Giorno surmised. “How do you know that?”

              “Time-traveler?” Luz pointed out. “He probably knows everything that’s going to happen next!”

              “Then we can rely on him for answers,” Giorno said.

              “Actually, no,” the Doctor said. “Those fixed points, ‘canon events’ as you call them exist somewhere in this jumbled universe. I knew what the original fate was, but now, with everything all scrambled together in one big timey-wimey mush, I can’t say for sure what’s going to happen next…isn’t it exciting?”

              “Yeah, real fun,” Miles said. “Except for the part where we all might DIE!”

              “He does get carried away, you’ll have to forgive this one,” Martha said. “In any case, we’re here to help solve this…mush.”

              “Right, carrying on like this can’t be healthy for whatever power source that’s holding this conglomerate together,” the Doctor said. “It takes the power of a dying sun just to interact with someone from another dimension, mixing them altogether like this? I can’t imagine what sort of power is fueling it.”

              “I actually knew that,” Miles said. “In theoretical physics, they say it would take the power of a dying star just to travel to the past. I’m from 2023, same with Luz and Amity. But Giorno is from 2001, hell if I know when and where Sokka, Zuko, Katara, and their friends are from, and the shrine priestess, this year here is supposed to be 1996. However, we’ve still got a lot of 2023 conveniences. It’s like things blipped in and out of where they should be rather than just a mashup of everything from every dimension.”

              “You’re taking theoretical physics? At your age?” Martha questioned.

              “I’d like to travel, too,” Miles said with a small grin. “Besides, time waits for nobody, whether you can travel through it or not.”

              “Watch out,” Martha said to the Doctor. “He might be smarter than you.”

              “I assure you, he probably is,” Giorno said, like it was a competition of who had the better friend. Miles wasn’t gonna say anything otherwise.

              “The others will be coming up to study soon,” Amity pointed out. She looked to their guests. “Did you need to see anyone?”

              “Yes, we thought, since this seemed to be a common point for gatherings, given the dimensional residue exuding from this place, we’d speak to everyone all at once.”

              “I’ll give you this one warning,” Giorno said. “If you so much as cause a hint of trouble for anyone here, you’ll be swiftly taken care of.”

              “Hospitality? Not much of a threat.”

              “You know what he meant,” Miles said, crossing his arms.

              “Of course,” Martha said. “We’re here to help. Two doctors at your service…well, a man who calls himself one and a medical student.”

              “Hey!”

              “Like I said, the title is earned.”

              “She’s right,” Miles agreed. “Takes a lot to go through medical training. My mom’s an RN.”

              “So, saving people is in your blood, Miles,” Luz said, holding up her hand for a high-five. “C’mon don’t leave me hanging!”

              Miles laughed and gave her a high-five. He gestured towards the shrine. “Come on, follow us.”

              …

              It wasn’t as though Bede enjoyed traveling with other people; he just missed elements of his home. Though, truthfully, there wasn’t much to miss. The editions to the gaggle of people with them only served to annoy him further. Still, they needed to make sure everything at the festival would be safe. He didn’t want to see Mokuba so downcast again over his brother. And…Seto had been kind to him. He seemed like such a cold person, but Bede knew better. They were a bit too similar.

              Right now, the youngest Kaiba was dead set on interviewing all the security detail, making sure there were no monsters or witches. Of course, Bede and Silver had been training their Pokémon together, just to make sure no former chairman or bosses showed up to make things worse. Who knows where Rose had gone? He was still out there; and that unnerved him as much as a Rookidee. With them was Marnie, Hop, Hau, Toph, and Wally. Others would be joining them soon; the ‘adults’ had won the decision to keep them out of their business.

              “And you’re absolutely sure there’s no cursed objects in any of the booths?” Mokuba pressed one of the older guards.

              “We checked every item to make sure it wouldn’t transform, Mr. Kaiba,” the guard assured him.

              “All this fuss,” Hop said, crossing his arms above his head.

              “Of course, a Slaking like you isn’t worried about other people,” Bede said.

              “What if it were your brother?” Silver asked.

              “Oi! I get it!” Hop said.

              The punk girl from Spikemuth intervened. “Lay off. We’re all worried right now.”

              “Have you heard from your brother yet?” Hop asked her.

              Right. The one who refused Dynamax gyms. The youngest old person he’d ever met.

              The girl, Marnie, shook her head. “I’m starting to get worried.”

              “Maybe he never ended up here,” the sickly, green-haired kid, Wally spoke up.

              “Or he’s hiding from the press,” Bede suggested.

              “That’s not…unlike him,” Marnie agreed, reluctantly. “You might be right, Bede.”

              “Don’t tell him that,” Hop argued. “His ego’s big enough.”

              “Some people enjoy logical thinking,” Bede countered.

              He let Hop fume while his mind turned to other matters. He could’ve found Rose. He just knew it! If he’d been able to go out, he’d have found him…and he…and he…he…

              Would have done something! He couldn’t just get away with abandoning him! It wasn’t fair! He’d worked so hard to help him accomplish his dreams for Galar, only to be tossed aside, dropped in the middle of nowhere with no chance of success. He was lucky Lady Opal had given him a chance, but, in all honesty, he wished for a family. He thought he had that with Chairman Rose and Lady Oleanna.

              “Bede, are you okay?” Mokuba asked.

              Bede dusted off his shoulders and straightened himself out. “I’m fine. I’m just bored to tears.”

              “I understand,” Mokuba said, sympathetically. “But given everything, I want to make sure there are no incidents at the festival.”

              “That’s for the best,” Bede agreed. “Rose is still out there.”

              “If you don’t mind me asking,” Mokuba said. “What was he like?”

              He looked at Mokuba and then to the others. “I can tell you, a bit away from prying eyes and ears.”

              “Don’t mind us,” Hau said.

              “Yeah,” Hop agreed with a wry grin.

              Bede rolled his eyes and took Mokuba aside. When he was sure they were out of earshot, he began, “Chairman Rose adopted me when I was left behind by my family. I grew up in a large family. They didn’t have enough money for the new baby they were expecting…so they gave me up.”

              “That’s terrible!” Mokuba said. “They just…left you?”

              Bede nodded. “But that’s not important. What’s important is that…Chairman Rose was the one who adopted me. He said he saw potential in me. He even gave me my first Pokémon, Hatenna. Of course, under my care, we found more friends and beat anyone in our way…except the new champion.”

              “Hop’s friend?” Mokuba asked. “Didn’t they go traveling? That’s what Hop told me.”

              “You shouldn’t talk to that idiot,” Bede chastised. He gave him a small grin. “Though, yes, Gloria went traveling. She was one of the only trainers I respected.”

              Bede shuffled his feet. “Anyways, under his care, I was told to find wishing stars, an invaluable power source that allowed gygantimax battles. They also gave power to a lot of Galar cities. That’s why Spikemuth is so run-down. They don’t use wishing stars. Chairman Rose was worried that power would run out—so much so that he released Eternatus to try to channel an abundance of power by himself. Problem was he couldn’t control it. Not even Champion Leon could.”

              “So, what happened next?”

              The nuisance had decided to stick his neck into the conversation. Bede hadn’t even noticed he’d walked over to them. “And Gloria and I sought out the legendary Pokémon to catch Eternatus!”

              “Beside the point I was trying to make,” Bede said. “Listen, both of you, Chairman Rose will stop at nothing to make sure he’s remembered. He wants to make history, to stamp the world with his personal seal. There’s no limit to the cost. All of Galar was in great peril. Gym leader, Piers and Rohan have been helping me clean up some of the remnants of his mess.”

              “Don’t act like you’re all alone,” Hop said. “I try to help with how the Pokémon feel, and Marnie is helping to spread awareness on Macro-Cosmos. We’re here to help, you know?”

              He did appreciate those efforts…but he just couldn’t bring himself to say so. Turned out he didn’t have to as some of the other kids from other groups ran up to their group. It was Karlach, Wyll, Professor Sycamore from the Kalos region, and a few of the other kids he’d met on the day of the incident: Sprig, Frisk, Monster Kid, Barry, Ash, Lillie, Pearl, King, Frosta, Gus, Toph, Syaoran, and two other kids they’d never met before. One had black hair, violet eyes, and was dressed in a school uniform for girls, and the other was a kid with shoulder-length auburn hair covered by a yellow hat, green shirt, vest similar to Mokuba’s, and shorts.

              “Who’re you two?” Silver asked, his tone like acid on the ears.

              The girl was unperturbed. She flipped her hair back and answered, “Akemi. Akemi Homura.”

              “Kawajiri Hayato,” the boy mumbled. He didn’t seem too interested in meeting new people.

              “Miss Morningstar asked us to babysit these two while she attended the meeting at the shrine,” Professor Sycamore explained. “I’m sure you’ll get along swimmingly.”

              “Hey Gus,” Hop said. “I thought you were at the temple today?”

              “I was,” Gus said, rolling his eyes.

              “For some reason, my group got outvoted to let us stay,” Toph explained. “I mean, at least Katara tried to argue for us. Usually she’s just as annoying, but you know, she has her moments.”

              “I don’t understand,” Pearl huffed. “I want to help keep Mystic Maya and Mr. Nick safe, too!”

  ��           “Aw, don’t be too down, pups,” Karlach said. “I’m sure your friends and family are just looking out for you.”

              “But we can help them,” Toph argued.

              “I’ve got no doubt about that,” Karlach said with a laugh. “Quite impressive, the whole world bending and all. No doubt you’re a great soldier.”

              Toph grinned. “I’ve been known to crack some skulls.”

              “I’m sure. Now, let’s get you lot back to the—,”

              The sky grew a pink hue as pink clouds drifted overhead of them. No one had time to react as a small girl with pink hair fell from the sky. Wyll was quick to catch her and set her down on the ground. She didn’t seem hurt. She must’ve fallen in from another dimension.

              “Are you alright, Small Lady?” Wyll asked.

              “H-how do you know my nickname?” the girl asked.

              “Lucky guess,” Wyll said. “Truly. What is your name?”

              “My name…my name is Chibiusa,” the girl said.

              Very pink. Lady Opal would adore her.

              “Were you teleported here, too?” Mokuba asked.

              The girl nodded. “Yeah. Mama didn’t mention anything about meeting anyone when I first got here…”

              “Your mother sent you to this place?” Professor Sycamore asked.

              “…Yes. Who are you people?” the girl, Chibiusa, asked.

              “I am Professor Sycamore,” the Kalossian man explained. “We have come from many different worlds, like yourself. But…it’s odd that your mother would deliberately send you here.”

              “She’s probably scared,” Mokuba argued. “I mean, most of us were, when we first got here. Maybe too many questions isn’t such a good idea.”

              “Agreed,” Wyll said.

              “Yeah,” Karlach said with a nod. “Besides, we might be able to ask around and see if anyone can help her tomorrow.”

              “I’m supposed to meet someone at the Summer End Festival tomorrow,” Chibiusa explained.

              “Are they dangerous?” Syaoran asked.

              “Hardly,” Chibiusa said sardonically. “I’m just looking for my older cousin.”

              “Usagi,” Frisk spoke up in a quiet voice. They rarely spoke.

              Chibiusa nodded. “So, you’ve met her.”

              “Oh yeah, good soldier,” Karlach said. “Little klutzy, but who isn’t?”

              “Should we take you to her?” Wyll asked.

              Chibiusa thought about it and shook her head. “Mama says I’m supposed to meet her at the festival. So, that’s what I’m going to do.”

              “Well, you’re free to come with us,” Mokuba offered. “I’m sure Seto wouldn’t mind.”

              Both Karlach and Wyll gave each other a doubtful look.

              “I suppose there’s no harm in letting her stay tonight,” Karlach said.

              “Cool!”

              “Then we should get going,” King said. He rubbed his arms. “It’s getting dark out here, and it’s giving me the creeps.”

              “Alright. Let’s leg it.”

              …

              Reading through the flames was becoming tiresome. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good at it; no, it was the opposite. He was too good at it. Avdol and Rei had tried to cheer him up. The dismal outcomes he saw were only some of the possibilities that could occur. Still, the ones where people he knew—people he considered friends got hurt—came true. He couldn’t protect them, and it had been others who had helped them get out of that situation.

              The visions he saw now were…even more depressing. Still, they sometimes changed. But always resulted in someone getting hurt.

              To add insult to injury, the implications Hunter’s uncle left behind about his father skulking about was troubling. What was he doing? What was he planning? Did he have his bending back? It was absurd, but a lot of bizarre things had happened lately. He couldn’t count out any possibility.

              And now they were all gathered by this man who claimed to be a time-traveler. Luz backed him up. He must have some credibility.

              Zuko looked around the room. Sokka was paying attention, Katara seemed concerned, Suki and Ty Lee kept their hands on their weapons (discreetly), and Aang looked like he wanted to talk to the man because of course he did.

              There was some chatter: Jotaro was talking to Kakyoin, Polnareff, and Avdol quietly. Kaiba kept to himself but glared at the time-traveler. Usagi kept talking and laughing with Minako, which seemed to enrage Rei. The two got into an argument, which pulled Gale away from his notetaking. Charlie Morningstar was introducing herself to people she hadn’t met yet, and Lucifer trailed behind her like a turtle-duck. The lawyers and their mystic sat together. It seemed the porcupine haired guy was trying to talk to the silver-haired man, who looked incredibly tired. Josuke was talking to his friends ever since they got here. They were annoying the artist. Others were talking, snacking, and waiting for someone to speak up.

              Finally, the man stood in front of everyone. Zuko wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he looked…normal? Surely a time-traveler should look old, right?

              “So, where to start?” the man said, clasping his hands together.

              “Might I suggest the beginning?” Gale called out.

              Some groaned and some booed. Gale stiffened and crossed his arms, “I suppose my wit is not appreciated at this moment.”

              “Just as well,” the Doctor carried on, not missing a beat. “Now, I’ve been doing my research, and from what I’ve gathered, there was a sort of blip. Someone, perhaps a few someones, worked to displace people, events, and places throughout time and other dimensions to achieve…something catastrophic. It took them a great deal of power to do so, we can assume whatever they’re using to keep these worlds intact is, as Mr. Morales discussed, even more powerful than a dying sun. I can only imagine what it’s doing to all of space-time.”

              “Well, you’re just full of good news,” Kaiba said.

              “Oh, it gets better,” the Doctor said sarcastically. “I dug deeper—those talismans the ‘witch’ was after originated from this universe. The concept, I mean. But now, there are individuals from all universes that possess these objects. They’ll need to be guarded at all times. One slip up can irreversibly separate someone’s soul from their body for good. I reviewed the footage from the abandoned maze. You were…lucky that man was able to reverse the process. However, there’s always the possibility he won’t be around next time to help.”

              Hunter slowly raised his hand. “Um, yeah, excuse me, but who had one of those talismans?”

              Everyone went dead silent. No one wanted to say anything. They’d kept the truth from Hunter for these past weeks only for this man to stumble in and ruin everything.

              The man, seeming to catch on by the glares and the silence paused. “Oh. Ohhhh. I’m so sorry.”

              Hunter’s eyebrows knotted in confusion for a second before his eyes widened. “I have—! Why? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

              He jumped up and looked at the Doctor. “Can you get rid of it? You said you were a doctor!”

              “Removing it is the last thing you want me to do,” the Doctor said. “But I can do my best to make sure no one gets hurt.”

              Martha gave him a sympathetic look. “We understand if you’re scared. But I can assure you the Doctor has worked to save many planets, universes, even!”

              “What about multiple universes?” Godot asked.

              “Surprisingly yes,” the Doctor said. “Well, most would be facing complete annihilation by this point, so whatever is holding this blended culture of…stuff.”

              “Well put,” Gale mused. “Although, it does remind me of my little adventure with the others. We were protected by, well, it’s a bit private. However, in summary, I shall say we were protected by a powerful being who kept us from becoming mindflayers. It comes at a cost, you know, one I’m sure we’ll not long to find out.”

              “You’re even worse than him,” Kaiba complained, gesturing to the Doctor. “Look, I was on a breakthrough with dissolving the barriers to dimensional walls. I’m sure if I can reclaim my tech, I can fix this.”

              “So, our hope rides on a sixteen-year-old,” Eda said.

              “I can help,” the Doctor said. “I’ve fixed more complex technology before.”

              Kaiba glared at him.

              “Not saying it’s not impressive for a human to get that far, really.”

              “Don’t worry, he’s this condescending with everyone,” Martha said. “You get used to it.”

              “Hey, it’s not intentional!” He looked back at Hunter. “Trust me. I’m going to make sure no one’s ‘heart’ goes missing anytime soon.”

              Unsurprisingly, this didn’t seem to put anyone at ease.

              …

              “Thank you for figuring out the movie machine, Auggy,” Karlach said to Professor Sycamore. “That should keep the kids busy for a minute, right?”

              “Should being a pertinent word,” Wyll said with a small laugh.

              “I wonder how the others meeting is going,” Augustine Sycamore wondered aloud.

              This world was a far cry more dangerous than Kalos, even with the Lysandre incident. Professor Sycamore wondered…could Lysandre be here, too? If he were, was he helping others to build technology like the power inhibitors? It was very possible. He was quite the genius. He had been a friend…and more at one point in time.

              However, there was no need to bring back thoughts of such days gone by. Lysandre had taken Ash Ketchum hostage, almost destroyed all the world—it’s people and its Pokémon, and now presumably was trying to do the same thing again.

              “Well, you know, even if I give him guff, I hope Kaiba is able to get his technology back,” Karlach said. “Maybe that guy will help him. The kid’s helped me stay in this world without…well…you know…overheating.”

              “He is quite impressive with his technological skills,” Wyll agreed. He turned to Karlach and slipped his hand into hers. “Most importantly, it’s possible for both of us to walk the mortal plain now.”

              Sycamore knew it was probably wrong to be jealous, but every romance he’d ever endeavored failed. He wished he had that with someone.

              Little did he know, someone he loved was watching him quite keenly.

              Watching and waiting.

              …

              Mokuba made sure everyone had a blanket. The best part of this room was that the middle was basically a huge, cozy, conversation pit (a room that is primarily made up of couch). Most everyone had fallen asleep, even the cute girl who’d fallen through the portal earlier. She was very polite, too. She kinda looked like Usagi, but her demeanor was different. And it was always good to make a new friend.

              He was glad Bede was starting to open up a little. He reminded him a lot of Seto. Truth be told, he didn’t mind having him here. Plus, he’d destroyed that daimon that tried to hurt himself and his brother. There was an army of them during those first few days of the collision; they just popped up out of nowhere during a promotional outing. Bede, Karlach, Silver, Gwen, Penny, and Wyll came out of nowhere to help them. They’d been slumming it on the streets, but Seto offered them a place to stay in exchange for protection. Of course, Karlach took care of most problems nowadays, but Mokuba was still weary. After the incident with Kaolinite, what if neither she nor Wyll could be there to protect his brother?

              “Mokuba,” a tiny voice spoke up. It was Frisk. They seemed wide-awake.

              “Oh!” Mokuba jumped a little. “What’s up, Frisk? You okay?”

              Frisk paused. “This…has all happened before. I’m trying to stop it from happening again.”

              “What do you mean?” Mokuba asked. “What happened?”

              “All of this: the daimons, the witches, us meeting. It’s happened, and it didn’t end well. I can’t remember everything exactly, but I know either I, one of my friends, or…someone else has rewound time to try and fix things. I…I don’t want to fail again.”

              Mokuba froze. He wasn’t sure how to answer this. And Frisk looked like they were about to cry. What was he supposed to say?

              “Um…it’s okay, Frisk. I don’t think we��re going to fail. When Seto gets his tech back, he’s going to fix all of this. Trust me. I know my big brother; he’d never fail.”

              Frisk went quiet, seeming deep in thought. They nodded after some moments of hesitation. “I hope you’re right.”

              “I know I’m right,” Mokuba assured them. “He’s not going to give up, so you shouldn’t, either!”

              “…Thank you.”

              Mokuba gave them a smile. “You’re welcome!”

              …

              When the Doctor left, most of the older folks headed out, too. This left the young adults to try and complete a study session—which Usagi turned into a sleepover. Mako, Arven, and Steven made some snacks for everyone. When they had settled down, Hunter spoke up:

              “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

              “We didn’t want to scare you,” Luz said. “It was my idea. I’m so sorry, Hunter!”

              Hunter was quiet as he seemed to be thinking. Giorno spoke up. “I’ve got one, too. I wouldn’t worry so much about it. Now that I’m out of that contract, I’m able to use Golden Experience to its complete abilities again.”

              “Oh yeah! How strong is your stand, Giorno?” Koichi asked.

              “Future you knows a little,” Giorno said with a chuckle. “I’ve been able to take on a few strong stand users, myself.”

              “A few?” Mista questioned. “Talk about an understatement. He’s the strongest stand user I’ve ever seen.”

              Giorno gave him a look. A look telling him to tread carefully with his words. Miles had gotten the hang of reading Giorno’s expressions. “You flatter me, really. I do my best for Italy. That’s all.”

              “Regardless,” Kakyoin interjected. “It didn’t matter with those power dampeners.”

              “Well, I can take care of those,” Richie assured them.

              “And I can sneak us into places before my powers shut off,” Danny offered.

              “Then we’re already five steps ahead,” Minako joked.

              “What if there’s more witches and daimons out there?” Hunter asked. “What do we do then?”

              “Relax, if they haven’t shown up by now, hopefully they’re gone!” Usagi said.

              “Or more likely,” Kaiba interrupted, “Since the time-traveler visited us, he knows there are more witches and daimon out there. We need to be prepared for anything.”

              “He’s right,” Zuko agreed.

              “Well, what should we do?” Josuke asked.

              After a minute of silence, Sokka raised his hand. “OH! I KNOW!”

              That’s how they ended up drawing names from a hat and establishing a buddy system. Although it seemed a little preschool, it wasn’t a terrible idea. Miles ended up in the following group: Giorno, himself, Usagi, Luz, Peter, Amity, Yugi, Steven, Mako, and Arven. They’d probably stick with these groups during the festival tomorrow.

              Then everyone sort of powered down for the night. However, he couldn’t fall asleep. Those talismans were what the witches were really after. Since Giorno had one, and if Kaiba’s hypothesis were correct, he’d become a target, too. Giorno seemed sure of himself and his abilities, but still…he didn’t want to see him die again.

              “You alright, Miles?”

              Apparently, Giorno was having the same troubles sleeping as he was.

              “I’m okay, just thinking.”

              Giorno was quiet for a moment before speaking up again, “So, what are your parents like?”

              “Well, they’re cool…overbearing sometimes. But, they just want what’s best for me,” Miles paused. He laughed a little, but he didn’t know why. “I really miss them. I miss my home. I wish I’d left them making sure they knew that I love them. I wished I’d gotten to tell them who I really am.”

              “You’ll get that chance,” Giorno reassured him. “And I’m sure they know…they sound like good people.”

              It was quiet for another long minute. It felt like the silence was a heavy blanket on a humid night.

              “I know, by the way.”

              Miles sat up and looked at Giorno, who was already up. “Know what?”

              “I know it was my dad who saved us,” Giorno said. He furrowed his eyebrows. “I kind of saw him, as he and the priest were leaving the shrine. Why didn’t you tell me?”

              “I…I didn’t know if we could trust him,” Miles said. “After everything Kakyoin said, I’m still not sure. I mean, he killed him before. And if that’s not enough, there’s an obvious vendetta between your dad, Kakyoin, Avdol, Polnareff, and Jotaro. If they thought you were anything like him…”

              “You were afraid they’d kill me at my most vulnerable?” Giorno guessed.

              Miles nodded. “I should’ve said something. I’m sorry. But I…I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

              Giorno folded his hands in his lap and sat still. “Hmm. I appreciate the sentiment. And you probably had the right idea…just let me in, next time.”

              “Swear,” Miles said. “I will.”

              “…So, what was he like? Out of curiosity.”

              “Imposing,” Miles said. “Honestly? One minute Alastor was gloating about winning, the next, your dad was mocking him while he was trying to get back up. The priest got your soul back, ended your contract. I didn’t even see him move.”

              “It must be his stand,” Giorno surmised. “I’m not sure whether or not to trust him or the priest, either. Let’s keep this between us for now. When we figure out just exactly who he is, we’ll make more judgement calls, then.”

              “What if he tries to kill Jotaro, Josuke, Kakyoin, or any of the others? Kind of seems like he has a grudge against the whole bloodline and any of their friends,” Miles said.

              “That is a problem…” Giorno said. “If he does threaten them, I’m sure we can overpower him. I think I have an idea of what his stand can do, given what Kakyoin’s told us.”

              “We could always just ask Kakyoin,” Miles suggested.

              “I’m not sure he trusts us,” Giorno said. “I don’t blame him. If I were him, I’d be the same way. Still, I’m not going to allow him, Jotaro, or Josuke to get hurt. They’re family, too. It would be nice to get to know someone in my family who isn’t a complete bastard or out to use me.”

              “You think that’s what your dad is doing?” Miles asked.

              “Golden Experience defeated one of the most powerful stand users in Italy, Miles. How do I explain this?...Oh! It’s like that show Josuke and Okuyasu found on Luz’s television! The violent superhero one!”

              “The Boys?” Miles guessed.

              Giorno nodded. “The ‘superhero’ Homelander is like a bizarro Superman, right? His son is just as much so. As much as he wants his son to succeed, he also wants him to succeed for the sake of his own image. I’m not sure if this is quite what this DIO wants but given my experience with family and his lack of being in my life till now, I’d assume that’s what he wants. And since the priest endorsed me, I have a sinking feeling it’s all connected to him.”

              Miles thought about this. Giorno’s father had seemed truly remorseful for being absent in his life, as though it were out of his control. But Giorno was making some solid points, and it sounded like his homelife was just as his father had described—pretty terrible.

              “Hey, Gio,” Miles said softly. “My folks can be a little overbearing. But if you wanted to, you can stay with us for a while. I’m sure my mom would love to meet you. And my dad might look scary, but he’s a good person.”

              Giorno was quiet, seeming to actually consider the offer. “If I can, I might visit you. I do have serious business to attend to in Italy. If Kaiba perfects those interdimensional travel devices, it’s a nice idea.”

              Miles smiled. “Cool.”

              Unfortunately, what Miles failed to realize was the creature stalking in the night, sensing that a huge number of spider-persons were in this amalgamation. He grinned, knowing the hunt was on.

              …

              “You know, Miles, it’s glad to meet someone else who had no idea about this whole Spider-Society thing. I guess I probably didn’t get an invite because of the whole thing with Doctor Strange,” Peter rambled on, tugging at the hem of his Yukata.

              To represent the shrine, everyone had to wear them (some under protest like Jotaro and Jet). It wasn’t a huge deal. Right now, all of them were at the Summer’s End Festival. They were helping run some of the attractions. Miles, Peter, Luz, Amity, Steven, Yugi, Arven, and Giorno were helping the girls with this game where you could catch goldfish with this thin paper paddle and a cup. Some of the others were helping Avdol with his fortune telling booth, others were helping with food prep. It was a smart system, and people looked like they were having fun.

              Yet, something was off, a lingering fear. His senses were on high alert. And it wasn’t just him, it was Peter, Hobie, Gwen, and Pav, too. Did that mean Miguel had found out where they were? Or worse—Spot?      

              “Yeah, Miguel O’Hara probably took exception to that,” Miles said with a chuckle.

              “Oh please, I bet all of us combined could take him down,” Luz said. “We’ve got the brains and the brawn.”

              “You think so?” Miles asked. “I’ll gladly let you cover for me, Luz.”

              “I said ‘together,’” Luz said defensively. “I mean, a vampire Spiderman is still kind of scary.”

              “But through the power of friendship, we can beat the scary vampire,” Arven said, rolling his eyes.

              “Is it cool to not want to fight a vampire anytime soon?” Steven asked. He nervously laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “I was never good with horror.”

              “Well, he’s not a literal vampire, guys,” Miles tried to explain.

              “Are you sure?” Mako teased. “He sounds like a natural Count Dorkula.”

              Lots of people groaned at the joke. That’s when Haruka and Michiru walked over to their stall.

              “Haruka! Michiru!” Usagi cheered.

              “Hello, Odango,” Haruka said. “How have you all been doing?”

              “Is tired a valid answer?” Arven asked.

              Michiru chuckles. “I’d imagine so. Everyone looks so adorable in their yukatas, especially you, Arven.”

              Arven’s face turned three shades of red. “Uhm…thanks!”

              If Nemona had been there to see that…

              “So, what have you guys been up to?” Haruka asked.

              Oh, you know, beating up witches, almost dying, getting saved by possibly evil vampires, dying, and avoiding dying.

              “Just trying to figure out how to get home,” Miles explained.

              “Seems like that’s what everyone is trying to do,” Michiru said. “On the bright side, we haven’t seen anymore of those witch broadcasts. Maybe someone got rid of them?”

              “You keep up with that?” Amity asked, trying to sound blasé.

              “Of course we do,” Michiru said.

              “Gotta stay aware. I mean, what are we going to do against superpowered witches?” Haruka asked.

              Touche Haruka. Touche.

              “Speaking of which, you all should be careful,” Michiru advised. “Just because you haven’t seen any witches, doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.”

              “What if something worse is out there?” Arven mumbled.

              “That would suck,” Luz admitted. “But we’d get through it. Haremos nuestro mejor esfuerzo.”

              Arven paused and nodded.

              “Do you mind if I try to play?” Haruka asked Usagi.

              “No! Go ahead! Good luck, Haruka!”

              On the first try, almost instantly, Haruka caught a goldfish. She gave it to Michiru and the two went off to joyous attractions unknown. Maybe food. Food would be good right around now.

              “Hey, does anyone want to help me get some food?” Miles asked.

              “I’ll go,” Giorno said.

              “We want to check out the food!” Luz said, grabbing Amity’s hand.

              “And I could use a break,” Arven said.

              “Do you think you can remember what everyone wants?” Ami asked.

              “At least one of the five of us can,” Luz said with a laugh.

              That’s how the five of them earned a break and got to check out all the stalls at the festival. The place was crowded with people. Sure enough, there was an event dedicated to Duel Monsters and to Pokémon. Both seemed to be doing well. Maybe Kaiba wouldn’t be too unhappy. Tch. Right.

              “I think all the champions from around the Pokémon world are there,” Luz said. “We should go sneak in!”

              “That’s more Nemona’s thing,” Arven said. “I really am hungry, and the food here looks so good!”

              “Plus, the girls, Steven, Peter, and Yugi are expecting food, too,” Miles pointed out.

              “But this might be the only chance to meet them!” Luz complained.

              “Maybe you can ask Rei if you can after we get the food,” Amity compromised.

              “Alright, but I’m…” Luz cut herself off as she looked into the distance. “Mamá?”

              A woman with hair pinned up in a sort of ponytail, glasses, and nurses outfit stood ahead of them. She turned to see Luz, “Luz?”

              Luz shoved the food into Arven’s arms and ran over to her mom, lunging into a hug. “Mamá! You’re here! Oh, my baby! I’m so glad to see you!”

              Miles felt his heart crack just a little, until the nurse turned to him. “Eres tu!”

              “I’m sorry,” Miles said. “How do you know—?”

              He was cut off as a deep but familiar voice called out, “Miles!”

              “Dad?”

              “Miles!” his mom ran over from a nearby booth. He didn’t have time to register what was going on before they both tackled him in a hug. “You’re okay! We-we thought you were gone. Don’t you ever do something like that again!”

              “I’m sorry,” Miles mumbled over and over again, trying, unsuccessfully, to keep from crying.

              “Where did you go, Miles?” his dad asked.

              “It’s a long story,” Miles said. “I met so many people, and there’s a lot of dangerous things out there. But we beat them, Mom, Dad. And I know my worth. I didn’t know you guys would end up in this place, too!”

              “Baby, how did you get here?” his mom asked.

              “Mom, Dad, there’s something I need to tell you, but not here. It’s private. And I should’ve said this a long time ago, at Dad’s party. I should’ve just told you. If I’d just told you, none of this would’ve happened. No one would be in danger, and I—!”

              “Miles, slow down,” his dad said. “Who’s in danger?”

              “I…everyone!” Miles said. His mind was going into overdrive. So much was happening at once. His chest seized up, and it felt like his body was shutting down. “Giorno, Hunter, Usagi, Steven, you, me, everyone!”

              “Miles,” Giorno said, he stooped down next to him. “Come on, this is a good thing. We’ve found your parents. Everything is going to be okay. We’ve got this, remember?”

              “Back up,” Luz’s mom said. “Who’s trying to hurt Hunter?”

              “It’s a long story, Mamá,” Luz said.

              “I’m sure you’ll fill us in,” Miles’s dad said.

              “You must be Captain Morales and Mrs. Morales,” Giorno said. “It’s good to meet you, signore and signora.”

              “Who are you?” Miles’s dad asked, incredulously.

              Giorno stood up and extended a hand towards him. “My name is Giorno Giovanna.”

              “Well…at least he didn’t call us by our first names like, Emo,” Mr. Morales grumbled.

              “She has a name, Dad,” Miles said weakly.

              “Speaking of,” Mrs. Morales interjected. “She said you got lost. Where did you go, Miles?”

              The pain in her voice hurt him even more. There were no words to make any of this okay. Why wasn’t he happy? He just felt so…overwhelmed!

              “I’m not sure. I don’t know where all I have been. I don’t even know where here is.”

              “I think he’s a little overwhelmed,” he heard Luz’s mom say gently. “Maybe we should give him some space.”

              “…Camila is right,” Mrs. Morales said. She gently placed a hand on Miles’s shoulder. “Miles, baby, it’s alright. Let’s just…where are you all staying right now?”

              “The Hikawa Shrine,” Giorno answered for him. “I’ve introduced myself, but there are a number of people staying there. We’ve…forged a friendship, kept each other safe. Miles is a very good friend to me. He’s…been through a lot.”

              Miles appreciated someone else being able to put their situation into words.

              “My poor boy,” his mom said, soothingly.

              “C’mon Miles,” his dad said, helping him back up. “Let’s just relax for a minute, alright?”

              It was quiet for a minute before Miles asked, “I’m glad you guys found Luz’s mom. She really missed you, Mrs. Noceda.”

              “I sure did,” Luz said, hugging her mom tightly.

              “I missed you, too!” Mrs. Noceda said, hugging her. She looked over to Amity and pulled her into the hug. “And don’t think I forgot you, Amity!”

              Mrs. Noceda looked to Arven. “Who are you?”

              “My name is Arven,” he murmured. “We…we should probably get back to the others. They’re probably starving, especially Usagi.”

              “MILES!”

              Oh no. Oh crap.

              A familiar brunette man in a pink bath robe, baggy clothes, and slippers carrying a baby ran towards their group.

              “P-Peter?!”

              “Yeah, don’t worry, I’m not with Miguel.”

              “We know,” Giorno said with a firm glare. “You must be the infamous Peter Parker.”

              “What are you talking about?” Mr. Morales asked. “Peter Parker is dead.”

              “Your Peter Parker is dead,” his mentor corrected. “Uh, sorry. You must be Miles’s parents. My name is Peter Parker. This is my daughter, Mayday. Say ‘hi’ Mayday!”

              To her credit, Mayday did wave her tiny hand at his mom, blabbering in baby-speech.

              “Peter, what are you doing here?” Miles asked.

              “You know this man?” his dad asked.

              “He’s,” Miles sighed. “He’s my mentor.”

              “Mentor?” His mom questioned. “Mentor at school? What are you talking about, Miles.”

              His dad dawned a look of realization. “No. That’s not it. Miles…are you?”

              “He’s Spiderman,” a dark voice said.

              A man with dark black hair, red eyes, dressed in a long, black dress coat, silver button up, black slacks, shoes began to approach them. Peter handed Miles Mayday. “Miles, take her and run. Go with your family, get out of here!”

              “Oh, but why chase my meal off?” the man questioned. “I have a buffet in front of me. Two and a half totems.”

              Mr. Morales pulled out his gun, and Giorno stepped in front of Miles. “Take one step closer to your own demise.”

              “Giorno Giovanna,” the man mused. “The son of a lesser god. I must say, I am impressed to meet such a powerful young man. A delicacy for sure, but the souls of spiders are far…greater.”

              “Miles…” his mother said. “You…”

              Miles took a deep breath and stood up. “Mom, Dad. I’ve been doing my best to protect you. And I’m not going to stop now. I’m Spiderman.”

              …

              Chibiusa walked with her newfound friends. The scary-nice lady with an axe, her boyfriend, the professor, three lawyers, a mystic, and three witches were watching over them. She learned the boy who let her stay with them, Mokuba Kaiba, was the brother to a wealthy CEO, Seto Kaiba. Her mama hadn’t mentioned any of this when she told her she’d make a special connection back in the twentieth century. Could this boy be the one she was talking about?

              “Come on! We’re gonna be late!” the mystic’s cousin, Pearl shouted.

              “We’re actually going to be there a few minutes early,” the red-haired boy, Silver corrected.

              “I can’t wait to see the duel,” Mokuba said. He laughed. “Though, I’ll be honest, I’m not sure why Joey volunteered to go against him.”

              “Who knows?” Hop said. “He might have a card up his sleeve.”

              “You’re as terrible with puns as your brother,” Bede complained.

              “Hey, at least you admit I’m like Lee with something,” Hop joked.

              Bede rolled his eyes.

              “If you want, after the show, I can help you find Usagi,” Mokuba offered. “She should be somewhere around here. Seto said she would.”

              “Not without one of us, pup,” Karlach said. “We’ll help you find the moon warrior.”

              “I’m a moon warrior, too,” Chibiusa said, a little jealous of the cool title.

              “Is that so?” Karlach asked. “How about Mini Moon Warrior?”

              “It’s cute,” Chibiusa said.

              “It suits a young warrior,” Wyll agreed.

              “Though, children shouldn’t be anywhere near a fight,” Mr. Edgeworth was quick to point out.

              “I’ve told you hundreds of times,” Toph said, clearly annoyed. “I have shot boulders into and destroyed tanks and airships. I’m ten. It doesn’t matter!”

              “Airships?” Karlach questioned. “This girl is a military of her own.”

              This earned a grin from Toph. These other kids weren’t so bad. Maybe, while she was here, they could become friends.

              …

              “Where are they?” Usagi whined.

              They were sure both Champion Leon and Seto had finished debuting their shows by now, and the others still hadn’t come back with food! Even the crowd around their stall had died down.

              “We should go check on them,” Yugi suggested.

              “Yugi’s right,” Mako agreed.

              “Someone should probably look for Rei, too,” Minako said. “She’s gone missing.”

              “Ugh! Rei! Now is not the time!” Usagi chastised. “Yugi, Steven, can you guys help me look for her?”

              “Sure,” they both agreed.

              “We’ll look for Miles and the others,” Mako said.

              “Oh, I’m sure you’re more than willing to do that, Mako,” Usagi teased.

              Mako turned a bright shade of red. “It’s not like that! We’re just good friends!”

              “Uh-huh.”

              “No really,” Mako said. “I think…never mind. It’s not my business or place to say anything.”

              Usagi stared at her for a second and then shrugged. They walked until they reached the clearing at the entrance of the festival. Rei was sitting on one of the benches watching the drummer for the festival practice. Her name was Maya Tohno. It had taken Rei a lot to convince her to perform at the festival.

              “Rei,” Usagi began carefully. “Are you okay?”

              “Hmm? Oh, yeah. I’m okay. It’s just nice to see someone so dedicated to doing something they love,” Rei said. She looked to Usagi, Steven, and Yugi. “Do you guys ever get tired of always having to worry about an uncertain future, never knowing where you’re going next?”

              “A lot,” Steven said. “I was actually on the road trying to find myself before I ended up here. I spent my whole childhood fighting my mom’s problems.”

              “I deal with a lot of stuff that resurfaces from the past, too,” Yugi said. “It’s a little scary, but as long as you’ve got good friends around you, I believe you can get past anything.”

              “They’re totally right,” Usagi agreed, sitting down next to Rei. Truthfully, she’d been feeling a little overwhelmed by their new enemy, too. “These Deathbusters are scary, but we’re going to get through it together—if they’re still out there. There’s never going to be a day when you don’t have me, Rei!”

              Rei smiled. “I trust you, Usagi…even if you are a klutz.”

              “Hey!”

              Before Usagi could mouth off, a white van drove up to the entrance. A stereo from the car announced, “Maya Tohno to entry. I repeat, Maya Tohno to entry!”

              Said drummer ran down to the entrance and spotted the van. All too late did Usagi see the woman with the same red hair but younger face than Kaolinite step out of the van with a strange looking gun. She aimed it at Tohno and fired. A black bolt of energy struck Miss Tohno, forcing her pure heart crystal out of her body.

              “You two should transform. We’ll cover for you,” Steven said.

              Usagi gave them a nod. “Moon cosmic power, make up!”

              …

              This guy was strong and fast. It took everything he had to get Golden Experience to match this man’s speed and strength. Still, he wasn’t just going to let this guy kill his friend…or his parents.

              Miles, Peter, and Amity tried to slow him down with a combination of webbing and abomination magic, but it wasn’t working. Miles’s father had tried to shoot the man, but he simply flicked the bullet away. Maybe silver bullets would have worked better? And he wouldn’t stay still long enough to hit him with Requiem.

              Giorno barely dodged slicing claws at his face. The man snarled. “I am the ultimate inheritor! Of course, I can see what no other lifeform can see. That includes your ridiculous stand!”

              “See this!”

              “MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA!”

              A barrage of punches from GE hit the man in the gut, even lifting him into the air with the impact. The man simply brushed it off and kicked Giorno backwards. Being controlled by Alastor was one thing. It was another to have nothing he did work.

              “Giorno!” Miles yelled. The man focused his attention back on Miles. Not good!

              “Hey!” Giorno called back. “Ultimate asshole! What are totems?”

              “Perhaps you, yourself are a totem, Mr. Giovanna. Do you wish to find out?”

              Giorno smirked. “No. Just had to distract you long enough.”

              The man’s eyebrows furrowed before a certain white-haired spawn cast some sort of green spell on the man, “Timē.”

              The man doubled over for a moment, but a moment was all that was needed. Bucciarati had come over with Abbachio and Mista. He used his stand, “STICKY FINGERS!”

              The group jumped through the zipper shaped hole, leading them back to the shrine. Giorno knew it probably wasn’t the last time they were going to see this man. And if they were after spiders…

              “Bucciarati, you need to go back to the festival and get any other spiderperson, do you understand?” Giorno asked.

              “You’re the boss,” Bucciarati said with a slight smile. “I’ll be right back.”

              True to his word, he was back in a flash with Peter, Gwen, Hobie, and Pav. The four were a bit shocked to see Peter B, but they quickly found their groove.

              “Miles, who was that?” his mother practically yelled. He did hate yelling.

              “I-I don’t know,” Miles stammered. Today was already rough on him. He sat down on the floor, taking a few shallow breaths.

              Giorno stepped in, “Miles, it’s alright. You’re safe here. We’re at the shrine.”

              “Let me explain,” Peter B said. “That man is Morlun. He’s one of the most dangerous enemies to any spiderperson as he hunts and his diet consists of spider totems…us, basically.”

              “What the hell, we’re already dealing with witches!” Gwen argued.

              “Someone is intentionally messing with us,” Hobie said. “It’s sabotage.”

              “Or a distraction,” Abbachio said. “You were lucky we were near you. If Kaiba knew his event was this close to getting messed up, he’d have a bitch fest.”

              “What do we do?” Pav asked.

              “…if Mr. Stark were here, he’d know,” Peter said. He paused. His eyes widened. “Mr. Stark!”

              “Who’s Mr. Stark?” Camila asked.

              “He’s my mentor! He’s Iron Man!” Peter said. “The dead are coming back to life! If he’s back, we can get his help! And Thor! Thor can kick this guy’s butt!”

              “Just say ass,” Mista groaned.

              “Call whoever,” Giorno said. “I’m not letting Miles get hurt.”

              Giorno sat down beside Miles. “I swear. I won’t allow them to hurt you or your family. I’ll work with whoever I need to.”

              “That’s actually a point of interest for me,” the pale elf spawn interjected. “Your father has a message for you. He’s offering immortality and greater power, apparently. I assume this would also mean protection as well.”

              “I…” Giorno’s voice trailed off. Immortality would more than likely mean…but if it made him stronger, wasn’t it worth it? Then again, who’s to say what he’d be if he accepted? And his father didn’t seem like a man of any ethical code. True, Giorno had and would kill to keep others safe and accomplish his dreams. But picking off the crusaders one at a time, especially after meeting Avdol, Kakyoin, Jotaro, and Josuke (even though he wasn’t a crusader) seemed so wrong and spiteful. Would he bid him to hurt them?

              “Would you like some seasoned advice?” Astarion asked. “Don’t take the deal. Power is grand. But the kind of power he’s offering comes with a long list of strings. I should know.”

              “Aren’t you working with my father?” Giorno asked.

              “Dear boy, I work with whomever I feel like working with. At the time I merely worked with your father to be contrarian to Alastor. I do hate a puppeteer, well, unless, of course, I’m the one in control. But take it from someone who knows, his protection is more dangerous than fighting your own problems.”

              “I need to think this over,” Giorno said, standing up.

              Miles reached out to him, grabbing his hand. “Gio…don’t take the deal.”

              “Miles…it’s alright. I’ll do what’s best for everyone.”

              With that, he walked off to his room, to think for a moment.

              “Are you having fun, Gio?”

              He summoned GE as Alastor stepped out of the shadows. The Radio Demon tilted his head and chuckled. “Oh, I’ve learned my lesson. But I should teach you one more. One that will benefit you.”

              “Why should you care about my benefit?” Giorno asked with a glare.

              “Because if you take your father’s deal, it’s like Astarion said, you’ll be nothing more than a glorified puppet. You and I both know what he’ll force you to do.”

              “What do you want from me?”

              “You already know.”

              “No.”

              “No? Well, I’d weigh your options, Mr. Giovanna. Morlun is powerful. I’m not even sure if your father can beat him.” Alastor grinned. “But I can. All it takes is one death. One versus many.”

              Giorno was silent.

              “Perhaps once he tears through a few of the other spidermen, you’ll realize what you need to do,” Alastor continued. “Until then, you can always reach me. But don’t let him tear through the one you care about most.”

              Giorno took a sharp breath. Did he know? How?

              “You’ve never had anyone who cared about you before,” Alastor said. “It’s frightening, I understand. But you know what’s even more frightening? Losing that person. Once they’re gone, there’s no point. After all, we are so similar, Gio. I’ve been where you are, only, I failed. You have the chance to do the right thing.”

              “Go away.”

              “Think about it.”

              With a gust of air, he was gone. But a dark chill remained in the room.

              …

              Yugi held off the daimon with Marshmallon. However, it had made them all hop around, trying to avoid the fireworks it fired into the air. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune showed up on cue and examined the heart crystal. It turned out to be normal, so they bounced.

              Yami took over, and after an ordeal of summoning was able to summon Dark Magician. Dark Magician froze the daimon in place for a moment, ticking it off. Steven threw his shield at the monster’s abdomen, but it still sprung back up. Again, Yami looked through his deck, knowing he may be able to summon Dark Magician Girl soon.

              However, it wasn’t needed. A small sailor guardian adorned in pink hit the monster with an, albeit, weak attack. Sailor Moon was provided the time she needed to hit it.

              “Moon spiral heart attack!”

              The daimon dissolved back into a small tambourine, hitting the ground with a small thud.

              “Chibiusa!” Usagi exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

              “Mommy sent me here to train,” Chibiusa said indignantly.

              Chibiusa was followed by a small army of children, including Mokuba. Karlach, Wyll, Phoenix, Miles, Maya, Franziska, Joey, Champion Leon, and Kaiba followed behind them.

              “We need to go,” Kaiba hissed.

              “Why?” Yugi asked. “What happened?”

              “Not only this,” Kaiba gestured to the remains of the daimon. “But Morales, Stacy, and co. are facing a…difficult situation. We’re having a meeting about it.”

              “So much for no more witches,” Usagi sighed.

              “It’s so much more than that,” another voice, belonging to Firelord Zuko spoke up.

              “Let’s get going,” Robin agreed.

              “Steven,” Connie began. “I think this might be really bad. Are you going to be okay for this?”

              Steven nodded. “I’ll be fine. I’ve been doing my exercises daily.”

              “Okay. As long as you’re sure.”

              “She’s not lying, Yug,” Joey said. “It’s some kind of vampire, apparently. He’s crazy strong.”

              “We’ll deal with it, Joey,” Yami assured him. Vampires were new, at least in this age. Not so much in Ancient Egypt, surprisingly. “We’ll help in any way we can.”

              “Not sure what exactly we’re gonna do against this whack job,” Joey said with a shrug.

              “Our best, Joey. Our best.”