#The only one of these I actually eat with any regularity is burgers

[dovesndecay]

Hey! I saw your post on diet culture and fast food and wanted to know what you mean about "diet culture would rather us starve than admit fast food is an accessible food resource"? Could you elaborate? (sorry for the paraphrase, I'm on mobile.) Thanks!

So, I'm disabled in a number of ways. I struggle really hard with executive function, appetite, sensory issues, and pain/fatigue/brainfog that makes deciding on food, and then following the process of making that food very difficult on a good day.

I've always had food issues -- I've snuck whole mouthfuls of food I could not physically make myself eat into the bathroom to spit it out in the toilet because I'd been told I had to eat it. I've puked from the texture of food. And I've gone hungry because food that was prepared is food I could not eat, for a number of reasons.

I'm also really fucking poor. I cannot work a regular job anymore. Groceries have actively skyrocketed to the point where our household is spending less than HALF of what we should be for the number of people. The difference between buying a bunch of groceries that we may or may not eat before they expire or our tastes for them die and simply purchasing a meal from a fast food joint is literally just the cost of labor -- saving us from expending spoons on deciding, buying ingredients, preparing, cooking, and then eating that food, which I will again stress that we might not actually eat.

There's only so many times you can have Walmart brand chicken nuggets before you physically cannot choke it down again.

Diet culture has a huge focus on eating the "right" kind of foods as well as this weird "self-sufficiency" fetish for cooking that can be fine but has a bad habit of edging into ableism. If you physically cannot cook on a regular basis, for any reason, and you have a lot of fast food meals, you get judged a lot for it. It's labeled "unhealthy" and "lazy". I am often told that I just "haven't found the right recipes" or "cooking hacks". No, man, I'm just fucking disabled.

Personally, I'd label starving as more unhealthy than eating fast food, but people don't like hearing that you aren't willing to swallow whatever gruel society thinks people in poverty deserve to have.

For me, fast food is predictable, safe, filling, often less expensive, convenient, spoons-saving, and it means I will eat. I also just genuinely think a lot of fast food tastes good. Sure, it's not fresh veggies and fruits, but I'm not getting those anyway. When I buy groceries, it's the cheapest items possible which means a lot of frozen foods, packaged pastas, and cereals.

And this isn't even looking at food deserts where grocery stores are few and far between, but fast food chains are everywhere. Even my Louisiana hometown, boasting a population of 10,659 people as of 2020, has a Burger King, McDonald's, Hardee's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Popeyes, and numerous pizza delivery places. Y'know what closed down though? The Piggly Wiggly, one of the more affordable grocery stores -- my grandmother actually worked there during my childhood -- and I don't think the Winn-Dixie is even open there anymore either. So all they've got is a Walmart.

Fast food is an accessible food resource, and diet culture would rather see us starve than acknowledge that.

[iamthecomet]

what if what if slice of life aether in the infirmary. what does he get up to all day? what are his little quirks? what does he do when there arent any sick siblings to help? does he have to shoo away (nicely) the ones that come in pretending to be sick just to spend time with him? does he actually like when they do that???

thoughts comet, pls give them ♡♡

Oh ABSOLUTELY I can share some thoughts! Not quite a ficlet, not quite headcanons, about Aether and his infirmary "job" under the cut.

Aether likes the infirmary best in the middle of the night. When he first got summoned he ended up on night shifts--better for training according to Omega. A good way to be eased in.

Aether knows it can get chaotic any time of day. And that he's lucky that this infirmary is relatively low key. They're not juggling trauma after trauma. Instead it's a lot of flu outbreaks and broken bones and stitches. The occasional childbirth. The rare devestating injury. But for the most part, it's quiet. Especially at night. Aether feels at ease on a night shift. Espeically now that so much of his pack is off on tour and he's back here--he doesn't have to think about his empty bed if he's here. The part of him that hasn't gotten used to it yet can just pretend everyone else is still here--asleep. It's sad he knows, but he's doing what he can. He makes his rounds. Smiling warmly at the siblings who also work nights. He's the only quint ghoul on duty. It makes the infirmary feel like his. It's not something he ever though he'd want--but now...now it's good. Feels right. He goes from room to room, peeking his head in. Checking vitals of sleeping patients, smiling easily at the ones who are still awake. Slipping into their rooms and talking to them. Doctor questions and regular questions. Where they grew up. What brought them to the Abbey. What they do and who they are, all while he digs into himself to lessen their pain, or their fear, or their insomnia. Allowing them sleep. When everything is quiet, and there is no drama, no chaos, no blood. Aether sits at the nurses station and reads a book. Scrolls on his phone. Texts his packmates. Shooting Dew and Mountain messages asking about their show tonight, what the crowd was like, where they went to eat after. Are they sleeping on the bus? In an hotel? Mountain responds with words, answers to his questions. Dew just sends him pictures. One of the crowd just before he walked on stage. Another of his burger and beer after the show. And then him in his bunk, dimly lit, sticking his tongue out at Aether from hundreds of miles away. The time differences make it easier, the further they get from him the more he talks. Aurora sends him pictures of every strange attraction she begs to stop and see. Swiss complains about Dew. Rain complains about Swiss. Dew complains about Aeon. Cirrus swears she's going to strangle Mountain. It makes him feel like he's with them. It makes him miss them less. Sometimes Sunshine comes and sits with him. Either at the beginning of his shift--or the end. Sitting down in the chair next to him and resting her head on his shoulder and taking in the quiet sounds of the infirmary. Machines whiring. Soft snores and sleepy breathing. A muted cry of a very new baby from down the hall. Aether is grateful for her. For the company, and because without fail, whenever Sunny shows up, so does someone else.

A bleeding sibling. A sick cardinal. Sister Imperator herself with a headache so bad it could wake lucifer himself. And sometimes, a sibling who just wants to sit with Aether. To know him. Who claims a belly ache, or a sore throat, just to feel the touch of his quintessence. He's not sure why. Doesn't think his magic does anything special to humans, but Aether isn't stupid. He knows a fake illness when he sees one. And if he was Dew he'd tell them to shove off. He'd scold them. But he isn't Dew and he doesn't. Aether likes people--humanity especially. So even though he can smell the lie on them, he helps. Always.

[lupeloto]

Mickey & the Gallaghers 

hi, here are some little details that I like to headcanon about Mickey’s relationship with each of the Gallaghers:)

Mickey and Fiona

(this one may be a little far fetched, but they’re besties in my mind so shhhh)

So Fiona loves those trashy reality TV shows but can never get any of her family, besides Mickey, to watch them with her. They are fully invested and watch together almost every week when a new episode drops. They’ll sit on the couch and yell at the TV, bickering over whose side they’re taking in that episode’s big fight. Ian rolls his eyes, asking them why they waste their time on that bullshit, but quietly smile to himself as the two smack each other’s arms in an eruption of laughter every 5 minutes.

Mickey and Lip

Mickey is lowkey interested in Lip’s bikes and will ask him a ton of questions about it when they go over to his house for weekly family dinners. They’ll hang out in the garage for a bit while everyone else is inside. They’ll go riding together when Lip has an extra bike around that he is fixing up. Although Ian refrains from saying anything about it, it warms his heart to see his two favorite people like that.

They also both love Terminator, so they’ll watch it together and geek the fuck out over it. Every time after they watch it, they’ll both be quoting shit from the movie in the Arnold Schwarzenegger accent, which drives Ian crazy.

Mickey and Debbie

Mickey was always Debbie’s favorite of Ian’s partners. These two bicker amongst themselves all the time. Mickey will say some smartass shit he knows will get Debbie going and snicker on as she gets on her soapbox. However, they are literally best friends. They have the same sense of humor and when they ban together, it annoys the shit out of Ian, and they both love to annoy the shit out of Ian. 

She’ll help him cover up the occasional hickeys that Ian gives him. She has a ton of makeup and lots of experience in the area... Debbie will give him shit for having a hickey at his age and he’ll give her shit for being so well-versed in the world of covering up hickeys.

Mickey and Carl

Mickey and Carl are typical bros™️. They play all the same video games and smack talk the entire time. Carl will go over to Mickey and Ian’s place whenever they get some new version of a video game, so he and Mickey can play together. Things get heated and Ian has to tell them to shut the fuck up. 

They’ll get dinner (typically burger and fries) and Ian watches on in slight disgust as they both scarf down the food, have shotgun race, and then a burping contest. They are disgusting in the same way, and for some reason that warms Ian’s heart.

Mickey and Liam

Mickey will pick Liam up from school sometimes, they’ll typically get ice cream because Liam is the only one he knows who will still eat ice cream with him in the middle of the day in the dead of winter in Chicago. Liam struggles with math sometimes, and quickly discovers that Mickey is actually pretty good with numbers. All those drug runs/deals he dealt with when he was younger actually paid off in that department, making him pretty decent at math. Liam will ask him for help with his homework, and while Mickey will rephrase every question in terms of “okay of you have 3.25 pounds of meth and...” 

The other Gallaghers will look on, slightly in horror as Mickey goes on, but soon realize that he actually is making sense and helping Liam? They were surprised but didn’t ask questions. It became a regular thing when Liam was struggling in math class, he and Mickey would go get ice cream and work on his math homework.

[allfryam]

sub shop

Zach was a junior in college and he was having the time of his life. He was the president of a frat, he had an almost perfect physique, and he was doing great in school. His physique was his defining feature all through high school, but he had gained a couple pounds in college and his abs started to fade. You could still see them when he flexed, but there was just a bit of pudge to his once toned stomach. He assumed this was from all the beer he was drinking at his frat parties, but he didn’t mind the extra weight.

Zach’s only problem was money. He had lost his last job and had been unemployed for a few months. He saw an ad for a local sub shop that was hiring downtown and he decided to apply. They hired him and he was ecstatic. The uniform was a little awkward though. It was a light blue button up polo, with navy blue khakis. Zach thought he looked stupid wearing the outfit, but he wasn’t going to pass up this job opportunity. His first day was a breeze. He learned how to man the register, make bread, sort chips, and most importantly, make subs. All employees got free subs while they worked, and Zach took advantage of this. He had never tried one of their subs so he just got a regular size Italian sub. The second he bit into it, it tasted like heaven. Zach quickly finished the sub and got back to work, but it was all he was thinking about for the rest of the night.

Zach began to get into a routine. He would clock in, work for a bit, make a mouth watering sub, scarf it down, get back to work, and clock out at the end of the night. Most of the time he would stick to a six inch sub, but when he was really hungry, he would go for the foot long. It was like he was in a trance while he was eating. He didn’t even feel full until he was done.

Zach didn’t think this job could get any better until he looked in the mirror one day. His slight paunch has blossomed into a round gut. He looked like he had put on over 15 pounds! Was it really all of the subs he was eating? No way! He had only been there for about a month. Besides, Subs are way healthier than burgers or pizza. Although he was eating a fair share of those things at frat parties too.

Zach continued to eat the fattening subs without realizing he was continuing to grow. One night, Zach decided to try the super sub challenge. He had to eat three footlong subs in under an hour. Zach decided that it would be easy. He sat down after picking his three favorite subs and waited. When his subs were ready, he dug in immediately. He moaned with pleasure as the savory meats reached his tongue. The lettuce, tomato, onion, spices, mayo, and bacon, each with their distinct flavor and purpose. Zach was in heaven. Before he knew it, he was finished with the first sub and on to the second. He gulped it down just as fast, and the third wasn’t any harder. Zach decided this was too easy. “Bring me a fourth sub! I can keep going!” After struggling with the fourth, he finished it and tapped out. He leaned back in his chair and burped loudly. His tight pants and shirt were straining to hold back his gut.

200 POUNDS?! “DUDE WHAT THE HELL!!? I WAS LIKE 170 A COUPLE MONTHS AGO!” Zach stepped off the scale and looked in the mirror. He couldn’t believe it. That small gut he was rocking was no longer small it was round and soft, and it began to roll over his tight belt. Zach grabbed a handful of his pudge and frowned. He hated looking like this. But it didn’t stop him from going to a frat party later that night. There, he ate two entire pizzas, and two six packs of beer.

this story is actually based on a guy I used to work with. When he showed up, he would always flex his abs and brag, but after a while of working at the sub shop, he stopped bragging. It became apparent why, when his shirt started riding up and you would get glimpses of his growing belly. If I continue this story, it won’t be accurate to real life scenarios, but I wouldn’t be against making Zach even fatter. Let me know!

[nailtagyuri]

Just Not's Burger King Bonanza

fics done! ao3 is cyberbullying me specifically so im posting it under cut until they reopen account registrations ^_^ [EDIT THEY DID YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT HERE GO GO GO!!] thanks to @/klonoadoortophantomile for reading the initial drafts!

If you need something here tagged as a trigger warning, please contact me via ask! This fic contains depictions of real life political figures, occasional graphic violence, and YURI!!! *thunder clap*

Morning descended upon the bathrooms-turned-hotel where TPOT was once held. The sun shone over the horizon and its light crept through the dust-covered windows, into the already noisy cafeteria smack-bang at the bottom of the tall building. Even if Two's "mandatory mealtimes" had ended along with the gameshow itself, the cafeteria still flourished as a regular gathering area for social interaction, at least to those who could manage a consistent sleep schedule.

Price Tag spotted their designated black and yellow table, where they always sat along with the rest of team-turned-friend group Just Not. They walked up to it, quietly asking Cake if he could move so they could take the window seat. He obliged. He knew Taggy liked absorbing the sunlight.

They :]'d comfortably as they eyed their companions. Book, Nickel, Cake and Bomby were eating with them this morning. Naily was still in bed and Pillow was probably also asleep, what with the obvious. They were glad the two had more time to rest than when they had things to wake up for, but a part of them missed the way Naily would sleepily stumble towards their table each morning, mumbling sweet incomprehensibles as she shuffled next to them and lazily rested on their "shoulder". Oh, how she struggled to stay awake in the brief moment before she guzzled down her dangerously acidic energy drink and shot straight up, bright and alert. But enough about her. They could talk to her later.

"So," Taggy perked, "What's been up with all of you?" "Crunklybrunkly zooper dooper," Nickel groaned, "don't even get me STARTED on this horrid excuse for a foodish substance." Price Tag saw Two cover their mouth with their paws from the other side of the room. They seemed extremely hurt. Nobody audibly got Nickel started but he kept complaining anyway. "Like, what's it supposed to be, melted yoylemetal?" He poked his dish, a gray, gelatinous, rectangular blob. It jiggled against his fork.

"I'd say it's Tofu," Book proposed as she took a bite of her salad. "Black bean. It's a bit gray, though. You should try it, anyway, if you want." "They don't call it gray bean, Book." Nickel rolled his eyes, sarcastically. Cake slid in. "You feeling alright, Nickel? You're not usually this grumpy." "WRONG ONE!?" Shouted Bomby, who gripped his head with his hands in sudden fright. "No, no, I'm not an impostor, I swear!" Nickel replied. "Ugh, sorry everyone. Just I wish the stuff we ate was… fine-er. The food Two makes is kinda mid."

"THE FOOD I MAKE FOR FREE, NICKEL?!" Two boomed from next to him. Nickel fell back in his seat, startled. His foot slammed his plate, launching the substance high into the air and directly onto his face. Everyone stopped for a moment to process what had happened. "Oh golly!" Book cried. "Your tofu…" "Uhh, ground sevruga, actually," Two corrected, raising their finger up nerdishly. "Only five spoons of one of the most expensive kinds of caviar on the market, condensed into a chunky rectangular delight and nuked in a microwave for 62 seconds. Better learn to eat it up, Nickel, the black sea can't provide these delicious tastes forever!" They walked away, smugly.

There was a brief silence, aside from Nickel's slurping. Taggy raised an eyebrow, astounded that a simple 'hello' could lead to such malarkey. "The heck did any of that mean?" They exclaimed. "Any of what mean?" Naily perked her lips to imitate Taggy's ,':{ as she walked up to the table. Upon seeing her, Price Tag's confused expression quickly morphed into a joyous :3. They felt their string begin to wag in excitement. It unconsciously thumped against the empty spot next to them repeatedly as if to gesture where she should sit.

Naily saw this and laughed. "Oh wow, so many choices," she teased. "I can barely decide." She crouched down before launching herself into a frontflip, barreling over the table and stabbing clean into her designated spot. "Nailed it!" She shouted, triumphantly. The rest at the table clapped. She pulled herself out and quickly grabbed her meal the others had been saving for her, unwrapping it hungrily and biting into it without thinking to take off the pickles. It was a cheeseburger, its buns dyed such an eye-burning tone of hot pink Taggy wondered how they hadn't lost sight just looking at it. Naily called it the 'Girlburger'. "But really," Naily asked as she took another bite, "what's going on, buddy? I heard someone scream from upstairs."

They turned to her slightly and explained what had happened. "I don't even know what cabby car is!" Nickel exclaimed through his loaf. "Hmm…" Naily put a paw on her chin thoughtfully, taking in all the information. "I think…" she spoke in a hushed tone, widening her eyes. The others moved in. "it's from the viewers' world."

Everyone gasped. Nobody among them had eaten food from, let alone seen the viewers' world in person before. Only Teardrop had gone when she was sent for a challenge, and they were extremely hesitant to discuss her findings. "That's nonsense!" Book cried. "Sorry, I mean… Naily, Two's a really thoughtful host, but are you sure they'd venture out to such uncharted lands just to make breakfast for Nickel, of all people?" Naily shrugged. "Yeah." "It'd make sense," Taggy chimed in. "They still have some of their limitless power, right? If they used it to easily come here from their home planet, maybe they could easily go from here to the viewers' world."

"Yeah!" Supported Cake. "Maybe they just like to travel, and that was, like, a souvenir." Nickel sat up. "Why don't we go there?" He asked, casually. "Y'know, see more food like this. It'd be a nice change of pace from all the Dragons and Dragons and Dragons campaigns." "You mean you liked it?" Asked Book. "Oh no, it was disgusting." He replied. "I just want more of it." "Oh. Well, that's a bit of a strange mentality- wha, wait a minute! We can't go! Are you insane?! We don't know what's out there!" She grabbed Nickel out of fear. "Well if Two can make it back in one piece," grinned Naily as she stood on the table, "then so can we, the 7th greatest team this side of Goiky! And I think I know just the guy who can help us…"

"I can't help you." Said Winner, dryly. "L." Shouted Price Tag, making a >:L. Naily grew upset. "But Winner, you're the only one with limitless power who isn't mad at us!" She pleaded. "Dontcha have a heart?" Winner frowned, slightly. She was right. Winner, after defeating Marker in a rather anti-climatic boxing match, had prophetically won the Power of Two and subsequently the grand prize. Being carried episode after episode through their loyal voterbase was a kind gesture, they knew that. If everyone was that nice, surely they'd be nice enough to not instantly kill a whole team with a woodchipper, right?

The thought of woodchippers reminded them of the British Exterminator Incident of '24, and they cringed. They shook their head. "I'm sorry, guys, it's dangerous territory out there, and I don't think you'd all fare well with that kind of responsibility. There's a good chance that if I let you lot go, you won't come back." They put their arm on their hip and closed their eyes affirmitively. Most of the group groaned. "THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING!" Cried Book.

Taggy slid up to them. "C'mon, Winner, ol' buddy, ol' pal, ol' winner winner chicken dinner, you know I'd give you that kinda freedom if I were in your shoes!" "No you wouldn't." "Fair enough," they turned around and walked off. "THINK OF ALL THE FOOD!" Bomby cried. Nickel's eyes lit up. "Yeah!" He perked, as he scooched up to the defiant Winner. "Maybe they even have… purple tomatoes." Winner opened one eye. "The kind Two made for me back in the first episode?" They whispered. Nickel looked away playfully. "Perhaps."

Outside the hotel, Winner prepared to open a portal, waving their hand around slowly. "You guys owe me a real one." They said. "I'd get into a lot of trouble if Two found out I were using their powers to do this kinda stuff." Nickel got goosebumps. He and Two already weren't on good terms. "Oh, Winner, I'm sure we'll be okay!" Assured Cake. "So long as we don't, y'know… get lost. Or killed." Winner frowned. "Cake, you're a sweet guy, you don't have to be a part of this." He blushed slightly at the compliment. "No, no, really, we'll be fine! Book already told me all about how she escaped Evil Leafy, this should be no problem for her. Right, Book?" He turned to face her.

"Yeah, you could say so…" Book rubbed her arm nervously. Memories of her antics inside Evil Leafy were fuzzy after the 53rd puzzle or so, but from what she could recall she wasn't nearly as careful as Cake thought. Pits of spike and lava layered every corner of the dungeon and each obstacle grew more and more difficult for her to avoid; gruesome ends and embarrassing slip-ups were all too common and death became expected rather than feared, but at least back there she had some form of recovery. Who knew what this higher realm had to offer?

Winner shut their eyes as they began to conjure up the portal. Sparks flickered on their fingers as they moved hypnotically, a bright ball of energy starting to form on their rippling palm, flashing green and purple rapidly as it grew in size. The others looked on in amazement, gazing into the light as if they were challenging God to a staring contest. Naily, failing to break her stare, shuffled up on top of Bomby to cover up his fuse with her paws, in case a rogue flare set it on fire and blew him up. Besides the obvious, the last thing they needed was a loud explosion to draw attention to themselves, as if the electric crackling wasn't doing that already.

Winner clutched the ball with their fist. "So where are we going anyway?" Asked Nickel, choosing the worst time to ask a question. "Wh- I don't know!" Hissed Winner, hastily. "On the map, it looks kind of like a foot, if that helps!" They moved their arm back to aim. "You might wanna cover your ears…"

Two shuffled through their wardrobe, looking through their accessories before finding a large pink bow at the bottom of the pile. They brushed off the dust and slowly put it on, staring up at it to make sure it didn't fall. "How do I look?" They asked. Gaty finished her boba, slurping the contents at the bottom of the cup. "Absolutely fabulous," she complimented. "It suits you really well!" They smiled. Leave it to Gaty to give them a confidence boost. They sat down next to her, sipping their drink as they started to relax. "So what's been going on with Nickel?" Two groaned. "Ugh. It just feels like he doesn't care about all the effort I put in for everyone. He just casually criticizes my cooking like it's nothing, like I do it out of some sort of obligation! Like, I don't have to stay here, if I really didn't care I would've just up and left years ago! Why can't he see that?"

"Hmm." She thought for a moment. "Well, if I were you I'd show him the process of actually cooking the food rather than just giving it to him. It's easier for him to insult your creation because all he's seeing is the stuff on the plate, and not the hard work behind it, if that makes sense." Two swirled their tea like a wine glass. "Hmm… well, I guess it does. I'll see if it-"

The room suddenly shook violently, like a bomb had gone off and decimated one of the hotel's floors. The quaking lunged Two back in their seat, their drink splashing in their face and staining their bow. Whipped cream splutted like a cream pie in a circus act. "Oh shoot!" Gaty exclaimed. She stood up, hastily opening the closet. "You want me to grab a cloth, or some paper towels, or somethi-" She stopped when she turned back to look at them. She didn't know if their face had turned red from the sprinkles or the unbridled anger burning within them. It wouldn't take long for her to find out.

Winner stared at the portal, eyeing it to make sure everybody would fit, before hearing a flurry of muffled yet very loud curses from upstairs. "That's not good."

"RUN!" Shrieked Naily, speeding into the portal like a mouse into a hole. Taggy followed suit, then Nickel, then Bomby, then Cake. Book trailed last but stopped inches away from the portal, still extremely hesitant. "I-I can't decide! It just doesn't feel right yet!" Winner telekenetically floated some parts toward them. "Well you're gonna have to be quick if you wanna join the other five, I need to cover this up!" Book stared back at the deep, whirling maw before her… wait, did they say other five? There weren't only five other people on Just Not!

"PILLOW!" Cried Book. She'd forgotten all about her! Her heart sank. Pillow was already a hazard with her teammates around, who knows what would happen if she were left alone? She ran back up to Winner. "Winner I need you to throw me up to Pillow's room so I can take her with me!" "Huh? Book, I really don't have the time…" "You have to! Th- the lives of the contestants are at stake!" "…Book, are you going to go or-" "THROW ME!" She snapped, overpowering anything Winner had said or would say.

Book barrelled through the window into Pillow's room. Her eyes dashed around the pastel walls and contrastingly bloody splatters before spotting her, to her left. She appeared to be polishing an inanimate object of some kind. "Pillow, you have to co-" "I don't have a weapon," Pillow said, calmly. She snuck whatever she had in her sheets before turning around, giving a suspiciously contented smile. Book stared. "…Uh huh. Pillow, you have to come with me!" She grabbed her and leapt back out the window, instantly regretting not thinking things through. "Are we playing Yoylebungee again?" Asked Pillow, naively. "You forgot the rope." Book screamed her lungs out as the two fell down, down, down… Winner rushed to catch them both in their hand, throwing them in the portal just in time for them to close it off.

Two stomped around the corner. "WHAT IS GOING ON- Oh." They stopped in their tracks when they saw Winner, resting their arm against a vending machine shakily. The discomfort in their wide, crooked smile could be seen from a mile away. It created an uncomfortable vibe topped off by their worried, dilating eyes and furrowing brows. The air whistled between the two for a good few seconds, leaving silence so loud you could hear their muscles contract.

"Oh, hey Two, didn't see you there," Winner spoke hastily as they paced toward them, "sorry if I made a racket, darn vending machines stealing your money, rah! rah! rah! Really tests your temper, don't it?" They nudged the number slightly with their hand, "Hahaha, I suppose you'll be leaving now." Two waved their hands in front of them. "Wait wait wait, it stole your money?" They noted. Winner's pupils shrunk. "Oh, uhh, Two, you really don't have to-" "Well why didn't you just say something? I'd be happy to help you get it back!" Before they could get a sentence out, Two was already inspecting the vending machine for issues. "Let's see here… ew, five dollars for vanilla Dr. Fizz?" They rolled their eyes. "Stop." Winner cringed. When this was over they were gonna be owed enough favors to speedrun ten birthdays.

Book felt her eyes open slowly. Her vision was a blur, her surroundings morphing into an abstract mush of colors and simple shapes. Her head was swimming in a pool of nausea and stress. Had it been a dream? Could all this talk of portals and higher worlds be blamed on unconscious neurons firing alone? Naily stood over her, frowning worriedly. "Gee whiz, are you okay?" Book groaned as she slowly rubbed her temple with her paws. Her head throbbed against their eyes so much she felt like they were going to pop out. Pillow rushed over to her. "Perhaps she's dead. Book, are you dead? Say 'yes' if you're dead." Book sat up, mumbling to herself. "AH! ZOMBIE!" Cried Bomby, as he grabbed a rusty hammer from beside him and swung hysterically. "ZOMBIEEEEEEEE!"

"BOMBY I'M ALIVE!" Shrieked Book, widening her eyes. She slumped over, eyelids squinting as she blinked repeatedly. "I'm alive," she clarified. "I'm awake… where are we?" Cake looked around. The seven were surrounded by large, worn-down buildings, covered with graffiti and offensive etchings. An opening in front of them gave way to what looked like a street; that and the blisteringly bright sun above them were the only sources of light in what was otherwise a dark open tunnel. He certainly didn't want to be here at night. "Looks like…" "It's an alleyway." Pillow interrupted. "I didn't know we were going to the real world." Book stood up. "No, the real world is back- whatever. We've seen it. Can we go home now?!" "What? No way!" Nickel perked. "We only just got here, let's have a look around!"

NO!" She shouted. "Err, uhh, I mean, what about all the fun things we can do here in the alleyway? Like calculating the total worth of all of its many things!" "Three dollars," answered Price Tag, who represented the value on their face. "Hahahaha, that helps!" Book lied, glaring at them. "or, we could play Interdimensional Red Rover! I'll start." She made a mad dash for the portal, speeding forward and crashing into the back of a machine.

Book felt her eyes open slowly. Her vision was a blur, her surroundings morphing into an abstract mush of colors and simple shapes.

Pillow was quick to interrupt her reverie, grabbing her and flipping her back into a standing position. "That's better," she hummed. Book was dazed but at least she was still conscious. "Urgh… Wait, what am I still doing here!?" She cried as her gaze met the portal. She fixated particularly on the giant contraption blocking her path. "Wh- what's THAT doing here?! Why is this happening!?"

"Your companions probably punished you for not following the rules," Pillow assumed. "They didn't even call you on over." "They didn't even call her on over," Naily whispered to Taggy. She walked up to the portal and threw a lone pebble at it. It banged off the back of the machine and flew threw a window. "Yup, that's blocking us off alright." "So we're trapped?!" Cake yelped, fearfully. Price Tag attempted to comfort him. "Aww, don't say that, Cake! I'd say it's more like very heavy encouragement to stay." "That's all we really can do, isn't it…" Cake conceded.

The group was silent for a moment. "Well…" Naily lingered as she raised a paw. "The only missed shot you can shoot is an unshooted shot, ain't it?" She started walking off, Price Tag following close behind. The others shrugged, following in her footsteps. Book was so distracted trying to interpret Naily's phrase that by the time she could muster up a response, she and the rest of the group had already left.

Book paced up to them, "Wait, you're all just leaving?" She cried. "You can't! Shouldn't you try and break the wall down, or something? We're gonna get lost!" "Don't worry, we'll go back," Price Tag assured. "We're just exploring first!" "No. Taggy, no! This isn't as simple as 'exploring', we have no idea what this place looks like, or where everything is, or how big everything is, if we lose sight of this alleyway we won't find our way back and we'll lose EVERYTHING! Cake, you just got back with Loser after years of not seeing each other and now you're willing to abandon him?!" The color began to drain from his face. Guilt began to wash over him. "Well…"

Naily stepped forward to interject. "Book, you couldn't even break it down with your full body weight. Would you rather invest all your time in a lost cause or use what time you have in this new world to take a risk? Look," she flipped Book open to tear off a blank page, "You can scribble important information down on this and when we find something that can break down the structure, we'll go back! It solves itself!" Book sighed as she rubbed her temple. If she was so sure... "I really hope you know what you're doing. Do you have a pen?"

Just Not walked casually through the street, Book sketching important details and sign names on her pages in case they got lost. Cake was quick to notice how uncanny all of this world's inhabitants looked: their faces had strange lumps beneath their mouths and eyes, and odd, patterned shapes on both sides of their heads. He assumed these were arms. Almost all of them towered over the group, some taller than Bomby and Book combined. Their eyes were rich with detail and color, almost all of them staring back at Cake with an atmosphere of judgement and suspicion.

He felt his cheeks turn pink. Did they hate him? Did he do something wrong? He'd clearly done something wrong. Why else would they keep looking at him?! "Looks like these guys haven't seen an object before," Naily hummed, derailing his train of thought. "Everyone looks so… same-ey." Nickel whispered. "How do they tell each other apart?" Cake sighed. At least his friends were somewhat on the same page, even if they didn't completely share his mindset.

"This place doesn't look like it has what we're looking for," observed Pillow. "Well maybe we just need to dive deeper!" Taggy eyed the crowd and picked whoever they thought was nicest. They scuttered up to them, making a ^.^ and striking a kind pose. "'Scuse me, sir! Me and my buddies were just looking for some caviar, and you look like the kinda guy who'd know their stuff about that."

"I don't," they replied, briskly. "Ah, well, we've all got room to learn. But could ya redirect us to someone who knows where we can find any? My gray weezerino over here could really go for some sevruga." They dragged Nickel towards them.

"Sevruga?" The man pondered. "Sounds Russian. You'll probably need a plane ticket, or something."

Nickel broke free from Taggy's grasp. "Does it cost money?" He said, playing along with Taggy's cool guy persona. "Because I happen to be pretty experienced in the field of things worth five cents or under, if you catch my drift."

The man was silent for a moment. "If you can't afford it, you can also drive," they muttered. "Through the sea. You'd have to hold your breath for a while, though."

Book cringed at the reminder. "Aaaaand that's where we'll end things for now! Thanks anyway!" She nudged Nickel, cueing everyone to speedwalk away.

The man was left with his thoughts. His inner monologue began to scold him. "Damn it, Barack, you should've gone with them. They seemed nice, even if they were cosplaying as random objects." He sighed as he pulled out a special red, white and blue senzu bean. You'd think a former president, let alone a Saiyan, would be better at talking to people, but here he was. Alone, and about as awkward as a worm in a spider club. "What an Obummer," he mumbled as he popped it in his mouth, letting the chemicals and sudden nutrition wash the regret and loneliness away.

Just Not walked for what seemed like ages, the ever-expanding list of turns, streets and stops growing harder and harder for Book to remember. Whatever part of the journey they were up to now, it certainly didn't look like the beginning. Most of the buildings now were more than two hotels high, a far cry from the quaint forts just a couple blocks back.

Book wondered if her team were actually serious about walking all the way out to the ocean just so they could go to this "Russia" place. Finally having enough, she decided to speak up. "Hey, guys, uhh… are we going to do anything other than walking while we're here?"

Pillow looked around, before catching something in the glimpse of her eye. "We can drive!" She chirped, pointing off to the distance. The others looked: a large, black vehicle stood before them. It was chunky, sleek, and surely big enough to fit everyone. It led a trail of multiple similar cars, all empty and parked in front of a beautiful hotel, one of the tallest in the street.

Book groaned. She had to start wording things better.

Price Tag inspected the vehicle. "Hmmm… doesn't look very seaworthy." "Plus, if we're going to steal it," Naily lowered her voice to a whisper, "we'd have to take out the guards first."

She pointed to two flags, waving proudly on the front end of the van. Nobody recognized either of them. Naily winked at Bomby, who raised a hand, gesturing everyone to stand back. The others were still, as he breathed in. He leapt forth, landing quietly in front of the trunk, before wiggling his fingers and slicing them through both flagpoles at once. The flags slid clean off, landing in his palms.

"THAT SHOULD BE BOTH OF THEM," He shrilled.

The others were impressed. Naily cheered eccentrically, whistling and wooing loudly like she'd just seen pigs fly. "Wasn't that the coolest thing you've ever seen!?" She yelled. "Alright, now let's get in the car!"

Everyone obliged, Naily hastily shuffling into the driver's seat and grabbing onto the wheel. "Oh, uhh, Naily, I think it would be better if I drive this time." Book cautioned, eyeing the pawless pedals. "Why's that?" Naily responded, smiling at her mindlessly. "Oh, it's just, y'know, I have…" She stopped herself before she could say "arms". She remembered a late night bar conversation she had with a very drunk Snowball, who was unfortunate enough to bring up that subject around her.

"It was terrifying," he moped as he chugged down another shot glass. "All I wanted was to join her team. I was nice. I did nothing wrong. I told them they seemed like nice people, even if they were weak and armless." His eyes widened with sorrow as they stared off into space. The memories hit him like a shovel, jabbing into the nerves of his emotions and digging tears out of his cold, almost dead eyes. "And then, out of nowhere…" He whined, his voice cracking in pitch. He turned to Book suddenly and grabbed her shoulders. "She owned me!" He cried, shaking her hysterically. Book could see the fear and vulnerability in his pupils as they dilated and shook. "She owned me! SHE OWNED ME! SHE OWNED ME, BOOK! I WAS OWNED! SHE OWNED ME!"

She didn't quite know what "owned" meant in this case, no matter how many times it was repeated. But if famous tough-guy Snowball was afraid to get on Naily's bad side, chances were Book should very much avoid that path as well.

"…a very strong drivers' spirit!" She finished. "Mine's stronger," Naily grinned. "C'mon, Price Tag, you take the pedals!" "On it!" They saluted, sitting comfortably beneath her. Book sighed as she moved to the back seat, while Bomby took passenger's. If anything went wrong she wouldn't be to blame.

After a bit of fumbling with the ignition and figuring out how four people would fit in two seats, the car started and the group were off. Nickel could barely make out someone glaring at them from inside the building, but he didn't care. This was a whole new experience for him! He shuffled his feet, making sure that they didn't damage Cake's frosting as he sat on top of him.

Book, meanwhile, sat directly in front of Pillow, whose arms wrapped around her in a spooning position. Pillow, ironically, was very passionate about keeping herself safe. She was the only one in the car, aside from Cake, who had strapped themselves in, and had even encouraged Book to share the seatbelt with her. She denied, nonetheless. She didn't need it on such a casual drive, and would hate to make either of them uncomfortable with a tight squeeze.

Naily stared at all the viewers, and they stared back. They'd been doing that a lot, hadn't they? Was it the van this time? She couldn't understand why it'd be such a spectacle to them, what with its all black coloring and rather uninteresting interior. Perhaps these viewers were just very easy to excite. Their brains would probably implode if they saw something with as much visual noise as the Freesmart Supervan, she thought.

Her brows quickly furrowed into a frown when she saw a series of billboards looming over the rest of the town. They all had the same image plastered over them: a creature, presumably a viewer, smiling smugly at the camera, in a confident, commanding pose. Underneath them, a series of stripes and a string of bolded, instructional text:

"Vote Ron DeSantis for presidential reelection, November 2028. A stronger government, a stronger America."

Naily scoffed. She hadn't even made it past her own team's first elimination, and here this guy was, plastering their mug everywhere trying to get people to vote for them twice? As if one victory wasn't enough? Something about it made her blood boil. It wasn't like their silly campaign would even work, anyway, none of the billboards even had letters or square brackets.

She saw some viewers in blue uniforms ripping a much smaller poster off a building: it had similar messaging, but the colors and figure looked different. Most likely it was endorsing someone else, encouraging viewers to vote for an opponent or a teammate. The blue uniformed viewers tore it off, ripping it to bits, before throwing what was left on the ground.

Whoever these contestants were the prize they were battling for must've been really elusive if it meant they were willing to hire their own personal goons. What prize could somehow be more enticing than limitless power? Why were these people so desperate to win it? Just a viewer thing, she guessed. As if object traditions were any less weird.

"So what do you all wanna do first?" Nickel inquired. "Ooh, let's see if they have a beauty salon!" Taggy smirked. "I'd personally LOVE to get my nails done." "That's funny," said Naily. "Thank you. But really, wasn't the plan to get something to eat?" "Didn't you hear the guy before?" Cake butted in. "The caviar we're looking for is probably 2763 canals away." "That doesn't mean we can't try something else!" Nickel replied. "Yeah! Let's see if they have any cool restaurants 'round here." As if on cue, Pillow looked out the window, immediately noticing a sign that stood out from the others. "How does Burger King sound?"

The rest of her team turned their attention to the restaurant. The bright and colorful branding of the logo enticed all of them. The word "burger" implied food, meat. A meal they could all share; the word "king" implied either medieval decadence or supremacy, as if the cooks here were the metaphorical kings of all burgers, delivering quality unmatched by any other chain.

"Don't mind if I do," Naily muttered under her breath as she turned the car around and moved into the Drive Thru. She knew how this kind of thing worked from her team's many late night visits to Gelatin's Steakhouse, but the experience of being in the driver's seat for once was almost surreal in a way. "So what do you all want?" She asked, flinching at the unnatural feeling of those words spilling out of her own mouth.

One by one, everyone listed off what they wanted. Being the only photosynthetic creature among them, Price Tag jokingly asked for a torch.

Naily rolled down the window and forwarded the message to the speaker, whose gritty and bitcrushed voice directed them to the next window. She did so, reaching what appeared to be the restaurant's kitchen and playing Where's Woody with her order as she stared through the window.

"Oh, there's other cooks. Do you want me to take care of them?" Asked Pillow, innocently. "No, it's fine." Naily replied, not knowing exactly what that meant. She tapped the wheel mindlessly as boredom began to set in. The group was left in awkward silence for a brief moment. "Let's listen to some music!" Pillow chimed in, again. She shoved Book off her and reached into the front seat, clicking the radio on. The scratchy, radical voice echoed through the car's walls. "And next up on our totally tubular 2000s throwback, 'This is Such a Pity' by Weezer!"

Pillow appeared to recognize the name, and showing more emotion in that moment than throughout the rest of the trip, she frowned slightly and clicked the radio back off. "Silence also has its perks." As awkwardness descended upon the vehicle, each member of Just Not silently waited for another to speak up, spark a conversation and break the tension.

"How would we kiss?" Price Tag inquired.

Naily raised her eyebrows in surprise. "What? M…me?" "Yeah," They looked up at her and smiled casually. "How would we kiss?" "Uhhh…" She was confused more than anything. Hadn't she already kissed them plenty of times before? "You mean…" She moved to give Price Tag a casual yet loving smooch on their forehead. They chuckled as their face began to warm slightly. They didn't expect her to demonstrate, but weren't complaining. "Oh, nah, heheheh, I mean more…" Their voice grew quiet. "more deeper than that, if that makes sense."

"Oh." Naily's face lit up. "OH, you mean, like, you wanna make out? Like…" She looked out the window, then back to them. "…like now?" They silently nodded, making a bashful <:].

She frowned, sympathetically. "Oh, Taggy, sweetheart, I'm sorry, but you don't exactly have a… 'mouth' mouth, do you? There's not much for me to work with…" They matched their expression, a disappointed :(. She was correct. Price Tag did technically have a mouth but it lacked any depth and couldn't be used for anything other than talking and making faces. The closest thing they could get to tasting anything was their antennae, which they used to drink water and absorb light energy for nutrition. Using that would be unbelievably awkward, though…

"If there isn't a way," they technically lied, "can we at least pretend?" Naily smiled. That she could do. Turning them down at this point would just be cruel. "Oh, alright," she grinned, playfully rolling her eyes. "C'mere." She pulled Price Tag towards her for a kiss. They let out an adorable EEK! as their "lips" met Naily's.

Within seconds the LARP kissing session was in full swing, much to the chagrin of Nickel who looked on in partial disgust. Despite being on their team, he hadn't seen the two interact much, especially not with such blatant intimacy. "Ugh, somebody needs to get a room. Are they always like this?" He hissed to Bomby.

"YEP," he beamed. He could confirm what with how close the three had grown since Naily's return from years of separation. The long-distance relationship they were forced to adapt to after TPOT 5 didn't exactly scratch their mutual itch to be in each others arms. The current sight brought back a particularly pleasant memory from more recent times:

When the show ended and they finally had a chance to reunite, the three had all built up such a desire to give affection to one another that the first thing they did as soon as they made physical contact was hug for three straight days. Sometimes, Bomby would do some footwork, carrying them into their room and grabbing drinks or food, all while not breaking the hug of course. But for the most part, those blissful 75 hours were spent doing nothing but chatting, snuggling, relaxing, and watching random shows on TV. Oh, the way they all cackled watching the Exitors' real time fandubs and hilariously bad reruns of the Object Bang Theory…

Since that faithful day, one would rarely be seen without the two others. The closest they got to splitting was when they chose to sit at different tables, over an argument regarding how to spell fortnite, a period of two weeks, which was resolved later that morning. But aside from that, they were strung together like a sowed blanket. Or, rather, welded together like three small Lego pieces, pressed together with ease and virtually impossible to be separated from that point onward.

Naily slowly moved backwards as she stared into her lovers eyes. "You're so beautiful," she hummed. Price Tag chuckled sheepishly as their blush deepened, before gazing off to their left. "Naily…" "Yes, honey?" She pulled them closer. "She's here…" "Yeah, I'm here…" She wrapped her paws around them in a hug. "I'm so sorry I ever left you…" "No, I mean…" They frowned. "At the window. Our order's here." Naily looked to see someone with bags of food. "SHOOT!" She cried as she dropped Price Tag and scrambled to look natural. "We'll, uhh, be taking our food now, thanks!" She smirked, nervously.

The worker was uninterested. "Uh-huh," She muttered tiredly as she handed the bags of food over to her customer, who grabbed on to them with what she thought were really large gloves. She didn't know what it was with these kids and their weird ass fashion trends but at this point she was so exhausted that she couldn't bother to care. Working 16 straight hours without a wink of rest had taken its toll and all she wanted was to get this last bunch of customers over with so she could end her shift. "Will that be cash or credit?" She sighed.

Naily blinked. "What?" "Cash or credit?" The cashier repeated. "How are you going to pay for your order?" Nickel stood up and slid over to the front. "Oh, I think I see what this guy's deal is. Check this out!" He flopped face-first onto the counter. The cashier stared down at him, then up at Naily, who stared back with an inattentive grin. "…Is that a nickel?" The unamused cashier mumbled. "The one and only!" She confirmed. "Okay. This is five cents," she said, blankly. "Your order is $104.86." "Uhhh, actually it's worth much more than meets the eye!" Book interjected, trying to stop a conflict before it could begin. She scrambled to make something up, "It's a one of a kind, uhhh… Nicko…min…ator, the last of its species!"

"What? No I'm not!" "Oh yeah, you are!" Price Tag >:]'d, sticking to the bit. "He's only one of the highest priced thingamajigs on the market!" They wrapped their string around him and fibbed the highest value they could count to. "check it, 8 whole bucks!"

Book facepalmed. Cake grew worried. "Wait, are we really gonna just leave him here?" "It's fine," said Pillow. "There's other ones." The cashier raised an eyebrow. "So he's not one of a kind? W-Whatever, we can't accept this. If you can't afford to pay for your order I'm afraid you'll have to return it." "Well," sighed Nickel as he stood up, "I know when I'm beat."

"Now just hold on, Nickel…" Naily flicked him back over on his back. "I think I can make this work. Here, I'll write you a check." She opened the glove compartment and grabbed a paper slip. She scribbled something down and slapped it on the counter, sliding it over to the cashier, who was too tired to realize she couldn't accept that as payment either.

She picked up the slip and was met with a crudely written note, "Distraction". "DRIVE!" Shouted Naily. By the time the cashier had realized what was going on, her group of dine-and-dashers had already sped off, with the food, but without the odd nickel cosplayer that still lay on her desk. "They're gone, aren't they?" He asked. Wendy sighed. Trillions of entities in the universe and none of them wanted to give her a single fucking break. She pressed a button at the top of the room, "Code 2762 at 1:15," before resting her chin on the bar and waiting to be allowed to leave. "You got anything you wanna kill time with?" She slurred to the coin costumed fellow. "Uhhh…" He thought of an interesting conversation topic. "I cranked a machine once."

"What are you doing?!" Cried Cake as he watched the Burger King fade away from his vision. "He's still in there! NICKEL'S STILL IN THE RESTAURANT!" "Oh yeah… Well, the only option to get him back I can think of is to go through the Drive Thru again, and that's gonna need a lotta quick maneuvering now that we've burned bridges." Naily searched through the bags for some fries. "How about we eat first? Can't have good reflexes on an empty stomach!" Price Tag looked up at her. "I thought you already ate?" "But these are better for the brain," replied Naily as she stuffed a pawful of fries in her mouth. "Potatoes and all. Not as high in mercury." "Ah, that's fair."

Naily handed a fry over to Book, who handed it over to Cake. "You want this one, Cake?" "I'll eat when we get home," he muttered, quietly, as Book took the fry back and ate it. He was too pertubed to dwell on food. How could anybody not be pertubed knowing one of their friends was accidentally left behind? How was nobody freaking out?! Book could see he was fearful, almost to the point of tears. "Cake? Are you feeling alright?"

"We left him behind…" He weeped. "We abandoned him! We're never gonna see him again!" Book felt guilt wash over her. "Oh, don't say that! You know he's just a few blocks away." She rubbed his back. "Look, I know our teammates are a bit… erratic, at times, but they still care deeply about their friends, don't they? They'd never do something that out of line if they weren't sure it'd end up alright in the end." He sniffed. "But what abo-"

"Shh," Pillow hushed as she slid into the front seat, pointing onto the window. "Look over there," she exclaimed, cueing everyone to look in her direction. It was the same hotel where Naily had found the car. Pillow was particularly fixating on a suited man standing outside, who appeared particularly livid for whatever reason. He was kicking and screaming, jumping up and down in unabashed fury. "Isn't that the guy from the poster?" Taggy pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Naily replied. "Ron whacha call it. Gosh, his face's practically turning red. Pillow, try reading his lips!"

Pillow rolled down the window and peeked her head out, curling her hands around her eyes to mimic binoculars. She spoke in a monotone voice. "-idiots, I don't care who you are, I am the President. If you don't get it back in five seconds, you can tell your kids they won't be having a christmas… look, there they are, that's my car, those assholes stole my car, shoot them, shoot them."

"PILLOW!" Cried Book, who pulled her down just in time to miss the flurry of bullets coursing through the windows. Everyone followed suit as gunshots flurried through the car; the bullet-proof glass was strong, but the government's exclusive top-model NERF guns were stronger. When the noise fell silent, Naily perked back up. "Whew, that was close. You guys all good?" "Not mentally," Book whimpered. "We have one casualty…" Cake spoke, crestfallen as he held up a soda cup. Liquid bled out of the gaping bullethole in its middle, pouring through the front and back ends. Taggy giggled. "Heh. Well, if an object got shot today, I'm sure glad it wasn't one with a face. Huh, Naily?" They looked up at her, frowning when she didn't humor their playful quip.

"Naily? Are you OK, buddy?" Her eyes were wide, blank, empty, yet filled with despair. Invisible tears fell down her face, sliding down to the corners of her mouth, a small frown with lips that covered her clenched, grinding teeth, as if to give but a glimpse at her interior rage. Price Tag's face formed semicolons. They'd never seen her like this. "Slow down." Naily hissed at their partner, who understood quickly. They eased pressure on the pedal as Naily slowly turned around, the vehicle creeping onto the sidewalk.

"Wait for my signal…" She carefully waited for non-target pedestrians to clear the runway. Book began to connect the dots. Her heart sank. "Naily, it's just a cup, whatever you're gonna do, don't do it!"

"Brake…" Bomby fastened his seatbelt. Those gunmen had really done it now; there was no stopping Naily at this point. Whatever was about to happen, was about to happen. "RAM IT!"

The car shot forward. Onlookers screamed and leapt out of the way as the vehicle sped towards the clique of suits. The self-proclaimed President's jaw dropped in horror as the cadillac careened towards his body. His ear-splitting scream was cut off with a loud, painful crunch, his body crashing into the windshield, his nose breaking and his arm bones forced to twist into unnatural angles. His face flattened from the sheer force, like something one would see out of a Tom & Jerry cartoon. It quickly slipped downwards leaving only a trail of blood, which was quickly cleaned off with the wipers. The body fell under the tires as they crushed out what little life remained in the corpse.

"Aw yeah!" Cheered Taggy as they gave Naily a high-five. Book's jaw was agape. "That was… you just…" "Now that Big Red's been taken care of, let's get Nickel back!" She flicked the radio back on instinctively, and like something out of a cheesy movie, a song began on cue. "Look at this photograph," the speakers blared. Pillow barely bat an eye. She clearly didn't mind this song as much.

Nickel flailed his legs around. "And it's just, she does nothing, while I toil and toil and toil for some stupid recovery center that doesn't even work after a while!" Wendy was attentive to the story the stranged coin costumed fellow was telling. She didn't think it was real, at all, but anything to keep her awake while she waited for management to let her leave.

He stood up and started gesturing wildly with his feet, "Flumple dumple smordledorf, it was degrading! Like, I was reduced to a cranking slave, crank crank crack 'till the sky goes black." He sat back down with a huff. "Why didn't you just, like… stop?" Wendy asked. "What?" "Like, just stop cranking. If you feel, like… degraded, or whatever it was, why keep doing something you hate, y'know?"

And let his friends die? He quickly grew defensive. "Oh yeah, well…" He stuttered, struggling to come up with a comeback. "Why don't you… stop… your thing?!" She fell silent. Nickel's response was cheap, and poorly delivered, but something about it resonated with her in a way she couldn't describe. Could she really do that? Just stop doing her job for a while because it strained her mental health to the point of splinters? Then again, money was tight… She furrowed her eyebrows. "You do your whatever, I do mine," she dismissed vaguely.

A car swept by, as the dine and dashing group from before grabbed Nickel by the foot and pulled him back into the car. Taking back a tip? Now that was low… not that he was, actually, a coin of course. Was he? Whatever, he was gone anyway, but his idea remained…

Cake grabbed onto Nickel and hugged him tightly, as he sobbed hysterically. "NICKEL I'M SO SORRY I MISSED YOU SO MUCH I WAS SO WORRIED I'D NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN," He spouted, as he peppered him with platonic kisses. Nickel shut his eyes, shielding them from the brown smooch marks appearing all across his body. He was glad Cake loved him enough to fear for his safety, he just wished he wasn't caught so off guard. "Thanks, but I was kinda in the middle of something…"

"Well that doesn't matter, now," Naily said as she swung the car back onto the road, then into the nearest parking lot. "You must be starving after all that waiting! Here…" She took the items that weren't fries out of the bag. Those were for later. She threw a cheeseburger at Nickel, some nuggets at Cake, a 'whopper' at Bomby, an ice cream at Pillow, a salad at Book, and took the kids meal for herself. The plastic toy inside, presumably inedible to her, was given to Taggy; an astronaut of some kind, with Toy Story 7 branding, they were merely estatic that it eminated light of any kind for them to, quote unquote, "eat".

Nickel stared into the burger, his focus blotting out all other senses. This was it. The purpose of the entire trip, to get at least a taste of viewers' world food. With great carefulness, he moved the food toward his mouth and bit into it, his teeth digging into the papery outer layer, the soft, warm bread, and the juicy, succulent meat. He thinks he forgot a step, but it doesn't matter. He's eating now, and he can finally taste the higher realm.

But something about it feels off, artificial. Less personal than Two's cooking. It tasted better, obviously, but what it had in flavour it lacked in heart. There is no love, no passion to be tasted, rather, homogenized corporate fluff.

His train of thought was derailed by a series of blasting sirens, fading in from in front of him. "W…what's that?" Pillow looked to the front window for the source of the noise. There, crawling over the horizon, were a flock of cars speeding their way. Atop their rooves were sirens, flashing red and blue. "Oh, I know these guys! They're feds." She turned to Naily, smiling. "They're probably angry at us because we killed their leader. We should drive. Now." She got the memo, forwarding the message to Taggy, who floored the pedal and swerved the car onto the road. The chase was on.

The car bulleted down the path, dashing away from the persuing police. Onlookers gasped as sirens whined throughout the street, dispatch after dispatch chasing the rogue presidential cadillac. Many scrambled for their phones to take pictures of the incident, eager to document perhaps one of the strangest events in U.S. political history.

One enemy car managed to catch up with Just Not, preparing to throw them off course. Ram! Nickel flew off Cake, hitting the back of the driver's seat before collapsing onto the floor. "Oh dear!" Book cried as she stood to pick him up. Ram! The car surged forward. Book was thrown out of her seat, pages aflutter. Pillow, who was restrained by her seatbelt, took notice. "You seem to be having trouble with one of the drivers," She observed. "Do you want me to take care of them?" "Y-yeah, sure, do what you can!" Book groaned as she rubbed her temple. Ram! The car swerved from left to right. Naily struggled to keep balance, frantically trying to stop the car from spinning. Taggy twisted into awkward positions in a desperate attempt to hold onto the pedal. Bomby gripped onto the grab handle, failing to curb his panic. "WE'RE GONNA DIE!" He screamed. Ram! Like a kick in an already bruised chest, the car was shoved again. "HURRY!" Cried Bomby. When Book finally managed to regain composure she could make out Pillow reaching for the back of her covers, pulling out a large, black shape. Her eyes widened. "I-is that a…" Ram! Book shrieked as she fell back onto the floor. Pillow rolled down the window, unfazed.

"I lied, earlier." She said, as she unbuckled, and took aim. "I have a gun."

Right as the car was about to ram again, Pillow fired a spray of bullets, which burst through the enemy's windshield and caused the car to swerve away in surprise. It turned sharply to the left, spinning directly into a building, which collapsed on top of it in a fiery explosion. "BURN IN HELL, YOU CAPITALIST PIG DOGS!" Cried Pillow.

Naily saw the car fade away, and sighed in relief. The feeling vanished as she saw a sharp curve in the road. "We're about to turn!" She shouted. Pillow noted, grabbing onto the grab handle and using the velocity from the vehicle's swing to fling herself onto the back trunk. She used one hand to cling onto the window, and the other to hold onto the gun. Bullets fired hysterically at the cops as they swerved, desperately trying to dodge the storm of gunfire while keeping chase with the criminals.

"How are we going to get home?!" Cake panicked as he pulled Nickel in for a protective hug. "I don't know!" Naily snapped. "The alleyway could be anywhere!" Book facepalmed. Her cover was starting to redden from the amount of times she had slapped it these past few hours. Taggy made a <:[. "Book, weren't you keeping directions?!" "Me?!" Book replied. "Oh, yeah, me, uhh…" She scrambled across the floor. That page couldn't have gone too far, could it?

After a few seconds of searching and a quick buildup of fear, she finally found the page. She sighed as she sat back in her seat and buckled up, scanning the pages for any valuable information. In spite of how rushed it was, it felt surprisingly comprehensible. "Okay, do you know where Barnes Street is?" "No!" Naily responded, before seeing a street sign. "Yes!" "Okay, turn right there…"

Pillow felt herself slide sharply to her left, flipping over onto her front as she struggled to maintain her grip on the rim. She found herself awkwardly shifting onto her right as she tried to get a good look at the pack of feds, still following her with intent to kill. If they didn't recognise her before, they certainly recognised her now.

She was running low on ammo, and if she wanted to permanently get rid of the threat, she'd have to change tactics. She looked up. A helicopter flew above them at an almost safe distance. She assumed it belonged to a news station, of some sort. Stupid spies, probably broadcasting this live for the whole world to see, like it was any of their business. At least in BFDI there was a chance to edit some of the more personal things out. She took aim.

She unexpectedly swerved back to her right, this time almost falling off the car. Her feet slid off the trunk, and for the moment, she thought she would end up skidding onto the road, meeting an untimely end as her cover was ripped to shreds. Yet, thankfully, a swift swerve sent her back to the uncomfortable, yet safer position she was in before, and she, once again, took aim.

"OK, now you're gonna wanna stick to this road for a couple more metres!" Book instructed. Naily obliged, using this time to glare at the car coming up to her right. It slowly gained on her, and she anticipated another ramming. But instead, the driver rolled down the window and poked their head out to talk to her.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA," they shouted, over the unending howls of the wind. "HOW FAST YOU'RE GOING?!" Naily rolled down her window. "NO," she remarked, "I CAN'T READ." "I'M GOING TO NEED TO SEE YOUR LICENSE AND REGISTRATION!" She rolled her eyes, pulling out an I.D. from who knows where and sticking her paw out to give it to them. They grabbed it and read its label, a single, crudely written word: "Distraction". Looking up from the note, they were barely given enough time to react to the car in front of them, and with a painful crash, they demolished the entire front of their car, and practically their entire body. "Naily 2, Viewers 0!" Cheered Taggy.

After skillful shooting at the helicopter's rotors, Pillow watched the fireworks. The machine barreled down uncontrollably, spiralling into the police herd and colliding with a loud, dramatic explosion, which sent debris flying even in her close vicinity. The bright orange light soon faded, leaving only piles of rust and rubble. Pillow sighed in relief, and swerved back into the car. That spectacle was worth the world. "Uhh, guys, I think we missed," Cake muttered as he pointed to the bright neon "alleyway" sign that they had just sped past. That must've been where we came from, Book thought as she facepalmed.

To make matters worse, Bomby could see another herd of cars speeding towards them. "TURN! TURN!" He shouted. Naily swerved around, this time heading in the opposite direction. Her stomach dropped when she saw a pile of cars blocking her path. "Well, we're done for." said Nickel. "Taggy, brake!" Naily commanded. Much to her surprise, they didn't. "Price Tag, brake!" "No, we can't!" They snapped. "You can make it through this, you ran over that guy, you can run through a couple cars!"

Their words were kind, if not poorly timed considering the circumstances. Nethertheless, she trusted them enough to play along. She angled herself towards the alleyway and shut her eyes, hoping with all her might that they were correct and she would push through the piles of cars. It was either that, or nothing.

By now, a crowd of almost every object in the hotel had gathered around the vending machine. Green tape was set up near the area, so nobody but those willing to try and fix it could cross. Surprisingly, after so many hours, nobody could seem to understand what was wrong with the vending machine, or how they could get Winner's "money" back. Not even Golf Ball could fix the issue.

Snowball, one of the only objects who hadn't previously showed up, stepped proudly in to the fray. He strutted down the cleared line, "You're all stumped by a vending machine? Pathetic! I can fix something like that in seconds," He boomed, shoving Golf Ball out of the way, "because I have arms!"

"No, stop, don't." Said Winner, sarcastically. He breathed in, then out, as he stretched his arms towards the vending machine. "Open sesame!"

Nothing happened. Everyone was silent for a brief few seconds. Snowball took another deep breath. "Open sesa-"

The car burst through the machine, flattening Snowball in the process. It flipped over repeatedly as the other objects rushed to get out of the way, Winner particularly growing afraid as their once dimmed fears were quickly rekindled. Finally, it settled, resting on its back.

One by one, Just Not climbed out of the vehicle. Naily, realizing that she wasn't dead, leapt around in celebration and cheered. Seeing Taggy, she leapt into their legs estatically, giving them multiple swift kisses and thanks. Their string began to wag again as the affection extinguished their uneasiness. They made a ^w^, their voice cracking as they cheered giddily that they were both okay, and they didn't think twice before reciprocating her hug as they wrapped their legs around hers tightly. Soon afterwards they were joined by Bomby, who pulled both of them in for a group hug. "OHMAGOSH! NAILY! TAGGY!" He cried, as the group barrel-rolled forward in excitement.

Soon after they were joined by Cake, who was glad to see his friends were alright, then Nickel, then Book, then Pillow…

"Just Not?!" Cried Two, as they all stopped to look at them. "Where have you been? We've been trying to fix this ve-" They froze when they turned around to see a giant, green portal. They were left in a paralyzing state of shock, their jaw agape as they stared at the wormhole.

"The real world," they slowly turned to the team. "You went to the real world."

Price Tag sighed, as they stepped forward. "I guess there's no denying it any longer." They shut their eyes into a U_U. "It was Winner. Winner forced us to go." They recoiled. "T-Taggy!" "Winner! You mean you were in on this?!" They began to sweat. "Well, I mean-" "Yeah, totally! We were just trying to keep to ourselves, but they threatened to terminate our cable subscription, it was horrible!" Naily put a paw on her forehead melodramatically, playing along with the bit. "Book, you can back us up, right?"

But Book was already running off. She held up a finger, likely to indicate that they had taken things 'one' step too far, before disappearing into the distance. The joke was on her, though, Naily thought. She was holding up the wrong one.

Either way she couldn't keep up the act. "…It's just a prank?" She shrugged.

"I DON'T CARE IF IT WAS A BIRTHDAY GIFT OR ANOTHER TRIAL FROM GOD!" Two yelled, "I AM BEYOND ANGRY AT ALL OF YOU! Winner, I gave you clear instructions to not randomly create portals to the real world without my permission."

"I'm sorry!" They sighed. "N-Nickel said there were purple tomatoes, and I was hungry!"

"You eat those literally every other day! Nickel! I tell you to be more grateful for what you have, so you run off into another dimension?!" "W-well, yeah, but the food they have there doesn't really taste- have the same heart that yours does."

"…YOU ATE THEIR FOOD?!" They cried, taking personal offense. "Look," said Naily, "I'm really sorry if we did something wrong by running off. We just wanted to find more of the exotic caviar you were talking about!"

They frumped. "The ca- Is that what this is about?" Nickel's eyes darted around. "Well, yeah, where else would you get it from?"

"Nickel." Two said, bluntly. "Nickel, look at me. We have a canal, with fish in it. That lay eggs. Caviar is fish eggs."

"Oh." He tapped his foot, awkwardly. "Well that's why we didn't really… find any, anyway. We mostly just ate burgers."

"Whatever you ate, it wasn't worth violating one of my clearest rules!" They sighed. "Look, I'll let you all off the hook this time, since clearly none of you had any malicious intent." They walked towards the portal, while eyeing Winner, "and using your limitless power irresponsibly, even for just a minute, is admittedly tempting," before standing in front of it. "But you all could've gotten very hurt, and for that risk alone, I don't want you ever sneaking out like that again."

They turned around. "Now I'm going to go get some stuff for oh MY GOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDD!" They screamed as they saw a flurry of tanks, helicopters, and police cars aiming directly at them. They hastily ripped the portal off the wall, folding it into a bite-sized piece before swallowing it with a quick gulp. They breathed heavily for a few seconds. Winner raised their eyebrows. "That's impressive." "WHAT DID YOU- Thanks, by the way, thank you for noticing, but WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

Pillow pulled out some shoelaces. "We also killed the president."

Nickel bit into his fried caviar. It was crunchier, and more bitter than his previous feast. "Well, maybe two week house arrest isn't that bad after all!" Naily perked, kicking her feet against her assigned bed as she switched on the TV. "Yeah," Taggy said as they huddled under the blanket. "We get room service and everything!" "AND, THANKS TO DOORDASH, 4% CASHBACK ON EVERY PURCHASE." Cheered Bomby. Naily awkwardly nodded. Perhaps exposure to the viewers' world had gone to his head.

She looked up at the roof - gray, like the rest of the room - and silently sighed. While she appeared about as optimistic as the others, secretly, Naily couldn't wait to get out of here. The room's dull coloring was nowhere near as visually stimulating as her walls, which were somehow littered with bright neon blinkie gifs and other animated posters. She stared enviously at the bed which would've been assigned to Book had she not been pardoned by Two. Stupid justice. She was probably being rewarded with a nice, tropical vacation for her efforts to stop the situation from escalating before it began, while the rest of the team lounged in prison.

Naily was right: but in actuality, being separated from her friends even for a little while was perhaps just as punishing to Book as this ordeal was to Naily. The friend group they shared was tight-knit: nobody could stay mad at each other for long, and even if they didn't think it, they longed to see each other again and quickly reconcile.

"Well, Burger Kings come and go…" Cake stated as he ate a fry, whose recipe had been copied from the titular restaurant after much research, "but you're all the only monarchs I'll ever need."

Awkward, yet sweet. That was Cake. He huddled up with the rest of his team in a hug while thinking about how Loser would be the royal jester in this metaphor.

Ironically, Nickel thought to himself as he took another bite of his caviar, Two perhaps did need to go to the viewers' world to make proper ground sevruga after all, before the incident made it too dangerous for anyone to venture into again. Except it wasn't the caviar that was obtained from the viewers' world.

It was the microwaves, delivered by Black Sea Shipping Company.

Pillow crept into her room. It had been vacant for the past fortnite on account of her house arrest. Her friends were currently having a reunion party downstairs to celebrate finally being able to interact with the outside world. How naive, or rather, ignorant. They had finally taken a step outside of their little bubble and were still perfectly content with staying inside? Their loss.

She bit her fingernail into the shape of a key, and unlocked her drawer. Two had confiscated her gun after finding it during the car inspection. They didn't, however, think to search her room. Searching through her pile of backup weapons, she found another: a ray gun. Smaller, and with a much slower firing speed, but it packed a punch if you had good aim. Perfect for what she was trying to achieve.

She switched it to "Portal" mode. The incident was probably all over the news by now. It would take a lot of work to cover it all up, but if Pillow had her heart set on fixing what was broken, chances are it wouldn't take more than a few hours. If all went well she would be back in time to catch the end of the party.

She aimed at the floor.

She breathed in.

She fired.

[runawaycarouselhorse]

The ambulance broke down today. ^^;; Fortunately, only after we delivered the patient! It was also the good ambulance, so we had air conditioning and a functioning belt and everything... well, fortunate for the patient, but it also meant their response to us as was slower, so we stayed on the road by some restaurants and some small shops!

I bought some food, including some bananas, since I've been out of them for a while and they're great to combat acidity. I actually never saw those collectable trading cards with athletes in real life before seeing them in the shops!

We ate lunch at Watani Burger [National Burger], a chain I never tried before... it's good! They had a seedless bun option (potato buns!), so they happily swapped the regular buns for the grilled beef option with potato buns. ^^ I'm allergic to sesame, so...

The only thing I had the chance to eat before that was a Kind bar as I was once again woken from bed, while sleeping in 'til Dhuhr time, for a life-saving case... ^o^; I'm very grateful for protein and granola bars and things, they make great breakfasts on the go when I'm suddenly called to work and have no time to do anything but go to the bathroom, exercise [I should never skip my physiotherapy!!], and get dressed...

So! I was basically out from around 12 PM until around... 7 PM!

I saw a family of stray cats after a hurt kitten (one paw injured, so it walked with a limp!) approached me. ;~; Poor cuties... I have a bird in my apartment, I can't take any in...

Reminder once more to everyone who drives, knock on your cars!!!! They hide under them, especially in the winter, for warmth!

I tried to play Pokemon Go (found a Meowth!) and there was a Pokemon Gym with a Pokemon weaker than mine, so I thought I might challenge or even take over, buuut it was much further than I thought it was, and the car was going to come for us in half an hour, but I ran into two ladies selling woven wares, one was doing embroidery! I bought a woven basket (I think from recycled plastic, it seems! ... looks like it might be from the plastic from either plastic bags or sufrah, the disposable plastic spreads we eat food off of)...

Overall, I had an adventurous, interesting day, and the weather's getting pleasantly cool and breezy, so it wasn't so bad! It was more comfortable outside than it was inside the broken-down ambulance. The drive home was calm. ^^

[toujokaname]

Game master / Episode 3

Author: Akira

Characters: Rinne, HiMERU, Niki, Aira, Tatsumi, Hiiro, Mayoi, Kohaku

"Well then, Rinrin, HiMERU would like to make a few clarifications."

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[ Read on my site for a better viewing experience using Ois~su ♪ ]

Season: Winter

Location: Inside Studio Bus

Rinne: .........

HiMERU: —Amagi.

Rinne: Hm? What's up, Merumeru? You're looking kinda pale, got car sickness or something?

HiMERU: You're one to talk. Are you feeling okay?

Rinne: Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry, I ain't gonna pull any embarrassing stunts like before, so rest easy.

Anyway, since this Matrix thing's a collab with ALKALOID—

Instead of "Amagi," call me "Rinrin" to avoid confusion with Otouto-kun ♪

HiMERU: Well then, Rinrin, HiMERU would like to make a few clarifications.

He's been having trouble with the internet connection since earlier, so research is proving difficult—

Niki: Ahaha. "Merumeru" and "Rinrin," are you guys pandas or something? [1]

AkanP's been driving you nuts, but you're finally back to your regular self, aren't you, HiMERU-kun? Unmoved by whatever happens~♪

HiMERU: Maybe Nikiniki should stick to eating his meal instead of spouting nonsense?

Niki: How come my nickname's longer than my original name?!

HiMERU: Merumeru is also longer than Himeru. Anyway, let's disregard the animal noises and focus on confirming the necessary details.

Niki: Rinne-kuuun! HiMERU-kun's treatment of me's getting rougher and rougher!

Rinne: Doesn't that mean his affection level's rising?

—More importantly. What is it you want to ask of me, oh Great Detective?

HiMERU: It's about this person called AkanP.

Because HiMERU is of that nature, he always performs preliminary investigations to the best of his ability on relevant parties.

However, there is a non-negligible discrepancy between the data we have gathered and the AkanP who has been in contact with us—

Rinne: Ah, that's alright, just play dumb and pretend you didn't notice.

HiMERU: On what grounds can you confidently state that "it's alright"?

Rinne: I'm saying it's alright, so it's alright. Is that not good enough for you?

HiMERU: ...Should anything occur, are you prepared to assume complete responsibility?

As he's stated numerous times, HiMERU prioritizes HiMERU above all else.

If the situation turns dire, HiMERU will abandon you all and run away, understood?

Rinne: Have you ever said that and actually made a run for it, HiMERU?

...Thanks. You're actually a kind, good guy.

HiMERU: Hah? It's just gross getting praised by you.

Rinne: Nah, I just figure it must be hard, living like that.

You should take a page from Niki's book and take it easy. See, when I look at this guy, all my worries disappear ♪

Niki: *Munch munch munch...*

Huh? What's up, Rinne-kun? Wait, all the burgers I bought on the drive-thru are mine, got it?!

Rinne: Ain't nobody stealing them from ya.

Rinne: Nah, nothing bad will happen to you guys from now on.

Even if it's a lie, it's the duty of a monarch (leader) to say so, right?

HiMERU: ...?

Rinne: See? While we're wasting time talking nonsense, I spotted it.

—That nostalgic old haunt.

Location: Secluded Village

Several hours later. Near the entrance of the Amagi Village (colloquially).

Aira: *Inhale*... *Exhale*... Ahh, the air's so fresh ♪

Tatsumi: Well, we are in the mountains, surrounded by nature. It's healing.

But personally, I'm rather disappointed that I wasn't allowed to drive even once...

Aira: Because if Tattsun-senpai drove, people would die.

Hiiro: I like Tatsumi-senpai's driving because it's fun ♪

Aira: I don't wanna risk my life for just a little excitement and thrills...

Mayoi: Yes... Our goal is just to move from one place to another; we're not seeking to indulge in thrill rides.

Tatsumi: Such cruel words...

Hiiro-san is the only one who accepts me. Pat, pat ♪

Hiiro: But like most people, I don't want to die either, okay? 

Kohaku: Heeey~♪ ALKALOID, we were all headin' over together, but you ended up arrivin' strangely late, huh?

Aira: Kohakucchi~♪ Did you beat us here?

Kohaku: Yeah, they showed us to this big mansion they called our lodgings.

Since it reminded me of my family home, I felt like I was just droppin' by for a visit.

Aira: Really, it's pretty much your standard countryside view so far... There are some weird rocks and patterns here and there, though.

Aren't there blatantly ominous statues of evil gods or mysterious bodies impaled on stakes or anything like that?

Hiiro: Even if you ask "aren't there?" I'd just be at a loss.

Besides, technically, this area is still out of range from our hometown—

Kohaku: Whoa. Hiiro-han, what's with your brother callin' you over? Looks like he's sayin', "bring Otouto-kun here before he starts speaking out of turn"?

Hiiro-han, what's that about?

Hiiro: Hmm... I wonder? Is Nii-san up to some mischief again?

Kohaku: Dunno, but Rabu-han and company, y'all must be beat from your long trip. Come with and I'll show ya where to stay ♪

Aira: Kohakucchi's so lively... Or rather, everyone's got too much stamina.

Kohaku: We just got a different way of trainin', koh koh koh ♪

And besides, we made it here without any trouble, so we arrived early and got a solid rest.

Aira: Yeah, we got stuck in a tunnel 'cause of some collapse accident or something...

Thanks to that, we wasted a bunch of time, and it just added to my anxiety.

Kohaku: Mhm. Since there's no showdown today, let's take it easy and rest. We've got comfy beds, baths, and a lavish feast waitin' for us.

Fufu. Even though it's weird for me to say it—Welcome to the Amagi Village ♪

[ ☆ ]

Many pandas have names similar to this. From what I've read, the repetition is to create an affectionate nickname. Cute.

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[aylacavebear]

Stockroom Antics - Chapter 9

Maria had changed jobs numerous times over the last five years, more to keep herself safe than anything else. Her mother had told her she was a fairy but she thought it was just her mom being weird. Honestly, though, she had no other way of explaining what had happened to her that stormy day before she'd gone into a coma for two weeks.

Please don't take my work. I'll post warnings for each chapter. Will probably be 18+ I haven't decided yet!

Word Count: 2165

Pairing eventually Dean Winchester x OC

Warnings: Angst

A/N: This chapter switches back and forth on POV's. This one's written a little differently than my last one. Let me know what you think. It's the first time I've tried this type of writing. Chapters will alternate viewpoints as well. I also looked into an actual area so this one could feel more realistic.

----------------------------------------- Stockroom Antics Chapter 9

Your mind was still flooded with too many thoughts and questions, although, at the moment, you had no idea how to express any of them to the two strangers you’d be living with. That thought alone caused a sigh to escape your lips. 

The scenery passed by the window, but you weren’t really looking at it, even when they crossed state lines. Hell, you hadn’t even asked where they were taking you. Dean occasionally stopped for gas, grabbing something to eat and drink for everyone. You nibbled on some chips and drank a soda, but you weren’t much in the mood for food.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Sam asked you when they stopped at another gas station sometime late after dark.

“Not really,” you mumbled.

“You need to eat something. A handful of chips isn’t enough to keep you going,” he insisted.

You sighed before looking over at him, “Fine. I just didn’t want you to spend money on something I wouldn’t be able to finish.” After a brief pause, “I guess I’ll have a burger.”

Sam went inside to get the snacks this time while Dean fueled up, glancing at you from time to time. Your thoughts wandered back to your morning. You’d done your regular routine, even chatted with your mother and sister, although you hadn’t told them what was going on. 

What kind of place were they taking you to? How were things going to work? Would you have your own room? Can you still talk to your family, friends? Would the brothers want to find a way to send you to whatever dimension Peri came from? Were they going to treat you like a monster or more human? What was expected of you?

Too many questions that you didn’t want to ask. Yeah, you wanted answers, but at the same time, you didn’t. You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t notice when Dean slid into the driver’s seat or when Sam got in the passenger side. 

“Here. Try to eat at least some of it,” Sam told you, snapping you from your thoughts.

“Thanks…” you replied, slightly quietly, as you took the small bag he handed you over the seat.

Inside, you found a burger, a Pepsi, and a caramelo. He’s sweet, you thought to yourself, smiling a little. As Dean continued the drive, you ate, even managing to finish not only the burger but also the caramelo, washing them both down with the soda. Once you had a full belly, though, you felt your eyes getting heavy.

You yawned before lying down on the back seat of the car. It was more comfortable than it initially looked. You had to slip off your seatbelt so that your head was at the side behind Dean. After shifting a little, you finally managed to find a comfortable position on your side, facing the back of the front seat. Then, there was the purr of the Imapala’s engine and the smoothness of the drive. Before you knew it, you drifted off to sleep.

Around two in the morning, Dean pulled into the bunker's garage. He tried to wake you, but you were out like a light. He sighed and looked over the hood of the car at his brother.

“Just carry her to one of the rooms,” Sam suggested.

“And what happens when she wakes up in a strange bed, in a strange room, in a strange place? Huh, Sam?” Dean argued, although somewhat quietly. He didn’t want you to wake up to the two of them arguing, especially after all you’d been through.

Sam rolled his eyes, “So, leave her a note and leave it on the desk or the night table.”

Dean reluctantly gave him, carefully scooping you out of the back seat of the Impala, and carried you bridal style to the closest room down the hallway. He carefully moved the blankets while still holding onto you. Then, he gently set you down so your head rested on the pillow. He just looked down at you for a moment, seeing how peaceful you looked in your sleep.

With a sigh, he leaned down and slipped off your shoes, setting them near the night table, covering you with the blankets, wrote out a quick note, and then turned off the light in your room. He joined his brother in the library as you slept.

When your eyes did open, the room was still dark, but you could see light coming from the other side of the partially opened door. The mattress was comfortable, as was the pillow, and the blankets were soft. You stretched, your arms above your head as the stretch went down your whole body, even pointing your toes. Once you relaxed and inhaled deeply, you glanced at the glowing red numbers on the clock: 8:42. 

You reached over and turned on the lamp, taking in the place you were. It looked like a regular bedroom, although with items that seemed to be from the fifties. Near the closet were your bags, and a small smile played along your lips at the thought that they were kind enough to bring those in for you as well as carry you to a bed.

Once you located your shoes, you slipped them back on and found a note on the desk, making you chuckle.

Maria, Couldn’t wake you. Head out of the room, left, through the first room, right down the hallway. That’s the kitchen. See you in the morning. Sleep well. Bathroom is down the hall to the right, fourth door on the right. Dean

First, you located the bathroom, took care of things, and headed in the other direction, following the instructions Dean had left you. Wherever you were, it looked massive, although you did take note of its lack of windows. Once you made it to that first room at the end of the hallway, it opened up, with a map table in the center. To the left was what looked like a library. Another hallway was across from you, on the other side of the room. You noticed a staircase on the other side of the map table, which led up to a landing. On the other side of the stairs was what you assumed was the hallway Dean had mentioned in his instructions.

As you walked through the room, you softly touched the map table and looked at everything. It felt surreal. When you got closer to the opening, you heard male voices, so you followed those, eventually locating the kitchen.

“Morning,” Dean said with what you guessed was a happy smile as you entered the kitchen.

“Morning,” you replied softly, still not quite awake.

Sam was already up and getting a cup, filling it with coffee as you found a seat at the kitchen table. He placed the cup in front of you.

“Thanks,” you told him, looking up at him.

The smile he gave you seemed genuine, but it also seemed like he almost seemed nervous around you. You sighed and looked down at your coffee, holding it with both hands. The warmth radiated into your hands, which you enjoyed momentarily before taking a sip.

“Did you sleep okay?” Dean asked.

“I think so. I didn’t dream, and I slept all night,” you chuckled, “And, thanks. For uh, carrying me to a bed.”

“Well, I couldn’t let you sleep in the back seat of Baby all night,” Dean chuckled, sipping his coffee.

“We’re gonna dig into the lore books in a bit. Did you want something to eat?” Sam asked, glancing over at you.

“I don’t normally eat in the morning, but thank you anyway,” you told him, “Just coffee.” 

“Do you need anything?” Sam asked, causing you to look over at him.

His expression seemed like he wanted you to be comfortable in what was probably the weirdest experience of your life at the moment. You tilted your head a bit, thinking about his question.

“Maybe after I wake up a bit more, you guys could explain things better?” you suggested, trying to think through the mild sleep fog in your mind.

“Sounds like a plan, Sweetheart,” Dean answered before his brother could, giving you what you could only figure was his signature smirk, which made you smile a little.

The brothers polished off their coffee, and Sam refilled yours before they headed out of the kitchen, leaving you with your thoughts. Even through the sleep fog you still felt, you were utterly curious about this place of theirs. The kitchen was amazing, and you thought of how easy and fun it would be to cook or bake there.

After finishing your second cup and pouring yourself a third, you headed back out of the kitchen, seeing the brothers in the library across from the room with the map table. You gave them a friendly smile as you approached before sitting down in a chair beside Dean.

“So, what are you looking for?” you asked, a bit curiously.

“Anything we can find on Pari,” Sam replied, not looking up from the book in front of him.

You noticed the numerous books strewn across the table and the laptop to Sam’s left, still open, although you couldn’t make out what was on the page. At first, you didn’t notice Dean watching you as you grabbed the book closest to your right. All the books looked old but well taken care of. 

“What is this place?” you asked, still looking down at the book.

Dean and Sam shared a look you missed before they looked back over at you,” It’s a bunker.” And with that, the two explained the details: that it was built by the Men of Letters, abandoned for years, their home base for quite a while now, and all the lore it held, along with the numerous facilities.

“When you’re feeling up to it, we can give you a tour,” Dean offered, giving you another smile.

“Thanks. I’d like that,” you replied, smiling back at him.

You opened the book you had grabbed, flipping through the pages, only partially reading the words on each page. When you came across a page with a sigil on it, you stopped and read it more in-depth. It talked about how the sigil would keep a Pari’s powers from affecting those around it. That was something you’d never thought about before, your powers affecting people around you, so you continued reading.

Apparently, Pari were fairly powerful, more than you’d ever considered, having powers similar to angels and demons. However, it went beyond that. The book said that a Pari’s powers radiated off of it the more powerful they became. It went as far as making those around them stay young, in the prime of their life, not aging. It wasn’t a temporary thing, either. The longer other people were around a fully awakened Pari, they would continue to stay young. If they were to leave or not be around the Pari, the aging process would start at a regular human rate. Something else a fully awakened Pari could do was open dimensional portals to travel between worlds.

“Find something interesting?” Dean questioned you.

“Kind of, I guess,” you mumbled, scrunching up your brows as you kept reading, causing you to miss the look the brothers shared.

The book listed numerous powers: healing, creating things, moving objects (which explained why you could easily clean up the aisles at work with just a thought), using the elements of nature or creating them, telepathy not only with humans but with any living thing, and bringing a natural joy to those around you.

You tilted your head, then closed the book, sighing. It hadn’t fully explained how to awaken a Pari’s powers, but there were still plenty of books on the table. Dean reached over and picked up the book you had closed, wanting to see what you’d found or at least had been interested in. Since you finished your coffee, you took it into the kitchen and washed it, then leaned against the counter. 

The information from that book at least explained to an extent why demons had been after you for so long. Having something that powerful under their control would give them a great advantage. You crossed your arms, glancing around the kitchen again. You’d played with your powers over the years but never fully delved into them. Part of you had been afraid to.

When Dean came into the kitchen, he startled you from your thoughts, “You okay?” 

“Yeah,” you sighed, looking over at him, “I’m gonna be here a while, huh?”

He sighed, “Looks like it. I’m sorry about all this. We just can’t let you fall into the wrong hands.”

To you, he sounded genuine, and your gaze shifted to the floor in front of you, “Might as well get settled in then,” you sighed, and you headed past him to the room you’d woken up in.

----------------------------------------- Chapter 10

Link to the series Master List

A/N: If you'd like to be tagged in future chapters, leave me a comment, and I'll make sure to tag you.

[krikeymate]

Can we have more of Tara not-so-secretly dying because of Sam's spicy food? It's so funny :D - Also, thank you for keeping my obsession with this fandom alive for so long! I think this might be the longest obsession I ever had with a movie/tv show and I blame YOU for it :P (I love you ♥ !)

Oh yeah, *holds up a mirror* you're helping feed my obsession, so the joke's on you.

Tara just can't handle spice. She doesn't like it, she doesn't enjoy it, she'll eat a bowl of buttered noodles and call it a day. Sam will not let her live like that. Unfortunatly.

(It takes a really long time for anyone to realise that actually Tara's got a really sensitive tongue, and everything tastes so much stronger to her. Man, she can taste things in a way that you would not even believe. Sam learns that a little goes a really long way for her sister. It all makes sense now, how Tara can tell when Sam's used something she doesn't like even though she barely used any and couldn't taste it herself.)

They have burgers one night, and Tara complains that it's too spicy. "Seriously?" Sam replies, "the burger is spicy?" Sometimes she thinks her sister is complaining for the sake of complaining. Maybe it's payback for leaving her? Thinking of her sister as petulant or vindictive leaves Sam unsettled, but it just doesn't make any sense. It's just a burger! It's a bun, some meat, some onions. Tara doesn't even have any sauce on hers!

Sam sighs as she watches Tara eat only a quarter and then butter an unused burger bun, and eat that instead. Later as she's cleaning up, she notices the label on the oil she'd used. Infused with chilli. It makes her pause. She couldn't taste it at all, it just tasted like regular oil to her. But maybe not to her sister.

[ali-anne-undertale-stoof]

Noise

I've been starved of autistic Sans content, so I've decided to make it myself! EAT UP!!

Most people can drown out background noise. Someway, somehow, they can block out the sound of chewing, the clocks ticking, the pens scratching on paper, the clatter of utensils when they touch the crockery...

Sans almost envies those people, because he can't do that. Not even for a second.

He's grown used to it. Ever since he was a kid, he remembered, he was like this. He was always the first one to point out the little sounds that bothered him.

When a bored kid in class lightly tapped the radiator with a pen behind his seat, it almost felt like hellfire hitting his ossicles. He wanted to yell.

"cut it out!" He would say. "it burns! stop it! get me away!"

He never said those things out loud, but gosh, did he want to say them.

He wanted to say it got better as he grew up, but no. It was the same as ever.

He always felt like a creep when he unintentionally listened to strangers' conversations. Whenever he would do something simple, like a quick walk to Grillby's, for instance, there was always a conversation going on in the background. And unlike what Sans would call "normal people", he can't just block it out. But he wants to. Oh Delta, he wants to. He's just so tired of hearing everything.

"And Terri said to me, 'You're giving me ideas for when we start dating...'"

"Doesn't she have a husband? And a son?"

"Yeah, I know. Her son is a real piece of work too."

He didn't want to listen into this conversation any longer. Stop it, brain, stop it!

He needed some peace and quiet.

Going to the woods is one of Sans' favourite pastimes for a reason. It's not just because of the beauty of nature, but also because of how quiet it is. Hardly anyone goes into the woods, not unless it's the Nice Cream guy or the Royal Guards that watch for humans.

When he's in the woods, it's just Sans and the sound of freshly laid snow crunching beneath his feet. The sound is delightful.

A lot of sounds are delightful to him, actually.

The soft sizzling of cooking burgers. Fire crackling. Low humming. Echo flowers whispering, as long as there aren't too many. Laughter, freaking laughter! Birds singing. Flowers blooming.

Wait, do flowers even make a sound? Not really, if Sans never heard them.

Sans loves music. It's a way to control what goes in your (lack of) ears AND it sounds good! What more could you possibly want?

He loves the sound a trombone makes when it's played, especially during an unfortunate circumstance. It's a good way to break the tension, at least.

Humming had always been a BONE-fide way to calm him down in the midst of inevitable overwhelm. He doesn't know why he has to be so sensitive to noises. Every time, when he starts getting overwhelmed from the stimuli, it's always...

"Wow, you're so sensitive."

"What are you crying about? There's nothing to cry about!"

"It's not that loud, stop overreacting."

And so on.

Nobody understood why it happens. Not even Sans.

But hey, at least he grew out of it.

Mostly.

Save for that one time where his usual path was blocked by a construction site of all things. Construction was rare in the underground, since too much of it could potentially cause a cave in. But it did have to happen occasionally for regular maintenance. And if there was anything Sans hated more than anything, it was construction sites.

The drills, the hammers, the whirring, the buzzing, the banging, the shouts, the screams! It bypasses beyond Sans' ossicles and drills straight into his SOUL!!!

He was SUPPOSED to go to Hotland, but NOPE! Not with that going on, no sirree, THANK YOU!!!

All he wanted to do was go back home. So he did, tears streaming down his face.

Was he crying? Oh heck no. He can't go out when he's crying like this! The tears really need to stop!

...

They didn't stop. They only fell more. Sans hated crying. What to do, what to do...?

Everything's blurry. All that's playing in his mind is the continuous sound of the drills, the hammers, the beeping, the shouting... And sobbing?

Oh, god, he's SOBBING!

And Papyrus is right there...

"BROTHER? BROTHER, WHAT'S WRONG? DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?"

...Papyrus always understood. Well, not completely, but Sans knows he has something similar.

And that something similar is part of the reason why he always wore gloves. Why he has a cloth that he stuffs into his nasal cavity when he gets overwhelmed by particularly pungent smells.

It's not the same, but... It's a similar principle. Out of everyone, Sans trusted Papyrus with this stuff the most.

Sans tried to speak, but all that came out was more sobbing. He's such a sensitive douchebag! Crying over loud noises?! What is wrong with him?! Nobody else was like this, so why was he falling apart?!

He's fell apart... But Papyrus kept him together.

Papyrus always gave the best hugs in situations like these. The tight hug would be practically suffocating to the average person... but not for Sans. The tightness is comforting. It keeps him grounded. It's like his hoodie, but better, because it was Papyrus!

It's always Papyrus...

It took a while for Sans to regain the strength to speak, and even then, he couldn't complete any real sentences.

"construction... loud..."

"I SEE... IT'S OKAY, BROTHER. YOU'RE AWAY FROM IT NOW."

"mhm..."

"YOU KNOW... WHAT IF I TALKED TO UNDYNE TOMORROW, AND SHE COULD GET ALPHYS TO FIX SOMETHING UP FOR YOU?"

Sans perked up at that idea. Something just for him, huh? It was worth a shot.

He wanted to say something more, but all he could give at the time was a simple nod.

So Papyrus gave a message to Undyne, and Undyne passed it on to Alphys. Before Sans knew it, he was in Alphys' (admittedly very messy) office, and she was presenting a special kind of technology for him.

"S-So! I made noise-cancelling earplugs for you! Um... Let's see if these fit in your ear... holes? What do you call those?"

"the external acoustic meatus. but it's not actually meat."

"I c-can see that."

"yeah, i don't know why they call it that. it's not like i have any meat on my bones or anything."

"Ha ha, very funny. Dork."

"says the girl who presented manga as human history."

"Oh, shut up, you!"

Sans had to admit, the earplugs were very comfortable. And they fit perfectly, too! But the best part was the app that came with it.

"O-Okay, so I connected your earplugs to this app, and basically what it does is... um... Let me just show you."

She tapped one of the many widgets in the app, and whaddya know? The sound of crashing waves played directly into Sans' "ears", giving a calm, peaceful atmosphere.

"wow, this is... this is amazing."

"R-Really? Cool! Um... I'll just download the app to your phone then, and you can test it yourself!"

The earplugs were a life-changer. Whenever Sans felt overwhelmed, he popped the earplugs in and played beach sounds. Or white noise, or lullabies, or lofi music, or- Well, the list is practically endless!

Sans couldn't be more thankful if he tried. He had a way to circumvent around his hearing sensitivity! Just like how Papyrus has his sniffer cloth, Sans now has his earplugs.

He even let Papyrus try the earplugs when he got them. He loved them so much that Sans considered getting Papyrus something too, despite the fact that he already had tools that he uses to work around his own sensory problems.

Sans doesn't know why he's this way, but perhaps he doesn't need to know. As long as he has people who understand his needs, he's set. And he couldn't be more happy about that.

[milfs4mar]

This is to help any Ana’s who’s family frequently eats fast food, like mine does. Here are some lower cal fast food options that actually taste good!

Whataburger: a grilled chicken sandwich with apples and Diet Coke as a side. To make this lower cal and yummier I switch the brioche bun for a small bun, get it toasted on both sides, take off tomato, add grilled onions and grilled jalapeño, and switch the Whatasauce for the creamy pepper sauce. This comes out to 395 cals.

Wendy’s: a small chili. This is 295 cals. If you need a side then get 4pc spicy or regular nuggets, no sauce. And Wendy’s normally has the Coca Cola freestyle machine, so I like to get cherry Vanilla Coke Zero. This brings it to 485 cals.

McDonald’s: a cheeseburger happy meal, with apples as a side. This is 320 cals.

Burger King: a cheeseburger as it comes is 280 cals. If you need a side, 6 pc chicken fries are good. This comes out to 500 ish together without sauce. A little high cal for me but not too bad.

Bojangles: roasted chicken bites, 350 cals. For a side grits add 90 for a total of 440.

Taco Bell: chipotle chicken melt for 190 cals. I like mild sauce with it, if you didn’t know all their sauces are 0 cal. I would get the black beans and rice as a side, which adds 160 for a total of 350. If you need something more filling I would get the cantina chicken power bowl for 470.

Popeyes: their blackened chicken is suppperrr good, better than the og imo. I get 3pc blackened strips with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy for 280 cals total.

Sonic: I’m a breakfast girl so I would typically get the jr bacon breakfast burrito, especially because they have 24h breakfast,for 280. If you would like a burger instead get the jr cheeseburger for 330 cals.

Chik-fl-a: a cup of chicken noodle soup for 145. Or if you’d like, just order a chicken sandwhich and only eat half. (I only say that because no one goes to chik-Fl-a for soup and if you don’t honor your cravings it can cause a binge in the long run)

Starbucks: venti iced coffee, splash of vanilla sweet cream, 3 pumps of sugar free vanilla, and caramel drizzle for 110 calories. For actual food I would get the egg white and red pepper bites for 170, if you got both this would total to 280 cals.

Hope this helps!

[popcornforone]

The Cliffs

Chapter 1 of Is that all Mr Gutierrez? Serise

Master list

Well well here we go. Time for some Javi G.

Thank you all for voting in my Poll. I’m very happy but also a little shocked the Javi Gutierrez actually won, but I’m not complaining. Ooooh no. Because I have a huge master plan for Javi G. This is going to be very very fun, to write & properly character develop the people involved.

Chapter 1 synopsis: your diary hold all your secrets, including who you are crushing on. & yet you want your teenage dream with J to come true, maybe it did tonight at the cliffs?

This chapter is in a diary format for a young reader who will age & be the lead. I think there might be one more of these in the series, but this will not be regular. It will revert to you & Javi.

Word count: 800

Warning: underaged drinking, kissing, flirting, pining, mention of things to come & dreams & wants, slight anger, secrets. The reader is under age for drinking & sex & Javi G is for drinking. Probably best not to read if your under 18 as I know where I’m going to go with this series.

Thanks as always for the read peoples, all feed back is welcome.

See you soon for chapter 2

Dear diary

I kissed him today

Yes I did

It finally happened

For the last 2 years I’ve wanted to kiss him & today in a game of truth or dare, I did just that, my dream came true

I’m pretty sure J was expecting me to do something else but I didn’t

I can’t believe I actually just had my first kiss…

We were sitting on the side of the cliffs watching the sun set eating burgers like we do every Friday evening while my parents & his have dinner & do business at our hotel

We met over 2 years ago on these exact cliffs when he was running away from his bullying older cousin & I was here with my dad fishing

He looked scared but we helped him get home

He’s 2 years older than me

But he’s still really sweet

He’s not like any of the other boys in my class at school

We just get on

& now our parents work together we just get to hang out a lot more

I’ve only told you diary & my own pen friend back home in England that I have a crush on him

I like it when he holds my hand

I want to know if he fancies me too

So we went to the cliffs

& ate our burgers & watched the sun set & talked about school

I’ve got my exams in the summer he’s got his last few to before he goes to university on the main land, his dads orders, he needs to know business to be able to take over the family business one day, im surprised he doesn’t need farming, with the number of olive trees & other crops they grow.

But we were talking about that & then he asked if I wanted to play truth or dare

Usually the final dare is us both chickening out of leaping over the cliffs, it’s such a long way down

But there we sat drinking the carton of sangria we sneaked out of my parents kitchen getting giggly & stupid & tipsy

My parents don’t mind me drinking they know I can cope

J then after few rounds dared me to do the thing I was most scared of

I’m sure he thought I would try & jump off the cliffs finally

But I didn’t

Maybe it was the sangria

But I kissed him quick

Our lips probably only touched for 5 seconds but it was what I wanted to do

It’s all I’ve wanted to do from the age of 13

Kiss Javi Gutierrez

He laughed when we finished & said I needed practice

I did say we could try again & he laughed

He told me I was sweet & pretty

But should think about if this is what I want

He then did kiss my cheek back

It was so soft

He held my hand & we talked

& then we did both just run & jump off the cliffs

Such a drop

So huge

But it was fun

I felt like I was being reborn swimming in the water

Splashing J

Laughing

Watching the sun disappear

We got in trouble though

We got back to my parents hotel

After my curfew

Both soaked

Both a little drunk

Javis dad was not happy

My parents weren’t either to start with but they laughed later when I told them what happened, they have always been very understanding

My mum thought it was cute but both mum & dad told me to be careful around boys now I’m getting older

I’m now sitting in my bed writing to you diary

No one else needs to know about how special tonight truly was

When Javi returns from university in 3 years I will probably be at my own university

But I hope he still looks as sweet as he did today

I want to ask him for a proper kiss

Like they do in the movies

Like married people do

I want to have a conversation which will lead to us talking all night & maybe just maybe more…

Ooh diary do all 15 year olds feel like this after their first kiss?

Will all my kisses be that short & quick?

I hope not

I hope to have so so many more

& I hope most of them are with J

He puts on this brave face for the rest of the world knowing one day he will take over the family business

But to me he will always be just 14 year old J who I met 2 & a bit years ago

With those big brown eyes & hair he can’t control & the sweetest smile

Diary can you fall in love with someone after a first kiss? Because I think I have!!!

Chapter 2

[jazzytrait]

I'm drinking and rambley so how about a non-sims, Jazzy-gives-advice-no-one-asked-for post? No? We're doing it anyway!

So, my friend just told me about another friend of hers who has been asking her for money on the regular and I had to tell her this story because it's...

a lesson I had to learn the hard way:

Story time! Once upon a time I had a close friend. We'd known each other for years. When he finally moved out of his parents' house he had no end of financial trouble.

(This is gonna get long and rambley... so adding a cut)

Now, I'm no stranger to that... I'm disabled and have no college degree. I've struggled to make ends meet my whole life. I have gotten very good at churching up ramen noodles and rice/bean dishes. For reference: I've been under or only slightly over the poverty line for the majority of my life. Sucks when you feel like you're making a little progress and then they take away your health insurance because you made $1k more a year. (and I have to have my medications, so forgoing medical treatment is not an option)

Anyway, my friend got into a bind when he quit a job because the manager was rude to him. He was slightly younger than me and new to "real life", so I gave him a pass. Life is rough and adjusting is hard. I helped him out with a couple hundred dollars that I barely had because that's what friends do, right? Right.

A couple months later, I found out that instead of paying his rent with that money he had taken his gf out to dinner a few times and now he was getting kicked out. Luckily, he was living with roommates and it wasn't an actual eviction. But he did have to find somewhere new to live. He asked to come stay with me and I had to decline because my place was extremely tiny (300sq ft) and I didn't even have a couch for him to surf on.

He found someone else to couch surf with rent free until he could find another job and another place. He kept talking about all the job hunting and how hard it was. A few months later his gf confessed to me that he hadn't been looking or putting in applications because he thought he deserved more money than the going rate for his education level (no hs diploma or GED). His friend eventually kicked him out and he found ANOTHER place to couch surf. He did eventually take another job.

A few months later he was in trouble again because he had to go to the doctor and was short on rent. My other friend helped him out with some money. This time he spent it on his rent. But lo and behold, the next month he said he needed help again. A different friend helped him out with some more money. The next day he, I and his gf were online together gaming in Discord. He said "brb I'm gonna order some food". He ordered $60 of sushi for he and his gf to split (she didn't work btw, so he paid). I asked him "Didn't [friend] just lend you money for your rent? Why are you ordering sushi?" and he replied "All I have is sandwich stuff and I don't feel like eating a sandwich". This was the first time that red flag really went up for me, even though it should have been sooner.

It continued this way. Every month he had some new sob story of why he needed money from people and even though our friend group had long since ceased helping him, he always found someone new to help him out (he was charming and had a knack for making friends and sounding genuine).

He went through job after job. He'd quit after a month or so because he didn't like the work or didn't like his boss or didn't make enough money (which... any money is better than no money). I'm not saying that adult life isn't soul-crushing. It is and it sucks, but we do what we have to do to survive. To him, he was victim forced to do something he didn't want to do and so he refused to do it. He had a million and one excuses for how his joblessness and constant need for assistance wasn't his fault.

One time, I was in town visiting and we met up to get a burger. I offered to split the bill and he said after we'd already eaten "Oh, I don't have any money". I bit my tongue and paid because it was too late anyway. Afterwards, as we were walking back out through the mall he said he wanted to stop and look in a couple stores. He asked me to buy him things three separate times. I declined because I could barely afford my own rent and expenses and I worked my ass off to get what little I had. He was pretty frustrated by my refusals and even called me "stingy".

To this day (5 years later) he is famous amongst our friends for always asking for money, always spending it carelessly and then just asking people for more... he doesn't have to work his ass off because people keep giving him things to the point that now if you say "no" to him he gets offended and feels entitled to whatever money you have.

The moral of the story is: One time is a mistake. Twice is a pattern. Three times is a problem. Some people can't be bothered to help themselves as long as others are willing to prop them up and do it for them. Don't get suckered into every sob story you hear and feel obligated to help. We want to be good people and helping out isn't wrong. Help should be available to people in times of crisis... but keep an eye out for the ones who seem to always need help. Some people are very good liars.

[gaystay]

Relationships with GoM + Kagami & Kuroko

Kise

-showers you w/ love and affection 24/7 -lives for your compliments, always comes running up to you so you can tell him how amazing he is -waving excitedly to you every time he makes a good play in practice -gets kicked by Kasamatsu for being loud and annoying while trying to get your attention during practice -you're their manager and you both get scolded for constantly flirting during practice and even games -"Y/N-cchiiiii!!! You look so pretty today- come here come here let me hug you!!"

Midorima

-shy blushy tsundere -is prompted by Takao to show his affection for you a lot -grabs your hand out of nowhere and refuses to make eye contact or address address fact that he wants to hold your hand -has to mentally psych himself up for a good few minutes before trying to kiss you -cant speak coherently for a minute or two if you just lean in and kiss him quickly -"Y-Y-Y/N-N.... you-I- *ajfjskkdj's on the inside*"

Aomine

-says smth pervy (again) -gets smacked (again) -feels bad and spoils you with hugs for a while and listens to you when you tell him to do things -will whine and complain and pout until you agree to take a nap with him -will also just give up and carry you to bed if you resist his pouting -is legitimately learning to tell when you don't need him being difficult so he actually knows when to shut up now -"Can we please take a nap now?? I'm so tireddd...." "AwweDaiki, if you really want to cuddle you can just say so." "....."

Murasakibara

-makes you sit in his lap all the time so he has an excuse not to get up -brings extra food with him so you can eat it together at lunch time -will just sit down and wave his hands at you, silently demanding you come give him cuddles -watching movies and binge eating on the weekends -loves to give you bear hugs and ruffle your hair because he thinks you're so cute and tiny, and you're ok with it because you get to see him smile when you let him do it -"Y/N-chin, I ran out of snacks..... can I have kisses instead?"

Akashi

-smirks at you when you get excited abt something -gives any guy who looks at you for too long the death stare -opens doors for you and kisses your hand like an actual gentleman -will never outright ask for your affection but will go ahead and give you affection whenever he wants some -you're the only one who can just give him a look and silently tell him to tone it down for God's sake -is very protective but still respects your feelings and opinions - "Ah, Y/N-chan, what's that? Of course you can have a kiss. You can have anything you like."

Kagami

-starts out very shy -teases you for how small and feisty you are -picks you up randomly to give you giant hugs -constantly making you laugh because he's just so cute and goofy and such a mama bear even though he looks big and mean -lowkey needs positive reinforcement -insists on cooking for you all the time and then blushes like crazy when you praise his food for 10 straight minutes -is too shy to kiss you in front of his team but will make up for it the next time you're in private - "Y/N... can I- maybe- kiss you?" "Again?" "....yeah..." "You don't have to ask so formally every time now y'know."

Kuroko

-really chill -is very polite and thoughtful -except for the time he found out you were really ticklish and tickled you until you were laughing hysterically -regular dates at maji burger -doesn't do a lot of pda unless you're in private, but he usually shows his affection through words and gestures, not so much touch -no 2 loves you and it makes kuroko so happy - "Y/N-kun, it seems like you and No. 2 are having a good time." *totally not taking pictures bc it's too cute*

[lynburnlegagy123]

Not really sure if it's a stereotype, but I know that this is something non-Aussies saw and were confused by when other people did it.

Every time I put on shoes, regardless of where they've been kept, the season, everything (except if it's indoors and I took them off for like five seconds to pull up my sock or something, or if it's a thong or suchlike) I slam the back of the shoe against the ground a couple times, flip it upside down, and slam the mouth of the shoe on the ground a couple of times. It's an ingrained thing, I've done it since I've put my own shoes on, and when I was too young to do that my mother did it for me before she put them on. It's just how shoes are put on for me, part of the process, not something I consciously think about.

It's so that, if spiders crawl in your shoes, you get them out instead of risking getting a redback bite to the foot (eat your heart out, Woody, I would have known before I put it on if there were a snake in my boot), but like... that's not really a risk in an upstairs bedroom in Winter. But I still do it, because That's How You Put On Shoes. I know the reasoning, I know why it's done and thus when it doesn't actually need doing, but it's the way I was taught and it doesn't cause any problems, so I do it regardless.

I also genuinely like Vegemite, have held a live snake, have eaten kangaroo on multiple occasions, have been stung by a bluebottle, have never had a Starbucks coffee, think beetroot is one of the core components of a good burger, have very specific coffee preferences, am deeply fond of the Sydney train system, and go to the Opera House on a semi-regular basis (my dad goes once a month and has two tickets, the second of which goes to my mum, my sister, or me depending on who's more interested in the show and doesn't have a bunch of stuff going on (the time when there was a show I really wanted to go to but I was in the middle of my Trial HSC so my sister, who wasn't keen, went instead was a tragedy)).

No idea which of these are stereotypes, they're just things about me that I think are largely Aussie things based on the conversations I've had with people, mostly online. I've only left the country once, and it was to New Zealand when I was a baby. I'm also Autistic, and have a history of not picking up stereotypes that are apparently common knowledge until someone mentions the stereotype. So, hopefully this actually answers the question?

whats a stereotype for your country that you absolutely do. mine is that i unironically go "eh" and apologize a lot and i often drink maple syrup straight

[helenarlett-rex]

Gorge World: Part 2

This post is a continuation from Part 1.

So starting out with my test play of Gorge World, I have decided on the modern setting out of the three available settings in the book.

Welcome to Ahmurica, brought to you by the Coalition of Corporations (CoC). It’s 1997 and there’s a War. A fast food cold war of sorts, as leading restaurant chains fight for dominance. A boost in integrated circuitry during the corporate conflict has caused a variety of growing pains. Neon has yet to be discontinued but LED shines bright in car dashboards. Cassettes still hold on while CDs and cartridges now hold enough data for 3D graphics, with new influence from ‘the Net’. Plastic shelled robots follow their owners commands to some degree of accuracy. To the point where even medical diagnostics and treatment is somewhat automated. And with all of this new progress, all corporations have used it for its advertisement and indoctrination. And it worked somewhat, as sects of brand loyalists dedicate their lives to the consumption of the brand and even fight for it. While others try their best to keep to themselves and live lives the way they want.

I will also be playing the game solo though use of the Mythic Game Master Emulator. It's not like I have anyone else who's going to play this particular game with me. I was lucky to get my regular gaming group to play Hc Svnt Dracones. If I tried pitching this to them... well... it's not going to happen. Besides, I want to actually play this... not just run it for someone else...

So I've got my little Helen mini ready for adventure, but she needs something to actually be doing. Let's start with a pretty standard setup. How about she goes out to grab something to eat? This is Burgerberg after all. Their society seems pretty centered around fast food. And if I look on Helen's sheet, we can see I listed her favorite food as "chicken," so if I look at the setting document in the book I don't see a place to get actual chicken, but I do see here that we have a place called Cheekin Chapel.

Cheekins (not to be confused with chickens) are delicious fat raptor-like creatures known for their white meat. Thus they are great for frying, amongst the other protein sources. No restaurant is known more for its fried cheekin than “Cheekin Chapel”, with its plus sized hen nun mascot holding a collection platter full of fried cheekin. As the pioneer of serving food in cardboard buckets, Cheekin Chapel is one of the few restaurant chains not suffering from growing pains due to the increased demand for larger portions. Even going so far as to up the size of its biscuits to that of burger buns. The current CEO, a very rotund shortstack eagle known as Gazette Gilded, daughter of the previous CEO Garter Gilded, is shrewd in her business practices and runs a tight ship. Also known for her loud angry yelling that can be heard three floors in either direction. Rumor has it she lives a double life hanging around malls and bars under the nickname “Glitter”.

This will do, I think. It may not be actual chicken, but it's close enough.

Forgive my medieval tavern full of human patrons, but I don't exactly have a KFC setup. Helen has poor eyesight anyways so I'm sure she can't tell the difference.

Helen goes up to the front counter to place an order, but I'm thinking she really wanted some actual chicken. So she's going to ask the bartender- I mean, fast food attendant... if he had any "specials" he can offer her. *Wink wink*

Does he? We'll have to consult the Fate Chart in the Mythic GM Emulator.

We are only just starting out so the Chaos Rank starts out at the default of 5, and I think the chances of them having any actual chicken they are just going to hand over to whatever random customer comes in and asks is Very Unlikely.

And we rolled 39. So that's a no. It's not an exceptional no, however. It's just a basic no. What that's telling me is that while he's telling her no, he's not being completely straightforward with her. He may actually have some chicken, or at least know where to get it. But now the question is, does Helen realize he's not being totally honest with her? She'll need quickness of mind here, so that's going to require an Agility roll. Helen's only got one pip in Agility, so she rolls 1 die, and we are going to say this an Average difficulty roll.

And that is a failure... So Helen does not pick up on the fact that he isn't being completely straight with her.

So then... with nothing else to do, I guess Helen will order a meal and go sit down to eat. She will order Fire Flakes. The book doesn't tell me what Fire Flakes actually are, so let's just assume it's like, spicy chicken strips or something... That will cost her 1 Trinket of currency and the book says it "Fills 1 point of Fullness."

Now my next question is, does anything happen while she's eating? We are going to go back to the GE Emulator to find out by rolling on the Event Focus Table.

And we rolled a 38, which is Move Towards a Thread. Hmm... We haven't actually pulled out the Mythic adventure sheet and added any threads yet, but I guess we do sort of have one now... "Find Real Chicken." So I'm going to go ahead and add that to the sheet.

So now that we have an actual thread to move towards, we need to figure out how we are doing that, or what is moving us towards it. For that we will roll on Mythic's Event Meaning chart. And by rolling two d100s I got Abuse The Physical...

Hmm... Okay, yeah... So I think what happens is, while Helen is eating she notices the bartender getting rough with one of the waitresses.

Let's say that she drops a serving tray and spills someone's food all over the floor and the bartender comes out and starts yelling at her. It says Abuse The Physical so let's say he actually slaps her. And being a woman herself, Helen won't stand for that.

She jumps to the waitress's defense and is going to try to make the bartender back down. We're going to use a Force roll to try to make the bartender back off as she bares her teeth and roars at him. And Helen has 2 pips in Force so she'll be rolling 2 dice for this.

Oh my god. And it's worse than a fail. It's a Flub. In Gorge World a Flub is basically like rolling a Critical Failure and the character is punished in some way. Now the rules say a GM may cause something bad to happen or evoke one of a character’s various features in a negative way. Since my GM is an emulator I'm going to have to roll to find out which of the two it wants to do. This will just be a simple 50/50 roll so we'll just roll a d4. Evens something bad happens, odds we evoke one of character’s features.

And I rolled a 4, so that's even. Something bad happens. And to find out what, we will again ask the Event Meaning Chart.

Lie Advice... Ah, okay. I know what this is. The bartender, completely unshaken by having this angry T-Rex roaring in his face, is going to "advise" Helen to back down and make up some kind of lie as to why she should. I'm going to roll one more time to find out what that lie is.

Negligence The innocent...? Oh, maybe he tells her that if they get into a fight there in the restaurant more innocent people are going to get hurt. Yeah, he puts on a show of being tougher than he actually is to make her think that he'll throw her all over the restaurant and create a full barroom brawl kind of situation if she tries to take him on. And because this is the punishment for her Flub Helen doesn't get to roll anything to try and call his bluff. So instead she just backs down and slowly slinks out of the restaurant with her head lowered in defeat.

But that's okay! Because remember, the whole point of this encounter was Move Towards a Thread.

So I think what happens is, after Helen leaves, the waitress chases after her, following her outside, to thank her for trying to stand up for her. And she's going to give Helen some advice on where she can find some actual chicken. And with one more roll that advice is...

Excitement Reality...

Oh... Okay... Yeah, I know what this means. And I will save it for the next post.

To Be Continued

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So after playing my first little session, as short as it was, I do already feel like I am starting to get a handle on the game. I only ended up doing two rolls in the actual game and the rest were all rolling on the Mythic emulator, but they were very simple and straight forward. I'll try making them a bit crunchier as the game progresses by adding in higher difficulties and experimenting with advantages and disadvantages, but so far I like the dice system. I didn't get a chance to try out combat yet either. I was kind of hoping things might go that way with the bartender, but that Flub kind of killed that. We'll see how combat goes when it happens.

As for the setting... This game is made to be played in any setting you want so I could easily homebrew something if I wanted to, but I figured since it's the first time I've ever played I should just use one of the stock settings provided. I didn't even realize it at first, but it's a very Burgerpunk setting. I've heard people joke about Burgerpunk before but I've never seen it actually implemented until now. I mean... I'm playing a TTRPG about trying to find a fucking chicken sandwich... but I'm having fun so I guess that's all that matters.