#Inner joining them. Actually i could probably do this with a lot of tinkering from the stats class I took last semester.

[anthyies]

they need to make a database where you can pick character(s) and get a list of every comic they’re both/all in. someone listen to my vision

[ihateclaws]

This is a story about my Fallout 4 OC Eiden! In this AU Deacon is a shapeshifter. You could find out more in the ficlets or send me asks. Note that Deacon slaughtered Eiden’s whole family before this point.

Should cover all the backstory of Eiden now!

tw: mentioned minor characters death

There were still times when Deacon saw a kid and felt guilty towards Eiden, and lately, he had been around a certain ten-year-old a lot.

“You know full well my father was cheating, had been cheating, and would have continued to cheat if he’s not dead, D. I had been avoiding talking to him for two years by then. It wasn’t the best thing I could do but hey, at the age of I saw the world more black-and-white-ly than the current me, and I still don’t like him,” Eiden half grinned, and the older man could tell it was of the amused sort. “My mom, though.” The grin faded.

“I—” Deacon tried.

“I used to wear this little sweater she bought,” the younger man cut him off, “it was a nice sweater, soft and warm. Loved it. It was a baby blue colour with some floral patterns. Always thought it was cute. But other boys said it was a girl’s sweater, and thereby call me things. She never let me join UP Deathclaw, wasn’t planning to. My mom.”

Deacon waited for a beat, then said: “I’m sorry.”

“What for? We murdered your wife.”

“You didn’t do anything. You were eleven.”

“You were twenty-six, and I’m alive,” Eiden knocked their shoulder together, and the tension broke.

———

Eiden offered to look at Shaun’s programming and inner structure, because several agents, including the tech himself, could swear to whatever’s still up there that the kid has grown. The technician would be the first to admit Railroad couldn’t possibly understand all the Institute technologies in the foreseeable future, but he and Tinker Tom combined together should be able to work something out of the prototype. They needed the kid’s consent, though, and it was a hard issue to address with Shaun. Then Eiden suggested that he could do it.

It wasn’t like Deacon didn’t know where he was coming from, but there was just not a single way to discuss this with Sole without basically recounting his whole life story to them, so that was a hard pass. Eiden gave up without too much fuss.

“But someone has to talk to him,” he said defiantly.

“We’ll talk to Sole,” Deacon promised, “let Nick do it. Let X6 do it. Hell, let Danse do it.”

“Alright, alright, I get the idea,” the boy began to smile.

“We can make dinner for the kid after Danse properly scares him and they both start to cry. Maybe even take him to a toy shop.”

“That’s a bit mean,” and they both started laughing.

———

It was probably a bit too mean for Eiden’s good conscience, because he went to Sanctuary Hill the next time Danse came around, brought Shaun lots of little mechanisms and spare parts, and cooked Deathclaw egg omelette and Brahmin steaks for everyone. Danse eyed the food suspiciously while Sole dig in.

“How did you obtain the eggs?” He asked.

“Plasma mines and a stick of dynamite. The rifle wasn’t even much involved,” Eiden shrugged.

“Mmm, it’s good,” said Sole, “so what’s the occasion?”

“I — was bloodthirsty the other day and am in the mood of cooking today?”

“Try again,” Sole suggested.

———

Okay, judging by Deacon’s knowledge of how good Eiden could lie, this was planned. Cunning little bastard. Good to have him on his side.

Danse looked sick, and Sole was reassuring him they were going to do it really nicely and gently, also definitely on another day and Danse didn’t even have to do it.

“No actually, I think you could do it,” Eiden said calmly, “Shaun likes you, Danse.”

“I’m not — it’s not — I’m not dealing with my newly revealed identity very well,” said Danse.

“Who is, though.” Some silence. Deacon glanced at the tech. “Seriously, you’re a good person. You’re more than capable to handle yourself. You help people. Who cares about the rest around here? Don’t put yourself into those neat labelled boxes; no one should, with you or to Shaun.”

“What he said,” Deacon added helpfully. Don’t be a hypocrite, he thought very loudly, and thank you.

[homenum-revelio-hq]

Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix, Christie!

You have been accepted for the role of non-biography character DEDALUS DIGGLE with the faceclaim of Amadeus Serafini! We love reading about your Diggle! He was such a delight. We especially enjoyed the family section, which has been less-than-thrilled with his activism, along with the prejudice section that showed Dedalus not always taking the time to listen to those with less privilege. It shines a particularly real light, right now especially. So happy to have you apart of this roleplay!  

Please take a look at the new member checklist and send in your account within 24 hours! Thank you for joining the fight against Voldemort!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME: Christie

AGE: 20

TIMEZONE: GMT+3

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I’m a uni student who’s almost done with her deadlines so very soon I’ll have a lot of free time and I’d love to dedicate it to further developing Dedalus in this group. This might be subject to change if I actually manage to get a job (fingers crossed) but I’m sure I’ll still have time to do replies and just interact with people in general at least a few times a week. Plus my weekends are free for the foreseeable future so there’s always that!

ANYTHING ELSE: Nope

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Dedalus Diggle

AGE: 26

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Cis male, he/him. He uses no labels for his sexuality – purely because he’s not currently aware of one that accurately describes him – but is very openly interested in people of all genders. Bisexuality is the term he’d consider closest to accurately describing his orientation, though it’s not quite right either. In modern terms, I’d say he’s pansexual.

BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Ravenclaw

ANY CHANGES: –

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY:

Less is more has never been a philosophy that applies to Dedalus, not in any way, shape or form. He talks big, dreams even bigger, and the catch of it all is that nobody believes in what he says more than he himself does. Optimism or naivete, it’s hard to tell, but he has a great deal of both and somehow, for better or worse, the world hasn’t managed to run him down just yet. He’s open, and friendly, and so very excitable, and as much as that can be a strength, he’s also no stranger to taking things too far. He’s very familiar with social faux pas, whether as a result of not reading the room or simply of a miscalculated attempt to raise people’s spirits gone wrong.

It comes as no surprise that as a former Ravenclaw, his mind is his greatest weapon. Dedalus is very intelligent, though that might not be too obvious just from the way he behaves. Most people would probably perceive him as rather silly, really, if not downright bonkers since most of his ideas are very much outlandish. To say he struggles with expressing his ideas in a way they would make more sense would imply he actively tries to, which simply isn’t the case. He’s perfectly content in saying his piece and letting people dismiss him as somewhat of an oddball if they so wish.

Since his head is so often up in the clouds, however, it’s hard to keep track of what goes on on the ground. Dedalus is very much off in his own Dedalus-land most of the time, seeing and perceiving things purely the way he wants to, and in a sense, there’s definitely a disconnection between him and the rest of the world. He’s not necessarily aware of it either, but that doesn’t make it any less present.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY: 

The Diggle family currently consists of Delia, Samuel and Dedalus, not accounting for a variety of cousins whose names, quite frankly, Dedalus cannot remember for the life of him. Lots of D-names, he’d say at a guess; those always seem to be a hit within his family. And as far as his relationship with his parents goes, he tries not to think about it too much. It’s strained, without a doubt, though Dedalus doesn’t want to consider exactly how strained. They’ve always had their differences, ever since he’d been old enough to express an opinion, but for the past few years, he’s been slowly but surely distancing himself from them and they don’t seem to mind terribly much. They’re letting him live out his ‘rebellious phase’, they say and for Dedalus, that further solidifies the fact they don’t really know him at all. He’s always been somewhat of a disappointment, anyway; it’s no surprise they wouldn’t mind if people stopped associating him too much with the Diggle family.

Thinking back, they’d liked him much better before he’d started thinking for himself – back when he followed etiquette, when he spent time only with people who meant something in the Wizarding World, when he didn’t think too much about muggle-borns, and half-bloods, and all those little things he so likes to talk about these days. Delia and Samuel are much too dignified to publicly admit something as crude as the belief muggle-borns are less capable, less worthy, less, but, well, it’s true, isn’t it? They certainly wouldn’t bring up the topic in polite company, but facts are facts.

OCCUPATION: 

Owner of Dedalus Diggle’s Delights, a candy shop in Diagon Alley that he founded with his parents’ money back when he was twenty-one and they were becoming particularly unbearable with their admonishments and lectures on responsibility. It was simply a clever way to say ‘screw you’ at first – starting and running a proper business is hard work but Dedalus also takes immense pride in the fact that his parents could hardly say they’d expected this; after all, what said childish and irresponsible better than candy? In the past few years, however, Dedalus Diggle’s Delights has developed a bitter rivalry with Sugarplum’s Sweet Shop, though it is unclear whether Dedalus is the only one who really perceives it that way. Grudgingly, he will admit Sugarplum’s seems to be doing better at the moment but, he will also be quick to add, that is, of course, only because he hardly has the time to invest into his shop as he is just so very busy with his other job.

For the unenlightened, ‘other job’ refers to his little experiments, which isn’t really a proper job. Dedalus fancies himself a bit of a tinkerer, an innovator, and he spends most of his days crafting magical items with varying degrees of success. One you might be familiar with if you’ve spoken to him for longer than thirty seconds is his pocket watch. Quite the handy little thing, he won’t hesitate to let you know. Always knows your schedule and reminds you if you’re late for an appointment!

For the enlightened, however, ‘other job’ refers to his work for the Order – also not exactly a proper job, come to think of it. Dedalus is very dedicated to the cause and always eager to help even with the smallest of jobs. Newer members might appreciate the help at first, though conversations with Dedalus rarely end once the job is done so perhaps they’ve ought to know better by now than to accept his help unless they’ve got time to spare. His main job, the way he sees it, is to provide a different point of view, the more outlandish the better. No one can spark a conversation quite like Dedalus Diggle and he takes great pride in that.

ROLE WITHIN THE ORDER/THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ORDER: 

Stepping out of character for this one – because while Dedalus has a lot of thoughts on his role within the Order, he does tend to see things in his own Dedalus way – I’d say that outside of helping wherever he’s needed and filling out empty roles on missions, the biggest asset he brings to the Order is his mind. He’s very good at taking a step back and providing a different perspective – granted, it’s usually a fairly outlandish perspective, but once stripped of its more fantastical elements, other members will often find there’s a lot of value in his input. He’d be perfect for an advisor if he only he was less… extraordinary in his ideas which often err on the side of impractical if not impossible. He personally calls it ‘dreaming big’ but you can see how that line is so easily crossed.

And speaking of big dreams and idealism, Dedalus very much believes the Order will prevail. He finds it easier than most might to shake off the small losses and disadvantages because in his head it’s simply impossible that the Order would lose. He’s very much a good versus evil kind of guy and in his head, the Order represents good and thus will always prevail. It would be absolutely fascinating to explore how bigger losses (ex: the death of James) might change things as far as Dedalus’ belief, certainty and, to a degree, naivete go, and how those potential change might manifest.

While I imagine his dedication and input are enough to qualify him for the Inner circle, Dedalus, unfortunately, is also much too absentminded to be trusted with the most important of the Order’s secrets and decisions. He’s no stranger to slipping up and admitting things he’s not supposed to be sharing, and while it’s usually small things and he’s pretty good at playing up the ’I’m just a random weirdo, don’t mind what I’m saying’ card, I can’t imagine the Order would be willing to risk it. And so he is a mid-level member, but the higher-ups are probably still careful and quite possibly only ever tell him the bare minimum he needs to know.

SURVIVAL: 

As mentioned, Dedalus very much lives in his own world to a certain extent. He sees things the same everybody else does, but his interpretations are almost always positive and optimistic in favour of himself and the Order. This is more in terms of mentality, as far as survival goes, but I do feel that’s also something very important to consider. At the moment, I’d say he’s in a pretty good mental state in the sense that he’s mostly content and the horrors of war haven’t managed to quite make an impact. If he were to become disillusioned – which I personally think is really only a matter of time – that would certainly change things and survival might just become a whole lot harder.

Outside of his own head, he’s got it pretty easy when compared to most. His parents are wealthy and mostly happy to let him have his ‘rebellious phase’ for a while longer which as far as they’re aware consists purely of Dedalus foregoing all pureblood etiquette and expectations. Hardly anyone suspects his affiliation with the Order due to how absent-minded and irresponsible he comes across as, though he himself has had a few close calls with accidentally exposing himself; luckily, people are used to him talking nonsense and it’s not hard for him to cover up his near slip-ups as more mindless prattle.

RELATIONSHIPS: 

If Dedalus had his way, he’d spend days and days just chatting with people. They wouldn’t even need to say anything back – he has more than enough to say on a multitude of topics and he can absolutely hold an entire conversation, an argument even, all by himself. All the better if there’s someone to nod along.

That said, here are some ideas I had after browsing some bios/apps (that are of course just my interpretation and completely a subject to change after chatting with the other writers!):

Gideon Prewett: With how people seem to go to him for advice and how he brings stability to the Order, I think he could be someone to balance Dedalus out. Dedalus has good ideas and even better intentions, but in reality, his ideas are only worth executing after they’ve been sufficiently dialled down and their more outlandish elements have been worked out.

Amos Diggory: Just based off of their jovial, friendly personalities, I think Dedalus and Amos would get on like a house on fire. Dedalus would certainly enjoy his presence, be it for a quick chat or a smoke, and I think they have the potential to be great friends.

Emmeline Vance: Emmeline and Dedalus seem to share an interest in figuring out how things work and it would be so cool to explore their dynamic especially since I also love the contrast between her, who is so easy to overlook, and Dedalus, who doesn’t let people look anywhere but at him.

Hestia Jones: With how good Hestia is at thinking outside the box, I feel she and Dedalus are definitely kindred spirits in that sense. But while her ideas might get shot down, people listen to Dedalus and maybe that can cause some friction between them.

Ndulue Travers: I came across the “Do they have money? Flair? A sense of humour and an ability to hold their liquor? Let’s be friends!” part of their app and Dedalus definitely has all of the above, even if his ability to hold his liquor is a bit questionable. Oh, well. He’d argue it makes things more fun anyway.

Edgar Bones: Similar to Gideon, I feel like he’d be a good foil for Dedalus. Dedalus spends more time with his head in the clouds rather than his feet on the ground so he definitely needs someone who leans more towards the opposite to keep him grounded – or to clash with, though Dedalus rarely if ever looks for confrontation.

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS: Oh, man, I’d be open to exploring just about any ship with Dedalus. He’s very much a ‘try everything at least once’ type of guy so honestly, he himself is very open to all kinds of romantic and sexual relationships too.

WHAT PRIVILEGES AND BIASES DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE? 

Dedalus likes to think of himself as a very progressive wizard indeed; he almost makes it a point to always be the most open and accepting he can be. His intentions are good and his actions are genuine though I do imagine it might not come across this way to some – after all, if he’s trying that hard to show everybody how open-minded he is, surely he’s got something to hide or make up for, no? Then there’s also the other side of this double-edged knife – at what point does he become too progressive? For example, he might be pretty quick to forgive a person for calling a muggle-born a ‘mudblood’ if they show some remorse – even if it’s not his place, as a pureblood, to forgive such a thing. Dedalus would be the first to shake hands with a werewolf, the first to loudly point out and draw attention to the accomplishments of muggle-borns – but in a weird way, the last one to think to double-check with them if his ‘activism’ is even wanted.

But come on, does he really mean all that? At his core, Dedalus has very much grown up in a pureblood society, as much as he might’ve been a black sheep in a lot of ways. He’s trying very hard to unlearn those prejudiced ideas, but often they would still be very present in his initial reactions. In a way, his avid desire to always be almost excessively open-minded is indeed trying to make up for something i.e. his previous pureblood habits and values.

This is, naturally, also very connected to the privileges he already has. He is a white man from a pureblood family. Although his behaviour is a far cry from what would be expected of him, he, without a doubt, still retains a big part of those privileges, with his parents and I imagine fellow purebloods assuming the mentality that this is his ‘rebellious phase’ that he will soon grow out of. That said, I do think quite a few people might find his promiscuity quite distasteful – not only does he not hide his dalliances with wix and muggles alike but he almost seems to flaunt them.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? I’ve had so many ideas about Dedalus Diggle for such a long time, but unfortunately, I’ve never really had the chance to properly explore and develop him as a character. I think this rp will be a great fit both for the sort of dynamics I would like to explore with Dedalus and for what he has to bring to the table too. I think he’s got very particular energy about him and I also think it would mesh well with the general vibe of this rp.

PLOT DROP IDEAS (OPTIONAL): Generally speaking, Dedalus is always down for a good party and it would be very much in-character for him to host one at some point.

ANYTHING ELSE? –

EXTRA FOR NON-BIO CHARACTERS:

PAST: 

Born as the sole heir to Delia and Samuel Diggle, Dedalus was no stranger to getting pampered while growing up. The newest, shiniest toys, the most expensive, highest quality clothes, pretty much everything he owned had some sort of a superlative attached to it. He revelled in it all, took to luxury like a fish to water, and was perfectly happy to play the role of the polite little heir as long as it got him what he wanted. “What a charming boy,” distant and not-so-distant cousins would exclaim and pinch his cheeks. “How well-behaved, how polite!”

Unfortunately, good manners lost all appeal by the time left for Hogwarts. It was just so boring, being nice and perfect all the time, and Dedalus began to push, trying to see how far he could go before his parents had enough. Apparently, quite far. It was incredible what Delia and Samuel – and, to an extent, their entire society – would excuse as ‘normal teenage boy affairs’.

With time, his clothes turned more extravagant though no less expensive. His circle of friends widened much beyond fellow purebloods and even included a muggle or two. His sexual and romantic experiments were practically public knowledge – his mother had nearly had a heart attack when one of her closest friends had once brought up his muggle-born boyfriend during brunch.

By the time he graduated, Dedalus had more or less solidified his status as the rebellious son of the Diggle family. So, he figured, might as well take it a step further. His beliefs had changed over the course of the past few years and Dedalus had no intention of hiding that. In fact, it was quite the opposite – he spoke up, often and loudly, about how muggle-borns weren’t treated fairly, about how werewolves were misunderstood, about how pureblood ideals were outdated and unfounded. It was easy to dismiss him, with his purple top hat and his fancy waistcoat, and his natural joie de vivre didn’t help his quest of being taken seriously either. But eventually, the right people took notice of him and the Order welcomed him.

PRESENT: 

Currently, Dedalus spends his days one of three ways. If he is needed at the Order or something of particular importance is happening, he dedicates all his time helping. He’s still very eager and enthusiastic about the cause and while some might believe every day brings them closer to victory, Dedalus thinks it’s quite the opposite. But of course, he’d reassure people, every revolution has its troubles and complications. You lose some and then you win some, that’s just how life goes.

And if his services aren’t needed with the Order, he tinkers. He’s always had a quiet passion for tinkering – just about the only thing quiet about him, really – and he’s been slowly but surely perfecting his craft through trial and error. He has grand plans for his creations, from helping the Order to mass-producing some of them one day, and he’s perfectly happy to let his hobby consume all his free time.

Lastly, he doesn’t do this often although he probably should, but Dedalus is known to pay some attention to Dedalus Diggle’s Delights every now and then. Mostly, he just lets other people handle the different parts of the business, but occasionally, he takes some interest in it himself. On these days, he’d be manning the counter and taking every chance to chat more to his customers and get some valuable feedback.

FC CHOICES: Amadeus Serafini, Jack Falahee, James Bay

[honourablejester]

D&D Wuxia

So. While on lockdown, I’ve been tinkering randomly with d&d character concepts, mostly out of boredom (I’ve also been playing lots of minecraft). For fun, I decided I’d come up with at least one character concept per d&d race. We’ll see how that goes. But! I’d hit aasimar, and honestly I was struggling? It’s not a race that immediately appeals to me (despite cleric being my instinctive favourite class). I was rooting around for ideas, and two things converged. One, I’ve also been watching cdramas (Story of Yanxi Palace) on and off, and two, I had something vaguely like an aasimar character for a completely different story (actually angel offspring, but sort of close enough), so I borrowed elements of both, and …

Accidentally came up with a vaguely wuxia inspired party?

Sikou Jia, Aasimar Courtier Lore Bard, 64 years old. An auspicious child blessed by the gods, but cursed with greedy parents, he was sold to the Court of the Silver Emperor as a young boy, and spent more than thirty years as a courtier and court functionary. At first he saw this as an opportunity, to bring the visions of his celestial guide (Karuna, neutral good deva) directly to the highest levels, but over time he realised that the machinations of the court poisoned all his efforts, often deliberately. He fell into despair and anger, especially as he suffered mistreatment, and came perilously close to Falling as well, before fate (or divine providence) intervened and he was blessed with a daughter by a lover, who used him cruelly, but gave him the single greatest gift of his life. With a child to consider, he finally mustered his courage and escaped the city altogether, taking his daughter with him. They ran away to the White Mountains, where he (and his daughter as she grew to adulthood) slowly formed an alliance from the scattered bandit clans and misfits of the mountains to be a force for good, as his devic guide wished.

Sikou Lan, Human Outlander Hunter Ranger, 26 years old. (Assuming aasimar kids revert to the base race). Jia’s daughter, gifted to entirely him by her mother when she failed to prove equally blessed. Raised in the wilds of the White Mountains by her slightly paranoid but fiercely devoted father, and taught by the various virtuous(-ish) bandits of his alliance. Fiercely independent, she grew increasingly disdainful of ‘civilisation’ as she grew older and learned more of her father’s and other people’s histories. She was scarred deeply by an encounter with a spectre as young child and by the increasingly haunted nature of the White Mountains (favoured enemy: undead). While she approves of her father’s divine mission, and willingly joins him on it, she sees it as particularly to protect those like themselves, outcasts from the great nations, often in need of protection from those nations. She did get a little bit of her father’s blessed nature, in the form of luck.

Liu Ling, Wood Elf Hermit Open Hand Monk, 247 years old. Tormented in her youth by what she felt were loose passions and a lack of clarity, she found solace in the teachings of a great teacher (Xu Xinyi) at Tenshi Peak Hermitage. Though her teacher eventually moved on, Liu Ling remained in the White Mountains to pursue solitary contemplation and inner clarity. As the years and decades went on, though, she became increasingly aware of disturbances in the White Mountains and further south, into the lowlands around the Silver City. The dead rested unquietly, and unclean things walked the forests. She slowly realised that some dark force was rising in the nation, and that it seemed to be heading for the Silver Court. She viewed the coming of Sikou Jia to the White Mountains as an omen that the time had finally come to do something about this dark secret she’s been tracking, and went to join him. Without necessarily telling him any of that, because she’s been alone for years and was never a naturally confiding sort of person.

Hu Yin, Tiefling Criminal Ancients Paladin, 34 years old. Outcast from a young age because his black eyes and ox horns announced him as a demon, an embittered Yin turned to banditry to survive. Waylaying travellers on the road and frightening them with his strength and demonic features, he made quite a name for himself as the Ox Demon of the White Mountains. This all changed when he met (attempted to rob) a mountain priestess and forest giant named Guan Qiu, who promptly subdued him. Expecting to die, and oddly cheerful about it, he asked her for a last meal. Amused, she obliged, and over some years the pair grew very close. She taught him about the Old Faith of her people, and gradually Yin felt a change of heart. He regretted his career as a bandit, and wanted to do something good with his life, so he became a warrior of the bright places to honour his friend. Eventually, he heard of the White Mountain Alliance and Sikou Jia, and became curious about the blessed man, in light of his own heritage. He decided he wanted to meet him. Guan Qiu was wary and thought him an idiot, since a demon seeking out a blessed man would only end in tears. Nonetheless, she accompanied him, and while the introductions didn’t go well, everyone survived to get to know each other, despite fears that he’d come to try to kill and/or eat Jia.

Guan Qiu, Firbolg Sage Mountain Druid, 313 years old. Nearly two centuries ago, Guan Qiu’s clan was destroyed by a great beast, leaving her to make her way alone among the high peaks of the White Mountains. For a time, she fell into a great despair, but patience and stubbornness won out, as well as the solace of the Old Faith. She decided after a time to devote herself to study, of magic and nature and her mountains. She travelled the length and breadth of them in this cause, consulting with other priests of the old faith, and spending time cloistered in the great monasteries of the Mountains, such as Tenshi Peak. She made a reputation for herself as a respected sage, the Wise Giantess of the Mountains. Over time, she also grew concerned over the darkening of the Mountains, though she focused mostly on healing what symptoms she could as they came up. Eventually, she met Hu Yin, and became very fond of him as a friend and almost son. When he decided to join the White Mountain Alliance to further make up for his past misdeeds, she joined them alongside him, partly because it was a good cause and she wanted to help, but also partly so as not to lose a loved one again.

I’m guessing campaign-wise that Jia’s birth was in fact an omen about the great evil building in the land, and that said great evil is probably undead/undying, and that Jia came extremely close to being a very short-lived plaything for it if he hadn’t gotten out of the Silver City when he did.

Other thoughts:

Tieflings and Aasimar play amusingly together lore-wise, especially given a wuxia-ish demon/holy man element

Tiefling virtue names and Chinese courtesy names gloss interestingly, but I don’t have near enough confidence with them to come up with a good courtesy name for Hu Yin to have taken

I like ancient mountain ladies, apparently

Despite none of them being directly built for it, the party was doing quite well on stealth with high dex until Hu Yin happened. The criminal stealth proficiency just barely lifted him out of negative numbers. He’s, ah. He’s not a stealthy boy. I feel like this is at least half the reason Guan Qiu despairs of him (she’s actually nearly as bad, except magic)

I had fun giving Jia all the face skills, followed by Hu Yin, realising that if they ever actually have to go to the Silver City the only diplomatic characters the group has are a demonic ex-bandit and an escaped slave/courtier who is really memorable and likely being actively sought by the big bad

The ladies, meanwhile, are all significantly more likely to just shoot the Emperor in the face. Also the big bad, if they happen to be in the same vicinity. Or, at least, Lan and Ling would. Qiu is possibly gentle enough to want actual provocation first

I decided to give them all names in the same language because three are human based/raised, one is probably giving the local Common translation of her name, and the last doesn’t generally bother with names unless other people want one and she’s mostly been around humans and/or elves

I’m cherry-picking name meaning lists for the names, by the way. Apologies if they’re not quite right. Sikou is the surname I’m least confident of, because it’s apparently a fairly specific title in origin (Minister of Justice), but I read a translation somewhere that translated it as ‘Minister of Bandits’ and it tickled me too much to give up

Also, lockdown leaves you with entirely too much time on your hands, and oddly not a lot of motivation to do much with it

[lily-of-the-eyrie]

🔍💭 Study: Reginald Birch

To solidify my understanding of just what is going on with the British and Colonial Rites in the years leading up to the events of ⟪✠ The Virginian Rite ✠⟫, I’ve decided to do some studies of the key players of the time to straighten up things.

In this exercise, I’ll cover the following figures:

Reginald Birch, Grand Master of the British Rite

Achilles Davenport, Mentor of the Colonial Brotherhood

Lawrence Washington, Birch’s Delegate in the Colonies #1

George Monro, Birch’s Delegate in the Colonies #2 (I realized I’ll be pretty much just coughing up all my HCs rather than do any actual analysis if I have to cover everything about the Colonel, so I’ll just leave this one out...)

In putting this together, I primarily used character database entries, Rogue’s war letters, the ACIII novelization Forsaken, and of course, the relevant games themselves. Hopefully I’ll be able to put together a convincing story for everyone involved once I’m done with this.

Okay, let’s start with Grand Master Birch. 

[⚠️ This is a pretty lengthy document.]

◈ Contents ◈

Timeline

Templar Career 　When did he become Grand Master?

Reputation & Personality 　How did he come across to the other Templars?

Birch’s “Agents” 　Who are they, and how did he get them to work for him?

The British Rite under Birch 　“You have not encountered cunning or danger until you have faced a British Templar.“

✠ Reginald Birch (1705-1757) ✠

☙ Timeline ☙

1733 - Already acquainted with Edward Kenway 1735 - Obtained Edward’s journal 1738 - Entrusted Lawrence with the Order’s goals in the colonies on his return to Virginia 1740s - Devoted himself to scouring the globe for Precursor sites and artifacts 1750 - Ran out of patience with Lawrence’s lack of progress; sent Monro over 1754 - Sent Haytham to the colonies

☙ Templar Career ☙ When did he become Grand Master?

　Birch seems to have been Grand Master of the British Rite for as long as anyone can remember. He certainly had been by 1738, at which point he refers to it as “my Order”, over which he had the power to decide the priorities of—and presently, that priority is the Grand Temple (✉️“Lawrence of America”, 1738). He’s 33 years old by then, which sounds kind of young for a man who controls what’s arguably one of the most powerful and influential Rites of the time, but then again Grand Masters have come from quite a range of ages. But reason would dictate that you won’t want someone who’s too young and/or inexperienced to be appointed the Grand Master of an old and storied Rite, so the earliest point at which Birch had most likely earned his title is probably in his late twenties.

　I can’t find much information on the metrics used to appoint someone the Grand Master of a Rite, but I suppose their immediate superiors, the Inner Sanctum, are the ones calling the shots if they’re already around. Given how Birch’s obsession with the remnants of the First Civilization was clear as day to his contemporaries, I guess the bigshots thought they could use someone who’d look for Precursor sites etc. seriously? It’s always been a major preoccupation of the Order.

☙ Reputation & Personality ☙ How did he come across to the other Templars?

　With how he was, I think most of his allies would know him as “that Precursor artifact addict” 😂 Some, like his buddy Harrison, or his friend in the French Rite, Lévesque, didn’t seem to mind, and were actively helping him; some others, like Braddock, thought he’d gone mad; the rest, while understanding towards his requests for assistance, didn’t share his passion for the search (eg.-a couple of members of the Portuguese Rite, who made their sentiments clear through their letters, ✉️”The Omani Arabs”, 1743, and ✉️”Dead End”, 1746). In any case, a fixation on Precursor research was undoubtedly one of his most defining characteristics.

　That said, if Braddock’s assessment of his character before he made Precursor research his main goal is to be believed, he used to be a “man of honour, of discipline, of principle”, and was “the embodiment of everything that made [the] Order great” (✉️“The Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom”, 1747). Now, I do have some doubts about whether or not Braddock’s definition of these descriptions matched most normal people’s standards, and whether or not Birch was also posturing in front of him. Either way, he’s at least good at pretending to be an honourable gentleman, and as someone who seems to frequent places favoured by the upper crust of society, which he’d also have to regularly rub shoulders with, he would have at least learned the necessary etiquette to project that impression.

　If there’s one thing you can’t take away from Birch, it’s that he was definitely very talented in getting people to work for/with him. We can see him masterfully employ a wide range of incentives (gifts, promises of power, military assistance, personal charm, money, debt) in order to either inspire or force people to obey him. Even without anyone comparing him to Crawford Starrick, a future successor of his office who’d have complete control over London a full century later, it’s clear that the was a very powerful man in his own right. All his activities certainly made his name known among his colleagues—even another Grand Master had gone to him asking for help once (✉️”The Hospitaller’s Plea”, 1747).

☙ Birch’s “Agents” ☙ Who are they, and how did he get them to work for him?

　We know Birch had a few really close subordinates, who presumably are also his most trusted. They also seem to frequently get orders directly from him. To list out the ones we know:

John Harrison 　Harrison seems to be Birch’s closest and most loyal subordinate; they both share an obsession with the First Civilization, and they’d been working together for a very long time. He also seems to be his main man in the business of searching for Precursor sites and items, and was constantly on the move, reporting back to Birch from various places across the globe on whatever leads he could find about the subject. He’s also his representative when dealing with faraway Rites. Harrison shared Birch’s more callous attitude, as can be seen in his casual suggestion to stir up war between the European powers to create a cover for the Order’s activities (✉️”The Manila Galleons”, 1742).

Edward Braddock 　While he and Birch were already falling out with each other by the 1750s, the fact that he was the one the Grand Master went to when he needed someone to help him attack the Kenway mansion is probably enough to suggest that Birch at least used to trust him (enough to make him his dirty jobs guy, which is saying a lot). Braddock’s disrupting of Haytham’s attempt to find his father’s killers, essentially a cover-up of Birch’s involvement in the murder (✉️”The Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom”, 1747), can be seen as a show of goodwill to a former friend, so it seems that something still remained from the mutual respect they used to have.

Haytham Kenway 　It’s probably not inaccurate to call Haytham Birch’s protégé, what with the personal rearing and tutoring the Grand Master did for him since Edward’s death when the boy was 10. Having painted a picture of himself as not only his caretaker and teacher, but also a benevolent Templar Knight™ who only meant well for the world, it’s not hard to see why Haytham thought serving him was a good idea. On the other end, Birch seemed to have absolute trust in Haytham as his student and personal executioner (he obviously has great confidence in his skill at long-term deception here). 

Lawrence Washington 　Birch most likely met Lawrence when the latter was studying in a grammar school in England (1729-38). We don’t know how old Lawrence was when he was inducted into the Order, but by the end of his school years, he was already a Master Templar, the direct subordinate of a Grand Master, at a mere 20 years old (!). I don’t know what he did to earn that promotion, but that’s a fast track runner if I ever saw one 😂 If even fledgling Assassin Shay knew he was an important Templar, he must have been quite something. The only clue we have as to why he joined the Order was that he had “great ambitions that Templars have helped fulfill” (Rogue Seq1-3, “Tinker Sailor Soldier Spy”) . Birch probably had a hand in that, and the exchange of favours for loyalty certainly fit into his usual tactics. The Grand Master showed that he had a lot of faith in this new overachiever in his parting letter to Lawrence, mailed when he was going home from England to Virginia in 1738 to look for the Grand Temple, so I imagine the disappointment he showed in his next letter in 1750 was well-warranted when, after 12 years of waiting, he still has no idea where this Precursor structure was.

George Monro 　So, the Colonel. Much like Haytham, he was explicitly named as one of Birch’s agents, and was dispatched to the colonies to pick up the slack in Lawrence’s efforts to locate the Grand Temple (✉️“Monro”, 1750). However, since Monro’s history with the Order before his transfer to the colonies is just one giant black hole, it’s hard to pinpoint how or why the Colonel got close enough to Birch to be sent for this exact purpose. Given that the Grand Temple is Birch’s #1 priority, he’d hardly just throw random people at the task; it could be that he was just sending the best Templars his Rite has to offer at the moment (and the Colonel sure looked like he belonged in that category), but I think it had to, above all, be someone he trusted could get the job done. Monro was already obviously very loyal to the Order, and with an absolute respect for authority, sounded like he’d do virtually anything if the Grand Master of his Rite commands him to (orders from above and all that, right? *wink wink*). Given these traits of his, I don’t think Birch would ever need to manipulate/blackmail/bribe him into serving his needs… But was it really as simple as just saying “do it for the Order”? 🤔 We can have several very different versions of the Colonel depending on how one writes this part out.

☙ The British Rite Under Birch ☙ “You have not encountered cunning or danger until you have faced a British Templar.“

　According to Miko, the remaining co-leader of the British Assassins after Edward’s death, in a letter of warning to Achilles, a British Templar is the most dangerous Templar there is (✉️”Warning”, 1751). It’s an interesting statement, and a believable one too, since he’d had the chance to go toe-to-toe against them in person; and with his work also taking him around Europe (ie. that Corsica episode with Haytham), I think we can assume he said this while also taking other Rites into consideration. If the statement is true, this sheds a bit of light into the state of the Templar Order at the time: although it’s still got ways to go before becoming the biggest empire on Earth, Britain’s global influence was on the rise at this point in time, and the British Templars and Assassins would both naturally want to capitalize on the fact to strengthen their own parties (or, to put it differently, if one of them went for it and the other one didn’t follow suit and get there first, the loser would surely get wiped out). The Templars won this round soundly by getting rid of both the Assassins’ leading figures in London (Edward in 1735, Miko in 1754) and tossing the net of their influence far and wide, all the way up to the court of King George II (✉️”The Swedish Levant Company”, 1748).

　As for how it came to be, Birch’s ruthlessness and thirst for Precursor knowledge likely played a considerable part. Nothing is sacred to him when it comes to finding more leads on First Civilization remnants; even Edward’s and Miko’s deaths were arguably more about the research and artifacts they owned than the positions they held within the British Brotherhood. This hunt also had the side effect of driving him to expand his network of contacts across other Rites and distant lands, evident in the locations where the slew of letters addressed to him were sent from, to make a global search effort possible. Of course, he needed money to fund all these operations, but as a successful merchant and the head of the British Rite, financial problems were probably not an issue for him. So under his leadership, the British Rite became a well-funded, well-connected enterprise—if the Templar Order was a country, the British Rite would’ve become something like its capital city. As of Birch’s time, they appear to have held a leading position among the other Rites.

　If this was what happened, I suspect the British Rite’s members would probably have to be (or become) as tough as nails to survive, considering there’s no way the local Brotherhood would just sit and watch as their enemies’ influence grew, and would try their best to curtail it. Assuming the Assassins stepped up their game to match up with the Templars, and managed to at least cull the weaker members (while the stronger ones would be the only ones left—oops) before the Order took London entirely from them until the end of Starrick’s reign, it’s not hard to imagine that the kind of Templars Miko had to deal with would give him this particular nasty impression. Also, considering Birch’s nature, the kind of Templars that thrive best under his rule would probably be more like him than not, creating a pretty vicious collection of adversaries for the Brotherhood. 

[erinarachma]

Roya-Allyn First Meet #2

   It was rather an awkward first meeting but eventually nice.

   He took her to--she convinced--his favorite side of town. He greeted some people while they both took a walk; the vegetable shop lady, the older kids whom he received sweets, the men in their thirties playing dice, and a younger kid who had just finished his part-time job. After leaving the older kids at the town square, Roya pulled out his hand to give her two pieces of candies after throwing berry-flavored one into his mouth.

"Want some?" He asked. His bangs were long 'till his eyebrows got covered, she thought, it's kinda cute actually. She stopped her small steps and staring at plastic-covered, translucent candies but no movements were made.

"It's okay, I already had a lot in my drawer," he added. Allyn moved her right hand to take them from his palm and nodded in thanks.

"The endorphin, like everyone used to say. I tend to eat it when I tinkering my robots or fixing everybody's stuff,"

"Robots?" she asked. She never had seen such a complicated mechanical object around town since she lived here. Her memories never recall such technology either.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "You didn't see it earlier?"

She shrugged her shoulders faintly. "I thought that was just you repairing things like, radio or something," she replied and feeling guilty to not paying attention at him better.

"Oh, that's my job too, but Pa never give me more difficult tasks than that," he sounded slightly dispirited. While they walk, Roya knocked a can with the inner side of his left feet until it jumped up to another side of the street, clanking and whanging lightly near wooden crates. "It's so exciting to create such an artificial living thing. I want to study it deeper and the truth is, our kingdom didn't have such a specialist, "

Allyn nodded in half-understanding. Boys could be this nerd if they loved their hobbies. "BTW, are you Sir Halberick's granddaughter or something?"

Her honey-like pupils rolled to the side while creating a slight surprise jolt from her small body. "Oh, nothing like that..." she amended quickly. “He took me in after the war. He'd been taking care of me since then.”

Roya's calm green eyes appeared to be frigid and slight doleful that second. He hummed ambiguously then murmuring in silent, "After that, huh. Never get enough of it," and continued to crunch sweets inside his mouth recklessly, shoved his gloved hands into the trouser pockets.

   Uneasy ambiances which prickling down between those two new-met teenagers started to tickle her sense of curiosity. She knew, more than half of total children who lived here were orphans, as a consequence of the late conflict two or three years ago. Apart from that obvious fact, he seemed to not giving too much opinion on it. Well, not that she's interested in that. She even didn’t remember the feeling of losing her parents. She budged her right hand up in idle and started to scrape candy's wrapper with her short nail. The plastic cover's edge was not seen, no matter how hard her nail grazing it. What a troublesome sweetmeat!

"Are you working part-time too?" he asked her. He started to switch his interest to her attempt opening the wrapper.

She paused her finger movement and looking up to think. "Uh, yeah. Starting next weekdays, I guess?" She answered vaguely.

“Oh... Which sector are you in?"

"I don't know. Gramps said I should meet Maggie to learn more. I'm so useless at this job, for not knowing anything,"

"Your first time in the business, huh... good luck, um--"

"Allyn,"

"Allyn? Is that your name?"

"Of course. I'm impressed on how you could have a chat and take a walk together with me in more than ten minutes without knowing my name,"

"Sorry." He coughed while looking sheepishly. "My bad habit,"

"Apology accepted," she smiled and held her laugh. "So, you joined the Petrireis too?"

"Sometimes, when I need money. Maggie knew me so well, so she always assigned me to far places for getting more bucks. Much money, many spare parts to buy. Even though in here they're more like a junk that brand-new parts," he said. His tone sounded like he's proud of his job.

"Is it fun to join it?"

   The auburn-haired young man eying her innocent stare with raised eyebrows. "Well, I think it's fun. You meet people and all. You'd get to know many places. Even though I prefer chatting with other mechanics than running around in town," he shrugged. "But these days, it's so rare to see them, y'know? I think they had been moved to Tragflache, for the sake of helping those damned Rothus. Maybe my father and I just lucky to not get caught--or maybe we're too down-to-earth to not get known in this town..."

"If my gramps knows your father, then you're famous too. In my opinion, though."

"Really? Well, Sir Halberick is amazing, so we're lucky to know him. I adore him so much."

   When they stepped in the border of Central Block, they accidentally stopped in front of a place. It's kind of shabby, with dimly lit room behind the dusty windows. Roya let out an 'Oh!' sounds, gestured the place with his index finger. "It's the main base," he added. Allyn trying to peek what's inside but it's too dim to view the place from afar.

"It's not that clear looking from here, isn't it?"

He sighed. "I don't have any appointments in there and I'm not in the mood to look at those packages still piling in a dreadful mountainous way, but... okay, let's take a closer look."

   His long steps echoing around the corridor while his hand lightly grasping her wrist to get closer to the base of so-called Petrireis. After another three steps, Roya pointed at the woman in her orange jumpsuit and bob-styled brown hair covered in a hat who organized dozens of boxes, mouthed 'Maggie' comically and grinned before a loud voice calling his name from inside. It seemed someone caught him making fun of her.

"Roya!"

   Roya switched his attention to that dull-looking window which divides the main street and the main room of the base. That waving hands excitedly shown from the man with thick-framed glasses and orange-blue jacket which stood behind transparent glass. She could hear a long whistle from her side and a similar wave copied by Roya.

"Hey, Tim!"

   Tim mouthed something similar like 'C'mere for a second, I need to talk to you.' while continuing to wave his hand. Roya moved back for a bit and pointing at himself. The guy with glasses nodded, furiously gesturing them to come closer.

"Probably had been banging his old computer this whole weekend," he told Allyn by turning his head a bit lower. "He gets itchy when it's broken,"

   The one whose Roya called Maggie before looked rather tired behind her huffs and sighs, but she vigorously scribbling down notes and counting how many boxes around her. She turned her head after lining up smaller size boxes in front of her then blinked when her eyes found a familiar figure arriving at her doorsteps.

"Oh, Roya, now isn't your shift to deliver packages, though?" she said, inclining her head in confusion while her mouth forming a circular shape.

Roya waved his right hand in front of his face, declining. "Nah, I don't want to if you offer it, anyway. I just got called by Tim," he replied. "Now we're here... why don't you ask something to her, Allyn?"

"Me?" She felt her voice squeaking like a rubber duck.

"Yes! It'll be better if you asking her questions now since this young lady is idle doing nothing,"

"Hey! I arranged packages for tomorrow shifts!" Maggie spat, her hands ready to throw him a newly arrived box of tapes.

"Is it okay?" Allyn grasped both her hands in confuse.

"Maggie, this girl is new here, you know Sir Halberick? She's his relative, granddaughter or something,"

"Ooh, then you know Calavi?" Allyn nodded. "What a coincidence! I'm her friend since school days!"

"You were young too before, huh--OUCH, it's hurt!"

"Shut up, troublemaker. Go see Tim in the office,"

   It was interestingly funny to see Roya threw Maggie a deathly glare while walking past the counter full of stamped boxes and rubbed his reddened ear roughly. Her views changed. No matter how negative the perception of his in her head, Allyn started to like this young boy and his antics. It's funny and playful yet he has another serious side in him. The older woman just clicked her tongue, hands-on hip, shouting another call of Tim's full name to get out from his lair.

"So... Allyn?"

Her train of thoughts broke again after countless mind-thinking and daydreams that day. "Yes, ma'am?" Allyn answered automatically. Maggie seemed a little bit surprised. She snorted and laughed at her response.

"No, no, don't call me that! That nickname makes me feel like an old lady. Just 'Maggie'," said the brown-haired young woman, smiling.

"Okay." Like a good student she was, Allyn nodded and tried to focus on what Maggie would say.

But, Maggie just straightened her body while putting her hands on the table, her face changed in slight curious vibe. "Now, before I tell you the details of our systems, can you tell me how's Calavi is doing?"

TBC

[hopeishappinessff]

Chapter 18

We cruised along the beautifully lit streets of Midtown Richmond to the soothing tune of Wale’s Best Night Ever. With much persuasion, Chris was finally able to coax me into joining him for a ride to see whatever it was he was determined to show me. I gazed out of the passenger window into the onyx night and became captivated by the exquisite high rise buildings that lined the roads of the busy metropolitan area. A short while later, we pulled into a familiar apartment complex and I watched in awe as he drove skillfully toward a security gate. He reached up toward his visor and it was at that moment that I finally noticed the small remote device he’d pressed, prompting the gate to slide open.

“What are we doing here?” I asked as I eyed the road ahead. He drove further along the street of the parking lot before swinging the truck into an empty space a few buildings down. Shutting off the ignition, he rested his head back against the headrest and released a deep sigh “I got it.” “You got what?” I asked, facing him with brows twisted with confusion. He nodded toward the building and glanced over at me “The apartment… I got it.” My eyes were wide with shock and my mouth flew open as I stared at him “You did… when? Why didn’t you tell me?”

He chuckled tenderly and unbuckled his seatbelt “The other day, Cassandra called and told me that everything was actually approved the day after I submitted my application. So, we set a move in date and everything.” I stared down at the small silver key resting in the palm of his open hand then glanced back at him eagerly “Well let’s go see it!” With a smirk, he nodded and pushed his door open “Yeah… come on.”

We both climbed from the confines of his truck and I trailed closely behind as he headed down the pathway and into a wide, clean hall toward the elevator to reach his new third floor apartment. Once we reached the appropriate floor, he walked confidently down the hall, passing a few doors along the way before stopping about halfway down. He stuck the key into the lock and pushed the door open then took a step into the doorway, easing off to one side and allowing me entry behind him. I was immediately taken aback by the huge space illuminated by the moonlight flooding into the room. The first thing I noticed... the two walls decorated with nothing but floor to ceiling windows. I ventured closer to them to take in the view and gasped at the sight of the twinkling lights of the city’s skyline.

“Is this the same one that we saw?” I asked as I twirled around to face him, excitement quickly overwhelming me. He leaned against one of the walls near the door and stared in my direction with a smirk and his hands tucked into the depths of his pants pockets “Nah… this one is different. I actually thought I was gonna get that one, but this is a slightly different floorplan.” “This one’s bigger isn’t it?” I asked. “Yep… let’s go look around.” He stated, turning abruptly and heading down the hall toward the back of the apartment.

I moved along behind him, occasionally getting distracted by the most minor of details like the way the moonlight reflected off the door handles causing them to glisten brightly. Along the journey down the main hall of the apartment, Chris and I separated and I soon found myself standing in a large empty space that was obviously his bedroom. “Hey Charlie, come look.” I shouted. “What’s up?” He said, eventually rounding the corner into the room. “This is your bedroom… it’s huge!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” He chuckled as he sauntered over to one of the doors in the room, “And here’s the bathroom. Pretty sweet.” I followed the sound of his voice and found myself standing in the center of an ideal bachelor restroom. Even with the lack of lighting, I could make out the glistening stark white quartzite countertop. The dark wood of the cabinets under the sink contrasted the brilliance of the quartzite on the counters and the beautiful light beige of the large tiles on the floor. I was completely astonished by the size and depth of both the oversized garden tub as well as the floor to ceiling glass walk in shower.

“Chris, this is absolutely stunning,” I said, running the tips of my fingers delicately over the counter, “Where did you get the money for all of this?” With a shrug of his shoulders, he smirked and moved over to the shower to tinker with the door handle “I do what I do.” I didn’t dwell on his response as my excitement for his fabulous new home was the only thing I could focus on. “When are you moving in?” I asked. “I would like to start moving some shit in after school tomorrow, but if not my actual move in date is this weekend.”

“Oh okay. Did you tell Gabby that you guys got a new place?” I asked. “Nah,” He paused as he ran a hand over the back of his neck, “Guess I’ll tell her tomorrow.” He zipped his lips and went silent after that and I was left standing there, pondering the fact that he’d apparently shared his good news with me well before he informed Gabby. “Well if I had a bed over here already, we could just crash over here, but since I don’t… you ready to go?” He asked with a weary yawn. I could sense his exhaustion so with a nod, I moved to follow him out of the restroom and into the living area. I quickly scanned my eyes over the movie screen windows, still in absolute shock by the magnificence of the scenery, and soon we were well on our way out into the hall and down the elevator.

--

The ride back to our neighborhood was filled with a comfortable silence until Chris released a sigh and leaned his head back against his headrest “Are you gonna come stay with me sometimes?” “Why would I do that?” I asked, staring at his profile blankly. “Because, I don’t know… I might get lonely or something.” He attempted to reason. “And how exactly would you get lonely if Gabby will be there with you? That doesn’t make much sense to me.” I said. “Yeah but…” He paused momentarily then glanced at me, “You should still come over.” With a roll of my eyes I swiftly turned to glare out of the window, suddenly irritated by his topic of choice.

A few minutes passed before he released yet another sigh and cleared his throat “What’s up with that Trey nigga?” “Nothing’s up with him.” I muttered with no desire to engage in that particular discussion. “Well… what was he calling you for?” He probed. “Can people not call me anymore Chris? I guess I have a phone just so no one can call me now.” I fussed, whipping my head around to face him. “Nah, I’m not saying that. I’m just asking why he was calling you, that’s all.” He said.

“Well why are you so worried about him calling me? Maybe he just wanted to talk or something, I don’t know.” I said, now slouching down in my seat with my arms crossed. “You know what, I remember dude saying something about a date. You going on a date with him?” He further interrogated. “Chris, I don’t know. So what if I am… what would you do if I said ‘Yes Chris, I’m going on a date with Trey this weekend?’” I asked with sarcasm oozing from every inch of my words.

He went quiet momentarily before shrugging his shoulders “I mean are you sure you just wanna go out with dude like that? You don’t even know him… why would you go out with him and you don’t even know him?” I stared at him in disbelief as I shook my head “How else would I get to know him if I don't go with him?” “I don’t know… over the phone.” He said. “You told him to never call me again, remember. He’s probably not gonna call me anymore because he thinks I associate with crazy, angry people like you.” “Well if he was a real nigga, he wouldn’t let shit I say stop him from calling you back. If he was really as into you as he trynna portray, he’d be blowing your shit up right now.” He said and I couldn’t help but chuckle at his somberness.

“Okay Chris,” I said, trying to contain my laughter, “So you’re saying if Trey calls me back, we should still talk and possibly one day even date?” I asked amusedly. Cutting his eyes in my direction, he quickly redirected his gaze toward the road and tightened his grip on the wheel “Why would you need to date? Why can’t you just talk and be friends?” “Well I mean, that’s what happens when most men and women talk, well if they’re interested in each other anyway… they eventually date. You know… like you and your girlfriend.” I explained with a smirk. I peered on as his face slowly morphed into a light rose tint and wondered exactly what part of this conversation was upsetting him. Rather than retorting with one of his witty comments, he remained silent and I was quite taken aback that I’d managed to render him speechless.

“That’s different,” He finally mumbled, “There’s a difference between what I do with Gabby and what everyone else does in their relationships. There’s only one thing keeping me and that girl together. I mean after the lil stunt she pulled at Mike’s party, I was prepared to put a fuckin restraining order on her ass just so she wouldn’t even look at me.” He paused for a moment and laughed mockingly as he shook his head, “Shit Hope, you don’t know how many times a day I contemplate just ending this shit with her, but I know for this kid’s sake I can’t do that. I can’t… it’s not fair for a child to be brought into this world without both of their parents. It’s not fair for us to somehow get caught up in a moment where a child could even be conceived and nine months later one of us decides to just turn our back and walk away. That shit ain’t fair, but… ” His voice trailed off and I continued to watch him as his brows furrowed frustratingly, “I’m so scared Hope.”

He’d managed to leave me nearly flabbergasted as he poured his inner feelings out to me and I could almost barely bring myself to respond “Why?” “I don’t wanna be sitting up in a delivery room looking like a fool holding this baby… claiming it as mine, and…” His voice trailed off once more as he bit into his bottom lip and proceeded to remain quiet. I stared at him in utter disbelief. For the first time since he’d told me about Gabby’s pregnancy, I could see right through all his confidence and strength. That self-assured and courageous demeanor was beginning to fade… and I could see clearer than ever that he was genuinely afraid.

--

I awoke the following morning, searching for Chris who’d decided to sleep over the night before. In my weary state I extended my hand along the right side of the bed only to feel the chill of the sheets against my skin. I squinted my eyes toward the empty space and wondered if perhaps Chris had already left while I slept.

Nearly twenty minutes later, I was dressed in a sundress with my hair styled up into a curly bun and I was ready to go. I ambled out of my room with my book bag in tow and downstairs toward the kitchen only to be surprised by the sight of Chris perched merrily at the table while my aunt stood in front of the stove. I walked in and placed my belongings down by the door then moved toward my aunt to place a warm kiss on her cheek “Morning Auntie.”

“Morning baby. Did you sleep well last night?” She asked. “Yes ma’am… how was work?” I asked as I made my way over to the table. She playfully rolled her eyes and released a sigh “Oh Lord girl, your Auntie had a long night. Those people at that hospital are gonna drive me crazy!” I giggled and turned to look at Chris who’d been watching me since I entered the kitchen “What?” “I don’t get no morning kiss?” He asked with a smirk.

“Uh-oh, is somebody getting jealous over there?” My aunt asked with humor in her tone as she made her way over to the table with two plates in her hands. “Yes ma’am I am… did you see how she just waltzed in here and didn’t even acknowledge me? I think that’s quite rude.” He fussed as he continued to stare at me. “I’m sorry Christopher… good morning and how are you?” I asked as I grinned exaggeratedly at him. “I’m fine, thank you.” He replied, jamming a piece of bacon in his mouth the moment his plate was on the table in front of him.

Finally taking her seat at the table with her own plate, my aunt reached for her glass of orange juice with a hearty chuckle “Ya’ll are too much, I swear,” She started just before taking a sip of her juice and placing her glass back on its coaster, “So Chris, how’ve you been sweetheart? Is everything going okay with you?” “Oh… yes ma’am. I’m good. Everything has been going okay, I guess.” He said, eyeing his plate as he spoke. “And how is Gabby and the baby?” She probed. “Gabby’s doing fine… and so is the baby. They’re both doing pretty good.”

I eyed him as he continued to stare at his plate as though the inanimate object were conversing with him. The thought of his new apartment suddenly ran through my mind and I instinctively nudged him under the table. I mouthed ‘the apartment’ to him and waited for him to inform my aunt of his exciting new accomplishment. “Oh uh… I don’t know if Sy told you but, I um… I just found a new place.” He said, finally glancing up at her.

She paused, lowering her fork full of scrambled eggs back onto her plate “What type of place Chris?” “An apartment,” He chuckled softly, “I found an apartment in the midtown area.” “Oh, honey… Lord, one of my babies is growing up!” She exclaimed as she reached across the table to pinch his cheek causing us both to laugh. “Honestly… I am very proud of you young man. The way that you’re stepping forward and taking your responsibilities by the reigns with such positivity and not a single complaint… I truly admire that Chris. I know you probably get tired of hearing me say this boy, but you are such an intelligent young man. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to watch you grow into the person you are today.”

With a slight nod of his head, he smiled and lowered his gaze back to his plate with now noticeably blushing cheeks “Thank you Ms. Maddie.” She stared at him for a moment with a warm smile “Now… you two hurry up and eat up before ya’ll are late to school.” She fussed. We continued to eat and converse with my aunt before finally clearing our places at the table and heading off to school in separate vehicles.

[speedygal]

Mission to Mars  AU

I’m taking some liberties to tinker with this AU. So bare with me.

James T Kirk has fallen head over heels for a woman whose in the space program for NASA. Her name is  Carol Marcus. He is best friends with Gary “Mitch” Mitchell and Leonard H. “McCoy” McCoy, a black man in this AU but he still looks like McCoy otherwise nothing different. Carol falls sick, contract cancer, and dies shortly after their wedding. She lived for six months. McCoy is going into space with three other people consisting of Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov, and Spring (T’Pring) to Mars. Harold Grayson, aka human Spock, is part of the party along with a dozen others and children.  McCoy has a little girl named Joanna who is eight years old with his wife Jocelyn. McCoy is reading a Galaxy Quest fan novel to his daughter every night. Jim is close friends with Harold and dealing with the grief. He’s gotten better but the pain in his chest still lingers. Sometimes he thinks he sees her, sometimes he feels like she is till there with them, following him watching him like she isn’t really gone. Mitch, Jim, and Len are in Joanna’s treehouse talking about how the gang is splitting up. Harold is at the bottom. He’s one of the few people in society who is psi-positive and does not wish to hear their inner thoughts. Mitch has a necklace with a triangle shaped object around his neck. It’s a dream. A promise. Something that was given and made to every day people. Hope. It looks like a rocket but it isn’t. It has a  star  in the center of it. Harold is the second to last to leave but not without shaking Leonard’s hand, fondly, allowing him to see and feel how he will be missed.

18 months later, the group of four has settled on Mars. They have found ways to produce water and extract it from mars which indicates, as theory holds that it used to be like Earth. McCoy misses his little girl and his buddies on Earth. Hikaru has created a green house with help from Russian Chekov who is just too cute for words with the Asian man. They are dotting over each other highly in love. Spring is perfectly fine with her assignment and enjoys the peace and quiet for once and her duties are exceptional. Spring reminds McCoy of Harold. McCoy misses the two nerds. Hikaru jokes to McCoy that the plants will one day be his only hope and listening ears for him. McCoy replies cynical and skeptical of it. They have a lot of plants.  He knows his colleagues are on the international space station and when he realizes that, he gathers the crew and makes a embarrassing video that takes 20 minutes to get to the station. They decide to go to the ‘face’ because their little drone has shown something truly odd about it. 20 minutes later, they make it to the face, scan it, project at it with their radar while McCoy is by the rover. The anomaly reacts and it is devastating. Back at the space station, Harold is learning to dance with some help from Mitch who is getting interested in him. And making out because there is some form of connection that they made between each other. Jim is embarrassed by the video, afterwards the face’s anomaly is brought up. The space station is alerted to the out-of-this-world-charge and blanketing-of-destruction. The worst is expected, Jim is distraught and has to leave to deal with this. His best friend. Is gone. His reaction is worse than losing his wife and he deals with it privately in his quarters. On Mars, McCoy digs himself out of the dirt. Gets the hell out of their on the rover. Terrified out of his mind and lucky to be alive. He is swearing to himself about how space is dangerous and how stupid he was to go into space and chides himself for joining because Jim joined. He is chastising himself all the way to the station. And crying over the loss of his colleagues. He talks to himself all the way there but he still hasn’t calmed down while back at HQ everyone is freaking out in a HQ meeting. McCoy is trying to find the good in it but he feels for his colleagues so much. It’s undeniably painful. He goes in to make another video out of breath and panting. The signal is lost after he asks Jim to tell his daughter that he loves her. McCoy is left alone with minimal packaged food that lasts for one month since next week was going to be the departure from the planet for the next crew. Also with plants, and water. No human interaction.

The HQ gets the video and sees it. Jim wants to send a team after McCoy and bring him home. Jim is back to his old self minus being ridged, compromised, and a true mess. He is a diplomatic, confident, and kind man. He wants to help in any way he can. Mitch stand up for Jim to Captain Pike of the vessel to go get their friend back. Harold is there acting as support in the background. Mitch thanks Harold for being there with him. Harold does not speak often, apparently, and reserves his voice for more important  occasions. Which gives off the mute impression. Jim shares a video call with Joanna and tells her that her dad is going to be back sometime  in 2022. He is going to bring him back. In any way he can. Jocelyn breaks the news to Jim that she has divorced McCoy over five months ago. Jim then realizes that’s why McCoy told him only Joanna. Jim and Jocelyn talk about McCoy. Jocelyn tells him that he has her blessing if he wants to go after McCoy. That comforts Jim. Jim asks how she and Joanna have been doing. They share a good conversation. The conversation ends eventually. Jim goes over to Uhura and advises her to comfort her girlfriend, Christine Chapel, over her lost fiancee. She needs time away from her station and says he will cover her. Uhura is thankful for Jim then leaves. Jim covers her station exactly as he says. He uses the quality time and silence to recuperate. Janice Rand gives Jim some coffee. She puts a hand on his shoulder and attempts to comfort him since there is, in NASA’s eyes, no way that McCoy could have survived and even if he was still alive he was probably in bad shape. Jim appreciates the gesture. A few hours later, Jim is writing up the names of those who should go on the rescue mission aka evaluation mission to see what happened. The data that was collected will take months if not years to shift through and understand from what happened on Mars. Grayson and Jim play chess in the mess hall. Grayson breaks the news that Jim is going to lead the rescue mission. Jim then informs Grayson of who he has chosen for the rescue mission so far: Grayson, Mitch, and Montgomery Scott. He was going to chose Lee Kelso or one of the so called ‘Thermian’ members of the space station to lead the rescue mission. Preferably a woman. Janice Lester.  Grayson informs Jim that would have been a terrible choice of all three because 1, they are not Jim Kirk, 2, they are all rational, logical people, and 3, they are not as bold and stubborn as Jim is to get someone back. Grayson alludes to Jim dragging his ass into NASA training and Jim replies, “You are exaggerating, McCoy got you in to watch I and Carol’s six.” Grayson alludes to other instances where Jim was behind his back during high school and studying with McCoy for the tests. Jim smiles back at him. Jim defeats Grayson and almost calls him by a fictionalized character who appeared once in Galaxy Quest, “That was a excellent game, Mr Spauwk.” Grayson raises his arched eyebrow. “Sorry, friend, that just slipped.” Jim has to speak with the people he was going to add to the roster. Ben Sulu, Hikaru’s husband, is crying with Lieutenant Romaine and Scotty around him taking him away  from the mess hall.

Our scene transitions to later of boarding the  IXS Enterprise that is connected to the international space station. There’s a party being thrown for the group. Jim hugs his friends and colleagues but notably the last he shakes their hands including the so called Thermian people with bowl hair cuts. He kisses both Christine and Nyota on the cheeks. Janice Rand gets a hug. The ship is full of supplies for the crew. He shakes Captain Pike’s hand and assures him. The trip is 173 days aka five months and sixty-eight days. Their space suits have touch screen gloves, are light blue, fit their body like a glove, and they are not bulky. It’s actually comfortable. The Boeing NASA space suits feel better than the previous model. They have space suits for going on mars which is the blue version of the white suit which is basically a add on to the space suit. Scotty is over joyed. Grayson and Mitch’s relationship continues to bud. Scotty is carefully monitoring the fuel. Because this shit is expensive. Jim watches videos of Carol. Their son, David, was put into a artificial womb prior to her death in a synthetic body that provides nutrients to him. He has been encountering problems along the way which has paused his development. Jim had his will changed last year specifically for David’s arrival and if he cannot be around for him. He has McCoy, Pike,  Winona, George, and Grayson listed as potential guardians for the child. Jim gets to know Scotty better than he did on the international space station.

McCoy, on Mars, adjusts to his new and boring and terrifying life. He evidently does not eat the cupcake that is discarded on the counter. The signal cannot be restablished. He continues what Hikaru had done before him, watering the plants. Some days he fights with them over: water. They provide him oxygen and food. He eventually thinks he sees the crew around him. McCoy evidently thinks he is losing his mind. He realizes the plants are his only hope because Hikaru had always said they were alive and talked about forests being a living garden where they exchanged messages. McCoy is stuck inside the shuttle afraid to go outside. He talks to the plants and tend to him. McCoy deals with the grief of losing his crewmates. Some days he thinks he sees Jim  and Grayson and he gives into the illusion grabbing Jim into a hug until he is down to his knees a crying mess. He thinks no one is coming because A, no one would send a rescue mission after a event like this, B, it’s a death wish since space is dangerous wrapped in disease and death. And its unpredictable. He and his team were lucky to get down to mars. McCoy misses his crewmates. He goes through denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance all in different orders. One day he sees his two nerds, but they are dressed differently and their space suits are nothing like NASA with the different patches. Grayson with pointed ears and slanted eyebrows. They talk to hm after McCoy tackles the look-alike Jim with a pickaxe and he just blacked out. He wakes up in a static field room. He thinks he has gone insane. Their uniforms are unique. He attacks anyone who comes near him because hell he is not sure if this is reality anymore. He calls himself Horatio after seeing look alike him checking him out with devices  while he is bounced to the chair. He manages to escape running down the hall where he makes his way to the transporter room where he sees Hikaru and Pavel and he screams so loud  backing off BECAUSE AREN’T THEY DEAD? He comes across T’Pring accidentally when he enters the lab room and he faints at the sight of her. He is taken back to the room and its so surreal and frightening and scary and he struggles. Look alike Jim comes to his side and puts a hand on his shoulder and look alike Spock puts a hand on his shoulder, so he says, “I have no idea who y’all playin’ at or my subconscious is making. BUT YOU MAKE A LOUSY TAKE ON the best man I ever known, GRAYSON.” He feels the contact of touch by look alike Grayson and emotions take over McCoy’s body; the sympathy, understanding, and love is overwhelming. McCoy loses consciousness. When he awakens, he is back in the green house, McCoy sees the toy action figures to  Galaxy Quest on the table and realizes he has been up too long thinking about all those what ifs. He sees the pickax leaned against the counter and recalls that he took it out as self defense measure in case whatever spared him came will be quickly slaughtered. McCoy gets back up and works on that signature he found from what came out of the face sculpture. He is undergoing serious angst issues and questions reality at every turn to make sure he is not dreaming AND THAT DREAM TERRIFIED THE HELL OUT OF HIM, WHAT IF A LOOK ALIKE OF JIM BEING THE ALIEN, TOOK THAT SHAPE IN WHICH HE WAS COMFORTABLE WITH TO KILL HIM? He realizes how he had been comparing Spring and Harold to a an alien species portrayed by William Shatner as Mr Spauwk. 3 months into his endless hell, McCoy goes out in his suit then retrieves the body parts of his comrades. He can’t find Pavel’s body but it doesn’t feel right not to make him a grave for him. So he gathers what Pavel prized and buries it for the others in total making three graves. He presides over their graves and delivers monologues and whatever else in what religion they practiced and their own language using their bibles or their holy related items. He leaves the American flag down because he can’t risk being attacked by that face again. By this point, he accepts that he has lost three truly wonderful people. And he may die alone never seeing a human face again.

3 months and six-eight days later, they are near Mars. Grayson is a better dancer in zero gravity.  His budding relationship with Mitch has become a romance. Scotty and Jim are true companions. Scotty sends messages to Romaine and the others on the international space station. Mitch holds random dance hours in free space and it’s so disgustingly cute when it’s with Grayson like no joke. A taller man, being Grayson, holding Mitch in his arms, appearing to enjoy what they are doing. Jim has watched their relationship grow with some help from himself.  Scotty is flattered and doesn’t want to so Grayson brings the dance to him. Scotty rolls an eye as Mitch and Jim are laughing. Scotty is not amused. Scotty fails at chess with Grayson. This time when the station contacts them, the station has good news. The satellite is working again. And warns them about the sand storms. Scotty notices the lumps of graves in left quadrant of the site. Jim is given hope. Harold reasons that McCoy may be dead by now as no one would have been able to survive that long and there is no one left to bury him. Jim is determined to bury his friend’s body if that is the case. Mitch is skeptical someone would be alive. Scotty shares he same skepticism. Eventually, Mitch finds Jim watching their marriage celebretory video. They talk about Carol. How she saw hope for the universe and humanity and science connecting them together reaching their hands out to each other. Mitch talks about Grayson and how they are going to continue their relationship getting back and how he wants Jim to be there at their wedding if Grayson accepts his offer. He is going to ask when they are on Mars. Jim congratulates him. They share a hug.

Scotty meets up with Mitch. Mitch is in a good mood. They drink together as they are getting near Mars. Scotty is prepared for what grim discovery they may find and looks forward to be on Mars. He is thrilled to see how they managed to survive on a barren planet without grassland or oxygen and what kind of storm had kicked up. He is really excited. More excited than the past few months because they are more closer to the planet than before. He admits wanting to find out if Mar’s soil can be used to plant crops. Jim gets another emergency message taped and sent, but this time, it’s baby David Kirk in Captain Pike’s arms. Jim, Grayson, Mitch, and Scotty all dawww at the baby. Jim makes a recording for David, after countless others made during the trip and before the trip but with the boys with him. Because he always felt he wouldn’t be around to hold him. Jim gets choked out telling him how much loves him and how he’ll kill whoever let his baby go go into space so early so god help him. Plus shouldn’t that be illegal? Jim sings happy birthday, with the other men acting as background singers, and he sings like an angel. Eventually, there is a scrap metal attack on the ship. Mitch goes outside to fix the hole. Scotty has to reboot the computer system. The oxygen level is going down and down. The first hole in the ship was repaired by Mitch thanks to Scotty getting hurt. Jim loses conscious after tossing a orange juice bag which is squirted open to find the next hole for Mitch, while Grayson calls him out, “Jim. Jim? Jim. Jim. Jim. Jim. Jim!” as gravity returns. He comes down to Jim’s level and shakes his shoulder. “ Jim Jim Jim Jim Jim Jim Jim Jim.” As his voice gets panicked, terrified if his friend has just suffered asphixeration. Mitch gets the hole filled. Jim regains consciousness. “Jim.” Grayson finally says, relieved. Grayson smiles. Scotty calls Mitch in instead of letting him check the engines because they are getting near the planet and preparing for circular landing. They are in the cockpit when the engines start letting out a good portion of frozen fuel that floats to the rockets. The rockets are ignited. The ship is torn in half. The crew have to leave and take another portion to land. The crew zip on their mars suit attachments with extensive oxygen and with fuel. Scotty is the last to exit after much reluctance leaving the IXS Enterprise. Mitch DECIDES to be the hero who connects the supply module to the tether. He connects the device but his grip is lost due to the rate of speed he is going in space heading past the machinery. Grayson attempts to go after Mitch with his hook. The hook is too short. Grayson goes after Mitch. He is at the point of no return. Grayson shakes his head then unzips his helmet with a smile after telling him how much he cares about Grayson and is very endearing toward Grayson. “I love you, baby.” In order to save Grayson’s life. Grayson calls Mitch out, “Mitch! No, please, no.” He watches Mitch floating corpse in space with a smile and his face now ice. Grayson has a thousand yard stare then turns back as Jim has a horrified expression on his face while Scotty is emptying out the supplies they will not need from the module.

Captain Pike and co see the viewscreen of the Enterprise get lost near mars and presumably burn up. There is confusion in the room with voices and gasps and tears. Pike looks like he has lost all life sitting down into the chair. Pike is devastated for Baby David. Eventually is alarmed about the landing of the module by Ben Sulu. Life returns to Pike as he realizes what Jim had done. Our scene turns to Mars. They find the base. They enter the ship made home by Mars one. Grayson and Jim enter the ship to discover there is oxygen. Jim explores about while Scotty is working on the restoration part to unclog some generators. Jim unzips his helmet as does Grayson who is busy looking round for signs of life. Jim is in the greenhouse and he sees the uneaten one month anniversary treat. He notices the bowl of water which is amazing to him because how can someone get water from this planet? He takes the hair cover off. He feels someone is behind him. He turns around to see a bearded McCoy after him. Jim stops him from killing him by grabbing onto the pickax, “Your name is Leonard Horatio McCoy! We have been friends since middle school! You didn’t tell me you divorced, which hurts a lot, and, I am a father, David was born, and you are reading The Gods of Tev’Mek to your daughter. She is eleven years old waiting for her father to come home.” McCoy steps back lowering the device with tears in his eyes ,“My god Jim, you are real.” He drops the pickax and grabs Jim into a hug, weeping into his shoulder, Jim is relieved to see his friend, alive, again.

“Jim? Jim? Jim?” McCoy hears Grayson’s voice. Which he is not entirely sure is real or not. “Jim.” Minutes later, Grayson joins them. “It is pleasing to see you again, Leonard. I did not suspect your survival to be high.”  McCoy lets go of Jim turning away, “Why you rounded eared mute faker, so did I!”

Grayson raises his eyebrow, “I am not a mute nor am I fake.”

“My delusions of this guy did not say that.” McCoy said. “At least, he is real.”

Jim laughs. “That is true.”

McCoy looks in both directions.

“Where’s Mitch?” McCoy asks, as a long expression grew on Grayson’ s face.

Jim explains to him their trip to get here. Afterwards, McCoy brought them to the grave site and explains his side of the last few months with Scotty behind them. Scotty is impressed with how McCoy has been sticking around. He admires the plants. McCoy laments that Hikaru never got to see him tending to the damn plants. Grayson puts a hand on McCoy’s shoulder sending sympathy by touch with his gloves being unzipped. It all feels alien to McCoy being real and all. Let alone touched that way by Grayson, flinching, concerning the psi-telepath. McCoy then goes on  to show them what he discovered of what came out of the mountain after the awesome power and disaster. It’s a DNA strand. Jim thinks back to when he ate some of Scotty’s M&M’s. He tells them it’s a test. To see if they are human. McCoy points that previous attempt a failure which resulted in the deaths of three people. Grayson corrects him, “Four.”  “ What if it happens again?” Jim insists, “We can’t let their deaths be in vain”.  They have to make a addition to it in the same way the message/test was sent out. Jim insists it will never happen again and they will be the last explorers because Congress won’t like it. Scotty agrees,  “Aye.”  “My months of hell be worthin’ nothin’? I don’t think so.” They sent out the little rover after it.

The side of the face, now completely visible, is opened. Scotty stays behind to start the cockpit. The four manned rover is working thanks in part to Scotty and Grayson. Scotty hugs every single one of them, no arguments, no buts, no BS. Scotty makes himself cry so they get into a group hug around Scotty. Jim, McCoy, and Grayson leave. McCoy decides to tell Jim things he had kept back, some embarrassing stuff and some intimate stuff. “I love you, Jim, all the same. Never stopped lovin’ you.” Jim is so bright eyed he refuses to believe that they are going to die but he has Scotty aware to go if they don’t come back just in case.  They enter the  face. Detect oxygen. Unzip their helmets. Spock takes McCoy’s hand detecting fear from the man and to comfort him and reassure him, telepathically saying, “You are not alone.” They make it into a black room where they encounter a alien race.  A tall woman but male like figure. They learn Mars was struck by an asteroid, “There goes my nuclear war theory.“ McCoy grumbles. The planet was evacuated and everyone goes to a spiral galaxy except for the remaining survivor.

Grayson is in fascination as evolution of life Earth is shown, “Fascinating.” In interest and intrigue.

“This explains so much.” Jim adds.

The presentation ends showing modern day Earth. The alien humanoid looks over toward Grayson then reaches their hand out. Grayson nods in understanding. Jim realizes, they are all aliens. They came from Mars. Jim notes out loud that Carol was right all along. Grayson takes McCoy’s hand, McCoy takes Jim’s hand, and Jim takes the alien’s hand. Jim looks at her in awe and joy better than he was earlier. McCoy experiences utter joy which might be from himself or Grayson at the projection of more Earth like planets so far away yet close to their fingertips in front of them. Grayson has a telepathic conversation  with the alien human, which, he practically begs not to take Jim and instead himself. Himself in his friends place, McCoy needs Jim right now. He quickly relays their story to the alien and then they understand;. Their mind has been made, Grayson will stay.  Jim zips his gloves up and his boots too as they start to leave Grayson. The alien humanoid has vanished. Grayson announces he will not go with them. Jim and McCoy stop then turn toward Grayson. Jim comes to him and talks to Grayson regarding his decision.  Grayson hands the necklace that Mitch gave him to Jim since it should be his. Grayson assures Jim they will meet again, also, explains he does not belong to Earth due to his superior intellect,gift, and psi-positive. He is going where people like him will be welcomed. Jim and Spock share a final hug.

“Jim. . . Jim. . . Jim, I will miss you.” Jim is letting tears out. “It’s just going to be a while. Right?”

“Affirmative.” Grayson nods. “I will make sure of it.”

They end the hug. Jim and Grayson shake hands, exchange fond emotions and caring impressive feelings for each other. Tightly holding hands. It continues for too long, McCoy has to break their make out session  by reminding Jim that he’s on a goddamn planet destroying itself and they need to leave. McCoy and Grayson argue once they are confronting each other. Grayson says, “You are welcome.”

“For what?” McCoy is stumped.

“Not turning you in for euthanizing your father.” Grayson said.

“You are a smug bastard, Harold.”  McCoy said.

“Call me Spock for now.” Spock said.

“All ready ditchin’ yourself?” McCoy asked, sounding hurt. “That was quick.”

“This is a decision I did not make lightly.” Spock said. “I feel more alien than human, Leonard. For that, I cannot be that friend who comforts you. Jim excels at this when I cannot.”

“For a guy who hardly speaks, I see why you hardly do.” McCoy said. “Breakin’ my heart.”

“I cannot have one without the other.” Spock said. “Logically, I cannot have either.”

Grayson finally won an argument with McCoy. Jim has to drag McCoy away as he argues back, “YES. YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!” As he finally understands why Grayson is doing this to him.  To Jim of all people. McCoy needs some healing from those months being alone and Grayson is not the kind to heal around as he barely speaks on Earth. They make it on time before Scotty launches. Scotty is crying both relieved and saddened because Grayson is not with them and he was scared he would have to leave the desert planet alone. He gives the two men bear hugs. There’s a montage of Grayson befriending the three men in high school. Jim all legs and being a small book nerd. McCoy interested in helping others. Mitch interested in being an astronaut. Growing up. Falling in love. Falling out of love. Falling in love again with other people and not making a romantic relationship with them except for Mitch. All the good times in his life with his space family. His parents cheering him on to space, a retired diplomat and teacher. His life flashes before his eyes as the adaptable breathable water covers him entirely. The small face like craft jets out of Mars passing by the shuttle. McCoy looks out the window as Jim wishes him, “Have a good ride, Mr Spock.” Our scene shows the moon then it transitions down a year later at night under the stars where McCoy is in the tree house with Joanna telling her of their story. Joanna misses Grayson. So does McCoy. 

Jim comes out rubbing his hands together, “Dinner is ready!”

“We are comin’,darlin’!” He points in the direction that Grayson went and says,  “That’s his sanctuary home.” Jim goes inside. “One day, you and  David are goin’ to visit there and chew out Mr Spock for missin’ out on your birthday!” while tickling her.

“Stop it!” Joanna laughs.” Daddy!”

“If you say so.” McCoy stops.

Joanna climbs down. McCoy feels gratitude because he is better than he was all those months ago but he still has nightmares and with Jim, they will fade, into the darkness. He has one thing to say, “I miss you too, Harold. You had good intentions.”

McCoy is called by his daughter, “Daddy, dinner!”

“Bones,come inside, it is getting cold!” Jim calls.

And McCoy climbs down replying with, “I am comin’, darlins!” McCoy looks up to see a golden streak passing through the night sky and he slowly smiles, his eyes lighting up, then goes inside the house as the screen goes into space.

THE END.

[tori10rambles]

I have finally stopped screaming about finishing Seven's route in my head, and Lunar New Year celebrations are over for today. Therefore, I wrote this.

I saved my favorite the best character’s route for last. And wow. This one was a roller coaster too. But more for my heart than my sense of fear. It did not disappoint.

As usual, I vascillate a lot between first and third person POV, referring to MC as myself (I/me) or as her own character (MC/she), though she shares parts of my personality since she's supposed to be me.

Unlike the last couple of posts, this ones really freaking long, because I decided to write the commentary as the chatrooms popped up, and not at the end of the day. Still not a lot of commentary on Day 1, though.

Also, there is now a section for MC. Because I have some issues with the "choices" she gets to make.

I will probably post an After Ends reaction post today and take some time to process Seven’s route before going onto the Secret Ends. :)

Obviously, ridiculously spoiler heavy, so everything’s under the cut.

  Seven Saeyoung Choi

(Day 1) the fact that Seven doesn't see himself as the knight in shining armor type is kind of sad. But I'm glad that he wants to protect MC.

Your laugh is so cute!

(Day 2) Seven needs to take a goddamn break. Just because he cares about finding out what's going on doesn't mean he has to lose sleep over it. I mean, he's probably awake anyway doing his actual work. But still...

Seven's reaction to the "110-000-110 & 111-000-111" response is GREAT. I don't think people go along with him all that much though, if that's his reaction.

I feel like Seven needs more pep talks and encouragement than he gets. Which, you know, I'm so down for giving.

The fact that he doesn't want his work to bother MC. Like, you're her friend? of course it's going to bother her? And of course she wants to know how you're doing?

Okay, but legit, has anyone ever told Seven to take it easy? if that's his response?

playing along with Seven is so much fun!

Its kind of sweet that he says MC isn't weird even though she's in a weird situation.

...Why does it sound like you don't get complimented often?

Hell yes MC want's more pictures of you. You're the one she's seen the least of. And you're actually more attractive to her than Zen.

What kind of bs do you put your poor maid through for her to ask for double her pay if you get a cat?

Those cars are awesome, and I want to ride them.

I wonder what kind of stuff you're going through now to make you more secretive than usual...

lmao, buying cars does not seem like a good way of saving or investing money. But yeah, I can totally believe he'd sell the cars if they were worth more than he bought it for.

You're a tinkerer!!! Ooh. That's so cool.

Also, you make an awesome female. Like, better than me. wtf?

his maid has to be badass if his job is risky.

...why does he sound surprised that MC's worrying about him? like, he's been really cool so far, and really, seeing people hurt or in danger is not her jam.

OF COURSE IT MATTERS IF YOU GET HURT. WHAT. WHY. WHO TAUGHT YOU OTHERWISE!?

Also, it's not your job to protect someone's feelings. I mean, feel free to try, but a person's emotions are not solely affected by you? And you shouldn't feel horrible when feelings get hurt despite what you do? because people react to things their own way? idk if i'm making sense

...You need a friend you can be completely honest with. I mean, probably not gonna be me/MC, but find one? Please? it'll make you feel better, and me/MC worry less.

helping you mess with people is kind of fun

(Day 3) Get some rest God Seven!!!

Of course I trust you! You're very nice. Also, I'm pretty sure people I couldn't trust wouldn't be so sorry about the whole other hacker business. And the keeping people away to keep them safe.

...I feel like you're getting my hopes up. You mentioned the other day that you want to protect people, which includes you keeping them away. but you keep saying things that make me wanna fall for you.

It's kind of adorable that he thinks that despite all his hacking, he still wants to get to know MC in person/over chat.

At least you know how hypocritical your advice on eating is lololol. But wait, if "I reccommend snacks to people like me and Yoosung, who are stupid or lost or have no reason to live" is a correct statement, then I qualify. And which one are you? And Yoosung?

"You can dream about me. Special guest 707 as the main lead." Don't say things like that! You'll give MC me people ideas.

...what is it about you and Jumin that makes the two of you LIKE it when I scold y'all?

I can get behind The Law of Salty and Sweet

SOMEONE GET THIS MAN A BREAK LONGER THAN A FEW HOURS

I feel like more of this HBC story is real and serious than you'd like us to believe

Man, you are talking to a girl so curious (and reckless) she followed a stranger's directions. Of course I wanna know more about you!

(Day 4) I wonder how religious you are exactly.

lololol his reaction to MC saying "I want to lick it"

...why is Seven trying to set me up with Jumin? Nope! I like Seven!

I love Seven's hair! It's cute! Just like him!

Harry Potter reference! You nerd~!

Your relationship with V is interesting.

...my heart? You can live in my heart if you want. :3

but i refuse to believe that you're too dangerous for people to know

also, messing with Hackers Chasing Hackers on your behalf is so much fun!!!

(Day 5) i actually hc you with ADHD? Like, it seems really obvious to me? But Vanderwood's being rude about it? but then i also hc you're a little shit to Vanderwood, so it's payback of a sorts

are you... are you actually apologizing for being hacked into? I mean, you couldn't help it? it's not your fault?

not surprised you graduated early from college

lololol, not a code. Me blowing kisses into the air

bodyguard robot FUCK YES i'd prefer you, but i'll take what i can get

FIRE BREATHING ROBOT I WANT SO MUCH

I'd take the robot anyway! And it's the thought that counts!

lololol, fourth-wall breaking Seven is great, especially when HE'S the one flustered

I wonder if there actually are CCTV cameras in the apt. I wouldn't be surprised. or, you know, if he'd hack into a webcam in the apt b/c he's being paranoid.

Also, observing me? What did you do, hack my webcam or something?

Honestly, i don’t mind you being upset/confused? It's kind of cute. And makes you seem more human/relatable

Welp. There goes my heart. This guy is a tsundere omg.

YOU DESERVE TO LOVE AND BE LOVED AND I WILL HURT ANYONE WHO CONVINCED YOU OTHERWISE.

You're not okay. please don't pretend otherwise. it just makes me worry more. :(

YOU ARE NOT PATHETIC JUST BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T DO THE THING.

How can I get hurt by getting to know you?

I always have complicated thoughts.

DO NOT JUST MAKE JOKES BECAUSE YOU'RE EXPECTED TO. JUST BE YOU, whoever that is. I wanna get to know them.

I REPEAT, YOU DESERVE TO LOVE AND BE LOVED AND I WILL HURT ANYONE WHO CONVINCED YOU OTHERWISE.

I feel like Seven has many masks. So many, that he has no idea who he is behind all of them.

Ah, running from your issues. I can relate. i'd join you on the moon in a heartbeat.

Expressing yourself does not make you weird! Admitting to emotions that you usually hide away is not weird! I want more of it!

...can't stop thinking about me?/// See, it's comments like this and "romantic relationships are not for me" that confuse the hell out of me. which one is true? which one do you believe is the truth?

(Day 6) Everyone's worried about you, bae. Please know we're here for you. Also, your inner thoughts are WRONG. Cheering me up should be considered a good deed for today.

Also, you're implying that because Pluto has been kicked out of its friend group, it can be your friend, as if you are also too distant from your friend group to be officially considered a part of them. Which is WRONG.

THIS CALL (after 10:22). SO CUTE. Until you mention (again) what a danger i'd be put in because of you. i trust you to protect the RFA ^^

A normal guy is BORING though!

You're not saying anything weird? I think it's cute!

Flustering you is literally like, the most fun a girl can have right now. Although, I'm p sure both of us talk a bigger game than we can deliver

listening to seven talk about how he reacts to things. My heart.

TAKE THE FREAKING COMPLIMENT

YOU ARE THE COOLEST, BEST PERSON.

YOU DESERVE TO THINK THIS WAY IF YOU WANT TO.

Is that... are you trying to push MC away?

NO. NO STORMING THE ENEMY STRONGHOLD ON YOUR OWN.

You are not pathetic! I'm glad I can help you relax.

lololol i talk to myself a lot too. It's cute~.

OMF... TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. YOU'RE SO IMPORTANT TO THE RFA AND ME

You look GR9 in skirts and dresses and anything you choose to wear. 100000000000/10 would enjoy seeing you dress up

the best disguise... is being normal you?

HELL YES I'D GO ON A DRIVE WITH YOU.

I feel like you're setting the both of us up for disappointment though. because you say things like you'll take me on a ride, then say i shouldn't get close to you because you're dangerous

Me? the sun? Nah, you are!

I'm so glad you're telling me things about you? I mean yeah, it's scary, but I trust you and believe in you.

DO NOT APOLOGIZE FOR BEING HUMAN.

bae, you're trying your best

YOU ARE DEFINITELY A GOOD PERSON EVEN IF YOU'VE DONE THINGS YOU REGRET.

"You and me... did we ever have any kind of relationship?" You are breaking my heart!!!! I thought we were friends at least!!!

YOU ARE MY FRIEND AND OF COURSE I WILL WORRY.

LET THIS MAN BE HAPPY THAT'S ALL I WANT GODDAMN IT.

(Day 7) The RFA has your back! Please don't hide from us

DO NOT TAKE EMOTIONAL ADVICE FROM JUMIN FUCKING HAN

...How did seven sense unknown was laughing?

QUIT BLAMING YOURSELF AS IF EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT.

Who is Saeran? A twin? Which... yeah. This makes a lot of the previous conversations make a lot more sense. And b/c of dramatic storytelling, explains why you heard someone laughing.

YOUR FEELINGS ARE NOT USELESS! UGH! I COULD KILL JUMIN.

Also, (LMFAO) I think there's a glitch, b/c Unknown's still behind Seven in the VN. 

Seven... I just want him to be comfortable! This is where my heart starts breaking, huh?

My clothes? is that REALLY a concern right now?

It really isn't that uncomfortable that you're here. But if it helps, I guess I could not stare.

Wait, so you want me to pretend you don't exist, but not leave your sight? How does that work? You're distracting! (also, the brightest thing in the damn room)

You need to eat too!

(Day 8) Yeah, this man is a tsundere if I've ever seen one.

So your real name is Saeyoung?

Your mom is a bitch.

I mean, what’s the use in getting mad? I’m upset, sure, but honestly, I’m mostly overwhelmed and panicking.

Y'all are fucking adorable as kids

Thank you for killing the goddamn cockroaches. I can do spiders and flies, but cockroaches and anything with more than 8 legs creeps me out.

YOU ARE NOT A THING TO BE USED. YOU ARE NOT SOLELY HERE TO PROTECT PEOPLE. THINK ABOUT YOURSELF TOO PLEASE.

I don't need to care about you, but i WANT to.

...I'd agree to a GPS tracker IF I knew where they were

So in 7 minutes, you made a bunch of sandwiches with 3 different fillings, and got three different juices. And it was all for yourself. Uh huh...

Yay! You've stopped blaming yourself! (not that I believe that 100%, but at least you're trying)

ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SAY ISN'T POINTLESS. DON'T PUT YOURSELF DOWN LIKE THAT

I'm not saying you're blameless either. Just that you chose the best possible option out of a set of bad ones

Thank you for apologize for taking out your anxiety on me. Although I'm glad you weren't bottling it up instead.

MY FEELINGS ARE NOT USELESS. JUST LIKE YOURS AREN'T

Your lines sound like a cheesy break up convo.

I repeat, you are talking to someone who legitimately followed a stranger, then trusted other strangers and joined a mysterious organization. My curiosity has always gotten me in trouble

I am allowed to feel whatever I want, and I'm saying I forgive you!

I cannot believe V's first concern was the goddamn DRAWER and not, oh, I don't know, OUR LIVES. I don't blame you for reacting that way.

I don't blame you for distrusting V. It sounds like he promised you something and broke it. (And honestly, I'm starting to see where your guilt complex came from, if he was your mentor figure)

Meowy is so cute! (I can't believe Meowy HAS to obey me omg its voice is so cute)

(Day 9) Seven, i'ts not that i don't care that you're pushing me away. It's that even though you are, you’re not changing my feelings for you.

...So my personal hc is that MC isn't asleep when you start monologuing in the middle of the night.

Honestly, 707, Saeyoung, Luciel... they're all the same person. Different facets that make up a whole. And while I understand that you believe you're dangerous, so far, it doesn't seem like anything you've done has put me in danger. I mean yes, there's a bomb you installed, but you didn't want to in the first place, and that MEANS something. Not trusting anyone is no way to live, and forgetting about you would be impossible. You deserve SO MUCH MORE than just being able to protect me.

Hallelujah, you've finally admitted your problems to me! Take all the time you need to think about it though. And of course, we need to get through this first.

BLUSHING SEVEN!!! :D SO CUTE~! ❤︎

...YOUR "PARENTS" ARE THE WORST EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE I'VE EVER MET.

...So either Rika and V didn't keep their promise, or some serious shit went down for Saeran to be as he is now?

If God allows it, I'll be with you always

The RFA is your second family, of course you were going to try and protect them from your agency

lololol yes. flustered, cute Seven is back!

I'm so glad you made up with Yoosung too!  ❤︎

I'm so glad you're including me in things now~!

Thanks for saying I'm cute~! You're cuter~! ❤︎

so long as i can help it, you're never gonna be alone

We're gonna bring your brother home and make sure you get that family you always wanted.

YOUR MOM IS BATSHIT. HOLY CRAP.

(Day 10) OMG you actually said it~ ❤︎ . ilu2. It is slightly ridiculous how much I love you.

Also, I can believe you are fit. I want to bite those collarbones. To say the least.

“You are my whole universe. Your breaths become the radiant milky way.” THIS THOUGHT. OMF... It’s so sweet! If Seven starts talking like that all time time, he’s totally getting some.

Now and forever gonna hc that the opening song is actually in Seven’s point of view

The fact that you talk to yourself when you work is REALLY FUCKING CUTE.

...That selfie looks WAY too good for how early we left and how little sleep we probably got.

SOMEONE LIED TO YOU AND YOUR BROTHER AND I'M GONNA KILL THEM.

"If Rika knew the real you... I now get why she messed up your eyes like that." Holy shit that was savage!

That phone call (After 20:11+VN) MY FEELS!!! That... I cried tears of joy. So good. ilusm but if you ever die for me i'll never forgive you. I want you to LIVE for me. And I'll always remember you.  ❤︎

I wish you wouldn't be so quick to sacrifice yourself for us, but that's one of the things that makes me like you.

I'm touched that you'd say even that much about how I've changed your life on the messenger. And thank you for apologizing. 

lololol, you said the word already on the phone, why are you hesitating on the messenger?

(Day 11) THESE PHONECALLS. A++. ❤︎

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH HOLY SHIT.

you are SUPER hot when you're threatening your former agency, okay?

Yoosung

(Day 2) Yoosung's really cute. Like a puppy. his enthusiasm for the parties are cute too.

lololol, Yoosung got played. I mean, we're talking about a guy who says almost everything about his is classified. When would he have the time/motivation to get a gf? So gullible~.

Yoosung, chill the fuck down. I realize you're happy the party's a thing, but seriously. Chill.

LMFAO Yoosung. You just mentioned being done with LOLOL. You game addict.

For $3, that's actually not a bad lunch. But yeah, college food is bland and not as healthy as they make it seem.

with how much you play LOLOL, are you okay? As someone whose internet obsession is used as a crutch because real life is stupid and aggravating, I'm seeing some parallels.

Wow, Yoosung, that's some imagination. Although, with how secretive Seven is, I wouldn't be surprised if he's working for rich, powerful people.

You and your ideal relationship is so innocent and cute lololol

be careful about your stereotypes Yoosung.

(Day 3) It's not that I want you to stop playing LOLOL, so much as I'd like you to talk about why you play the game so much (again, I see parallels). But if it makes you happy, I'm not gonna force you to stop.

Motherfucker, you're 5'6" (171cm), and the shortest male here, but still taller than me. Stop complaining about your height.

lololol, Yoosung's definition of exercise sounds very familiar my brothers and I 

Directionless Yoosung, you are like, the epitome of male college gamers everywhere. And also my brother, who is in college, and has no idea what to do in life. Huh... I wanna adopt you now. You've got to be better than my brother. Your birthdays are close enough that I'm p sure no one would notice...

you are also very easy to tease.

And you obvs have issues with V. Which probably aren't being taken seriously b/c V is like, everyone's friend/savior in that group.

(Day 4) That was not a typo, Yoosung

lololol, i can't believe you took me seriously. "Sophisticated Choi" lolololol

i'm with you on the no religion thing though. mostly because my parents thought i should decide for myself (personally, i'm pretty sure i'm deist. i believe there is SOME kind of higher power(s), but I don't believe in organized religion as such)

fucking... the M call. I'm never getting over it.

(Day 5) Nice to know that Yoosung and Zen are shippers on deck

Yoosung's relationship with his parents sounds like mine, only my parents are blue collar workers.

(Day 6) I CANNOT BELIEVE JUMIN CALLED YOUR MOM ON YOU!!! I empathize. Letting my parents into my college apartment sucked

(Day 8) I'm glad you want to change for the better. The fact that your mom didn't want to worry you when you've been goofing off is such a punch to the gut, I should know.

(Day 9) I'm sure Seven didn't mean it.

See! :D

(Day 10) Drunk you is surprisingly funny. And candid.

(Day 11) Your poor hangover lolololol.

I'm glad you're still optimistic at the party... despite everything,

Jumin Han

I think I might be holding a grudge about how badly Jumin's route messed with my head, because I'm not feeling remotely bad about getting Jumin's Heart Breaks throughout this route.

(Day 2) Wow Jumin, you goddamn ice block. It's nice that you care about your cat though. Though, you know, you could lay off on Jaehee.

Why would you bring your cat when you know one of your friends is allergic? I'm p sure you would make concessions for a food allergy or pollen allergy. Why's an animal allergy any different?

How far removed from the general public are you to not know what a metal lunch tray is?

...We can't be friends if you don't enjoy scifi.

Jumin's kind of like an old person trying adapting to technology. :P It's kinda funny.

omf, the contract is the bare minimum of what needs to be abided by.  NO.

You need a therapist. Or a psychologist. Or just... someone to teach you about emotions and how they affect decisions and how people can't turn emotions off. But no, has anyone actually diagnosed him yet? I mean, I already hc Seven with ADHD and anxiety and depression, Yoosung with depression, and basically everyone in the RFA (V included) with self-worth issues, so Jumin with Asperger's would make sense to me... And of course, given the East Asian stigma against mental illness, obviously no one's getting diagnosed or treated for said issues.

Does Jumin han is gay?

(Day 3) Nice, using your cat businesses to avoid your dad.

lololol your photos are actually kind of endearing, if blurry as all hell 

also, you make it kind of easy to mess with you

(Day 5) You are a savage asshole and it's hilarious

no. no cat army.

i have a bad feeling about your potential good deed

(Day 6) Thank you for trying, Jumin. More shippers on deck, yesssss. Also, if this isn't proof that everyone in the RFA cares about Seven and wants him to be happy, idk what is

DICK MOVE JUMIN HAN. YOU DON'T GET YOUR FRIEND'S PARENTS ON THEIR ASS. IT'S SACRILEGE. A BETRAYAL TO FRIENDSHIPS EVERYWHERE.

legit, when the rest of the group starts to drag you, you know you fucked up

(Day 9) Jumin, that really wasn't very objective

(Day 10) It’s nice to see you care, Jumin.

I can't believe you might have actually brought Elizabeth 3rd! Now I know you care about us. :3

I feel bad that you feel betrayed. And that you're drowing your sorrows in alcohol

(Day 11) A+ Speech. I love it so much.

Zen

(Day 2) I can't tell if you're just using acting terms or if you're leaning on the fourth wall when you call MC the main lead.

Sorry Zen, but MC loves cats, though she doesn't own one yet.

You're too pretty to let the allergies screw with your face.

At least you have some self confidence if you can claim god made you overly handsome, and that the allergies are a way of making you not perfect.

...How DARE you claim Seven hacked MC's phone! That's so fucking rude. Also, Seven probably has better things to do with his time then hack someone's phone when they've already been hacked, just to fuck with you. like, priorities man.

As someone who is allergic to certain foods, I agree that research into allergies is important

Nice Tarzan yell.

Zen. Zen, Zen, Zenny, Zen. MC LITERALLY SAID THAT WAS SEVEN. although it's nice to know you find Seven attractive as well ^^

nice to know you find seven's personality attractive on a female. ^^

You are very pretty. I just wish you'd tone down the selfies sometimes. 

...You're telling me you were a delinquent in high school? One who liked to sing and act?

i can't believe you answered your phone in the shower.

(Day 3) hypocrite. your meals don't sound any better than Yoosung's. why do I feel like MC is gonna be the Mom Friend to basically everyone here? Or at least the Responsible and Reasonable One?

I repeat, at least you love yourself Zen.

nagging Yoosung to exercise isn't going to make him want to work out more. Just avoid the conversation. which probably explains why Yoosung plays LOLOL so much. Everyone keeps nagging, and he plays to ignore/spite you all.

gimme back the cat meme!!!

quit flirting

you have no appreciation for Seven's storytelling skills

I love how we spent an entire chat talking about Seven and how his life will probably follow movie tropes

(Day 5) FUCKING RUDE. Seven is awesome! And he's allowed to make mistakes.

lolololol Zen's gonna be FUCKING DISAPPOINTED by Vanderwood. SO MUCH. it'll be hilarious

Nice to know that Yoosung and Zen are shippers on deck

(Day 6) Zen, you sound like an older sister. Or a cliche.

(Day 7) Zen, is that REALLY where your brain went first? You don't think Seven would be more concerned with, oh, i don't know, THE HACKER AFTER US than the fact that we're alone in the apartment THAT'S ALREADY BEEN BROKEN INTO!?

Thank you for being worried about me, but my feelings for Seven have nothing to do with this.

Also, I am NOT calm. But it wouldn't help anyone if I panic so...

(Day 8) omg the cutie pie song! That's so cute~!

(Day 9) Why the sudden interest in Seven's sex life? And hell yes, I think he's more attractive than the rest of you.

(Day 10) So... That was an interesting call (23:49). And, well... sorry Zen, but I'm not sorry for choosing Saeyoung. Ever.

Jaehee Kang

(Day 2) Wow Jaehee, tell us what you really feel about jumin's cat businesses. Not that we blame you though. You just want to keep your hob, and jumin's cat businesses sound like they don't help with that very much.

Trash your boss. Please.

Furballs are a product of grooming, jaehee. Elizabeth 3rd sounds like a handful though, so I understand why you don't like cats.

I agree with jaehee; though I want to meet the cat, I wouldn't want it to be at the expense of someone else.

I wanna be your friend jaehee~

Jaehee, it sounds like you don't have the time to make a lunch at home. or cook at all, if you go to convenience stores that often.

At least you're not doubting MC, but the situation. There's only so much before worry becomes paranoia.

Jaehee sounds like a glorified babysitter. She deserves so much props for putting up with these people. Especially Jumin, who both pays her and overworks her like crazy.

Who blames Jaehee for "NOPE"-ing out of the cahtroom? Not MC.

Your fangirling is hilarious. Especially when people call you out on it.

Yes, jaehee is clearly the one who deserves pity when Jumin has lunch with his dad, because she'll be swamped with work, as usual. I dearly hope she gets paid overtime.

(Day 3) I hope you someday find the time to be able to date! You deserve it!

(Day 4) yes, Jaehee, I know exactly what I'm saying.

The fact that you can scare Seven into compliance is actually kind of amusing.

Seven and I apologize, Jaehee. Seriously.

(day 9) You're so cute, I just want be your new BFF.

Thanks for saying I'm cute~!

(day 10) Jaehee... we’ll definitely come back safe. :)

thank you for praying for us

V

(Day 3) "I'm not especially attaced to Luciel or anything ^^" WOW. RUDE.

At least he knows Seven looks up to him.

(Day 4) V is just like my brother: only cares about religion because someone else does. Which, really, someone else should not dictate your belief system.

it's not so much that I trust you so much as i trust seven who trusts you

(Day 7) How the hell did you agree to a bomb! That could kill INNOCENT PEOPLE!? I mean, Seven only agreed because you and Rika did, and god knows about Rika, but I thought you were the KIND ONE!?

(Day 8) ANSWER SEVEN. PLEASE.

WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MYSTERIOUS AND UNTRUSTING.

...Now I want to open that drawer

(Day 9) V YOU FUCKER. THERE IS ALWAYS A BETTER WAY THAN ABANDONING FAMILY TO AN ABUSIVE SITUATION

(Day 10) OMFG V!!! THIS IS A TIME TO BE TRUTHFUL!!! NOT KEEPING MORE SECRETS. And you wonder why Saeyoung doesn't trust you?

Wait, so you blame yourself because you loved her? As in Rika? WHAT DOES SHE HAVE TO DO WITH THIS!?

WHAT KIND OF MONOLOGUE WAS THAT!? THAT WASN'T HELPFUL.

Rika (and her goddamn apartment)

(Day 2) ...What the HELL is in this apartment that's so important that you want to BLOW IT UP?

(Day 5) WHY. FUCKING... THAT VN OF THE BOMB BEING ACTIVATED AND DEACTIVATED. GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK.

(Day 8) WHY A BOMB. JUST... WHY?

OMF... You're one of those greater Good people! I HATE THOSE PEOPLE!

JUSTICE IS NOT CREATED THROUGH FEAR OMF...

Your brain is TWISTED woman.

(Day 9) WHAT IS YOUR DEAL WOMAN!?

(Day 10) WHAT IS YOUR DEAL!?

Unknown

(Day 2) You know, the fact that you seem to be speaking to the player in the VN does not get any creepier the second time around.

(Day 4) WHY. I AM FREAKED OUT ENOUGH.

(Day 6) YOU'RE ABOUT TO FUCK WITH THE BOMB, AREN'T YOU

(Day 7) I cannot believe unknown freaking plans to rappel himself through the window to break in

You are surprisingly nicee about keeping my from stepping on the glass

Saeran?

(Day 8) What happened to you, Saeran? You're so... meek and sweet in the VN.

Y’all are fucking adorable as kids.

(Day 10) SOMEONE LIED TO YOU AND YOUR BROTHER AND I'M GONNA KILL THEM.

The fact that you withstood the normal dosage b/c you believed in Saeyoung makes my heart hurt in a good way

Also, the irony inherent in the fact that you probably bleached your hair and changed your eye color in order to NOT be mistaken for Saeyoung, only for Vanderwood to mistake you for Saeyoung anyway...

Mint Eye

(Day 10) Medicine... mEDICINE!?!?!?!? HOW FUCKING DARE.... YOU DRUGGED HIM!!! YOU DRUGGED AN INNOCENT TEEN. WTF. WTFH!?

MOTHER FUCKERS. TRIPLING YOUR STANDARD DOSE!? DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW THAT WOULD AFFECT HIM!?!?!?

Vanderwood

(Day 5) so, my hc is that you don't give a fuck about gender and pronouns, and Seven took that last point and RAN with it until you hate him when he refers to you as his maid/with female pronouns

so I feel like despite the face that you threaten to taser Seven, and the fact that he's kind of a little shit to you, you actually kind of like him.

(Day 6) FUCK THAT, VANDERWOOD. Y'ALL DESERVE TO BE HAPPY.

...YOU'RE part of the reason why he's a dick to MC!!! And yet your advice is STILL better than Jumin's kill your emotions

LEAVE SEVEN ALONE.

(Day 8) WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING!?

(Day 10) MOTHERFUCKER!!! YOU TOOK THE WRONG TWIN!!!

MC

I love basically all your choices before Day 7.

WHAT. HOW ARE YOU SO CALM.

WHY DO I HATE ALMOST ALL YOUR OPTIONS ONCE SEVEN COMES AROUND.

I WOULD HAVE HAD A MENTAL BREAKDOWN BY NOW.

WHY ARE YOU SO PASSIVE.

I realize you are trying to stay calm for the RFA, but PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF TOO.

GOOD. ASK SEVEN WHY HE'S DECIDING SHIT FOR YOU. YOU AREN'T STUPID OR NAIVE AND DON'T NEED TO BE WRAPPED IN BUBBLE WRAP

Finally, some choices I like again.

I’m actually kind of glad I saved Seven’s route for last. Definitely my favorite route. My only issue is, like Jumin, the amount of time between Seven’s issues coming to the forefront and the resolution of said issues, because seven year’s worth of being told he’s basically only worth what he can do for other people is not conveniently solved in like... 4 days.

[recentnews18-blog]

New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/respect-key-to-simpsons-renovated-eagles/

Respect key to Simpson's renovated Eagles

AT LAST October’s John Worsfold Medal presentation, Adam Simpson promised his wife Nicky that they would move closer to the beach.

“You’ve wanted that all year,” the West Coast coach said.

Then, typically deadpan, he quipped: “It might be in a caravan this time next year, but we’ll be closer.”

Nearly 12 months on, it is impossible to ignore the symbolism of Simpson’s pending relocation.

After a labour of love, the 42-year-old and his family are next month expected to move into a newly built pad in an upmarket beachside suburb – about as far away from the trailer park as you can get.

By then, he might even have joined premiership coaches Worsfold and Mick Malthouse in West Coast folklore.  

Clearly, a lot has changed since Simpson was copping the blowtorch during a frustrating 2017 campaign.

Against all expectations, West Coast is just a home preliminary final win away from a second Grand Final in four seasons.

MEGA-PREVIEW West Coast v Melbourne

With the ink still drying on a three-year contract extension, Simpson is locked in – as securely as a senior AFL coach can be – until the end of 2022, and rash calls for his head as the Eagles struggled to scrape into finals last season are fading into memory.

“He did get a little frustrated last year with some of the press and some of the WA media, and some of the reporting, but I think he knows it goes with the territory,” Simpson’s long-time manager Shane Casley told AFL.com.au.  

“It’s a small town, Perth, and it’s a big job he’s got, so he’s probably got to expect a bit of heat when they’re not performing. 

“But we spoke about that over the off-season and his need to get better and keep building relationships and improving the culture at the footy club.

“Whether they’re winning games or not winning games, it’s just about going about it the right way and building that respect, and I think he’s done that this year – and won games along the way.”

Adam Simpson and his players ahead of the qualifying final against Collingwood. Picture: AFL Photos

The secret behind West Coast’s unexpected resurgence – so soon after the retirements of Brownlow medallists Matt Priddis and Sam Mitchell – might be that there is no single reason for it.  

On the field, the Eagles haven’t rebuilt, but they’ve renovated, with Simpson the architect.  

They have blooded eight debutants and injected pace and enthusiasm after seeming tired and slow when they crashed out in a 67-point semi-final loss to the Giants last year. 

Adapting to their new, wider home ground at Optus Stadium, the Eagles have kicked the ball more than any other team and players have had Simpson’s trust to back their instincts.

“I think he’s passed onto the playing group ‘this is what we’re trying to achieve, but you can do it different ways’,” skipper Shannon Hurn said.

“It’s not when we get the ball in the back pocket you have to kick the ball here, then there, and then there.  

“I think over time he’s given the players more ownership about how to go about their football.” 

Groomed for four years under Hawthorn mastermind Alastair Clarkson, it should be no surprise Simpson has been tactically astute during his five-season reign in the west.  

The famed ‘Weagles Web’ – born out of necessity after key defenders Eric Mackenzie and Mitch Brown went down – handed the Eagles a competitive advantage in 2015, and helped propel them to a shock Grand Final appearance.

Simpson and the Eagles contemplate their loss to Hawthorn in the 2015 Grand Final. Picture: AFL Photos

Although West Coast lacked a clear identity last season, Simpson still steered the side to an elimination final victory and an off-season revamp has delivered sensational results.   

But man-management and empathy have arguably been more essential to his success.

Simpson gets to know his players intimately and shows he cares about them as people.

Last summer, he and assistant coach Jaymie Graham took their sons to the Tiwi Islands to better understand goalsneak Willie Rioli’s culture.  

Then on the eve of the season, he drove a four-hour round trip from Melbourne to Bendigo for a 20-minute visit with Tom Cole’s dying father.

He is a players’ coach, and Simpson’s style isn’t ‘one size fits all’.  

His tight bond with Jeremy McGovern is well-known, forged after Simpson banished the overweight tall to Claremont soon after his 2013 appointment.  

Tough love helped turn McGovern into a star, and when Dom Sheed was dropped back to the WAFL three times this season, the 23-year-old was grateful for knowing where he stood.  

Jeremy McGovern and Simpson share a laugh after a win. Picture: AFL Photos

“He builds relationships with every single player,” Sheed said.  

“He’s a very balanced, well-rounded person. You know his door is always open for any players to walk into.”  

Sheed has been important since Andrew Gaff was suspended, and he isn’t the only Eagle who has blossomed after stints at East Perth.

Jack Redden and Lewis Jetta were supposed to help West Coast take the next step after being recruited at the end of 2015, only to struggle to find their groove and languish in the WAFL.  

This year, both have been influential – Redden around the ball and Jetta after a switch to half-back – while Chris Masten has been reborn on a wing after his career was at the crossroads last year. 

Masten was a shock round one selection, but is now a key engine room cog, thriving on a simpler focus on his role and a strong relationship with the coach.   

“He treats everyone differently, and that’s what I like,” Masten said.

“With ‘Gov’, they’re like the same person. For me, he’s more the boss, but you’re still mates with him.  

“He’ll take the piss out of me but it’s a weird, funny relationship.

“He’s a funny man, but also so smart and so good at getting the best out of his players.  

“He’s definitely good now with how we’ve progressed and handing the keys over to the boys, and we know what we’re doing because of the way he’s taught us.”  

Simpson and Chris Masten in conversation during a game. Picture: AFL Photos

ON GAME day or in front of the TV cameras, Simpson is almost always cool, calm and collected.  

Not much ruffles his feathers, but he is fiercely loyal. 

He is prepared to back those in his inner sanctum to the hilt, and arguably went too far in supporting integrity officer Peter Staples after his scuffle with cameramen at Perth Airport in July. 

In the aftermath of Andrew Gaff’s punch on Andy Brayshaw in the round 20 Western Derby, he was clearly miffed by questions about a cultural issue at West Coast. 

As a senior leader at the club, he took those accusations personally.  

But those issues were soon pushed into the background, with the bigger picture of a premiership tilt front of mind.

“That was one of his big traits as a player and captain: nothing was ever that good (as it seemed), but nothing was ever that bad,” Simpson’s former North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley said.  

“He was very, very consistent in that.”

In football terms, Simpson just about saw it all at the Roos and took everything in his stride. 

After the highs of the 1996 and ’99 flags, he was a rock through the Wayne Carey saga and skipper when North fought against relocation to Gold Coast.  

“What he did as the leader of the playing group and how he actually played himself, he was instrumental in the last part of his career in a very rough and volatile time off the field at the footy club,” Laidley recalled.  

“West Coast rang me when he applied for the job and I was a very, very strong advocate for him to get the position.

“I knew what he could deliver.”

Dean Laidley and Adam Simpson celebrate a win in 2009. Picture: AFL Photos

THOSE who play under Simpson respect what he achieved as a 306-game Kangaroos champion, and say he still understands how difficult AFL football can be.

He won’t hold back from a spray when necessary, but his stinging rebukes are the most memorable for his players. 

For some, it evokes that sinking feeling of a parent telling them they’re not angry, just disappointed, and he always hits the mark. 

“It’s not the yelling, ranting, raving, it’s like a little whack,” Masten said.

“He’s quite sarcastic and funny, he can get you where he hurts. 

“He was calling me (outspoken DJ) Kyle Sandilands for the radio (interview calling on the AFL to stop tinkering with the rules). That’s just him.”

Masten, more than most, appreciates the Eagles’ refresh during his most enjoyable season yet.

“There were times last year when we were battling to have any sort of enjoyment,” the 29-year-old said.

  There has been a clear emphasis on boosting the enthusiasm for going to work, and while new blood has helped, a balanced approach to life outside of football has played a part.

The Eagles are a mature group, and senior players are occasionally given extra days off just to get away from the club and escape Perth’s footy fishbowl.

With a quarter of the squad now dads – 11 players in total after Luke Shuey’s son’s arrival – family time is a priority, and partners are encouraged to be part of the club.

Post-game the changerooms resemble a crèche, with many of the coaching staff also fathers.

For Simpson, a father of four with high school sweetheart Nicky, family comes first, as evidenced when he flew home before the round two win over the Bulldogs to be by his ill daughter Elsa’s side (he also has Owen, Allie and Milla).

“The beauty about it is we all love what we’re doing, but we’ve got young families and there’s a good balance as well,” forwards coach Jaymie Graham said. 

“It’s an elite environment where everything you do gets scrutinised these days and Simmo has been big on making the club a sanctuary and a place where you can come and have fun and feel comfortable. 

“He’s come from the North Melbourne days and that’s one thing about the ‘Shinboners’ is they had that spirit that they brought.

“We’re a really united group, one as a club and playing group, but also a coaching group.”  

Assistant coach Sam Mitchell deep in conversation with Simpson. Picture: AFL Photos

A METICULOUS preparer, Simpson’s ability to adapt and succeed hasn’t surprised those who know him.

He chipped in as North’s midfield coach late in his playing days when the Roos couldn’t afford a full-time assistant, and was clearly ready for the step up to coaching. 

“I’d go and ask him ‘what have you got in mind for centre bounce?’ and he’d be all over it and coach the players through it,” Laidley said.

“That was fantastic for me and great support, but was really good for his development.”

In his last season in 2009, Simpson became the first graduate of David Wheadon’s Next Coach Program, and his quest for knowledge hasn’t stopped.  

Two years ago, Simpson visited Stanford University with Collingwood mentor Nathan Buckley and Wheadon, learning the value of delegation and empowerment, and he and Eagles CEO Trevor Nisbett are currently scouting options for his next study trip.

“He’s very planned, very organised,” Wheadon said. “He’s a pure professional.”

It was Simpson’s drive that helped win him the job ahead of Peter Sumich in 2013 after Worsfold stepped down.

Since then, West Coast has made the top eight in four of five seasons and, based on win-loss, Simpson is indisputably one of the AFL’s elite coaches. 

Only three rivals boast a better winning ratio than his 64 per cent.

But two of those men – Chris Scott and John Longmire (Adelaide’s Don Pyke is the other) – have led Geelong and Sydney, respectively, to the ultimate prize, and Simpson needs a premiership to join the truly top bracket of coaches. 

It would be a stunning effort this season without some key personnel, but there is an air of calmness and business as usual at West Coast ahead of Saturday’s preliminary final.

If the Eagles do overcome the Demons and advance to the decider, don’t expect the celebrations to go overboard, especially in the coaches’ box.

West Coast’s coaching staff might share a quick celebratory drink post-match in the bowels of Optus Stadium, but not much more than that before turning their attention to last Saturday in September.

“I think they do take in a bottle of red after every winning game – certainly home games,” Casley said.

However, if West Coast can go all the way, Simpson will have good reason to savour that success a little longer at his new home this summer.

“If they win a Grand Final I might even buy him a bottle of Grange,” Casley said. 

Source: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-09-19/respect-key-to-simpsons-renovated-eagles