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alphashley14 · 2 years ago

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One of Us

A Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated/Mystery Skulls Crossover

Chapter Fourteen

Soul on Fire

Thanks to Lewis and Velma, they now had resources from the Haunted Museum, the chest of clues from Darrow University, and the books the Mystery Skulls had collected from the Darrow Library to go through along with the Mystery Skulls’ vast collection.

Mystery Inc. was already familiar with the Darrow University texts. As was Mr. E, who was the one who stole them and sent them to the gang in the first place. But it was new to the Mystery Skulls and there was a lot of new information to be taken from their new sources.

They kept at it for another couple of hours, and Daphne only became distracted when, at about 6:30 or so, she was putting a couple of dead-end books back on the top floor of the library and a painting caught her eye.

It wasn’t exactly Daphne’s style, but all the same there was something beautiful about it. It wasn’t moving or otherwise haunted. In fact, it was quite different from most of the paintings in the house. It was Japanese, for starters. And it was old. Very old - so old that the Mystery Skulls had seen fit to display it behind glass. It was of a warrior, her sword raised in combat against an enormous… Wolf? With multiple tails.

There was something familiar about that warrior… and the creature she was fighting.

“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Vivi asked.

“Who is she?” Daphne asked.

“That,” Vivi said proudly, “Is Mushi. She was a warrior of the Onna-musha - basically the female equivalent of the samurai. She was also my ancestor.”

“Oh, really? Wow! She was beautiful.” Daphne said.

“Yeah, the blue hair is kind of a dead giveaway,” Vivi laughed.

“So… what’s that she’s fighting?” Daphne asked.

It didn’t escape her notice the way Vivi hesitated before she answered. “A kitsune,” she finally said. “A powerful shape-shifting fox spirit. There’s a legend in my family that Mushi fought beside one. I’ve been told… that I have a lot in common with her.”

“Must be where you get your ‘warrior spirit’, huh?” Daphne teased.

“Girl. You have no idea.” Vivi said with complete seriousness.

Daphne never got to ask her what she meant by that, because that’s when everyone’s attention was seized by Velma popping out of a pile of books on the bottom floor.

“Jinkies! Guys, take a look at this!”

Vivi and Daphne turned away from the painting and looked over the railing to look down on the others.

“What is it, Velma?” Fred asked.

“This book is a sort of encyclopedia on magical artifacts. Take a look at this: The Daemon Ritus.” And she turned around to show the gang an illustration of a small, pyramid-like object.

The Mystery Skulls looked at each other and winced.

“It says here that this object is capable of removing protoplasms and displacing them!” Velma exclaimed excitedly.

“Okay Velma. Like, pretend that no one here understands what that means.” Shaggy said pointedly.

“Velma-” Vivi started, but Velma interrupted.

“It can take a soul out of one body and put it into another one!”

“Oh. Like, oh!” Shaggy cried.

“Uh, guys…” Lewis said.

“This could switch our bodies back!” Mr. E exclaimed, getting excited.

“We destroyed it!” Vivi blurted out.

Mystery Inc. whirled around to look up at her.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, guys.” Mystery said.

“But why?” Shaggy exclaimed, banging his head against a table with frustration.

“Keep reading. Just another paragraph down.”

Velma’s eyes scanned the page, and she visibly paled. “Oh. Jinkies…” She said quietly.

“Yeah. If we hadn’t destroyed it, an ancient race of demons would have used it to take over the world,” Vivi said.

“Ah, yes. The Spooky Island mystery.” Mystery said fondly.

“That one probably would’ve made us famous, but the federal government covered it up in the end.” Lewis pouted. “Something about not wanting to cause a panic.”

“I thought you guys said body swapping was a new one for you,” Fred said.

“Well we never actually saw the Daemon Ritus transfer a soul into a different vessel,” Vivi explained. “It was meant to steal the energy of many souls and transfer their power into one entity - which we stopped them from doing before they completed that step.”

“So as helpful as it would be to have it right now, between dealing with this and the world being already over, I’ll take this any day,” Mystery said.

“No kidding,” Scooby gulped.

“You know what? I think we’re at a good stopping point for now,” Lewis said. “I’m going to get dinner started.”

“I know I could use a break,” Fred agreed.

“Like, yeah!” Shaggy said. “If you’re half as good at making enchiladas as flipping pancakes, then this’ll be great!”

“Oh boy!” Scooby licked his lips.

As they left the library behind, Daphne couldn’t help but glance back at the painting of Mushi and the kitsune. There was something important about it, she was sure of it!

But what?

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Dinner with the Mystery Skulls was a surprisingly enjoyable affair.

Mr. E, Shaggy, and Scooby helped in the kitchen with Vivi and Lewis while Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Mystery sat at the table and watched them work under Lewis’ direction.

Making dinner went pretty smoothly - for the most part. Scooby was eventually kicked out of the cooking process when Lewis noticed him sneaking before-dinner bites. Shaggy, being in Arthur’s body without his usual appetite, had much better self-control.

Lewis turned on one of his playlists as they worked, and dinner was nearly done when a Mystery Skulls’ song came on.

The enchiladas were assembled, the chili sauce and cheese was lathered generously on top, all four pans were in the oven, and the side dishes were all coming along nicely. Yes indeed, a blend of truly wonderful smells was filling the kitchen when Vivi’s voice crescendoed through the speakers.

“Soul on- soul on- soul on fire tonight.

Soul on- soul on- soul on fire tonight!...”

Vivi and Lewis’ faces absolutely lit up when they realized what song was on and without even having to exchange a word about it, they exchanged flirtatious smirks and began to bob their heads

“I was born poor, I’ll probably die poor,” Lewis sang along.

“Was born with nothing and I’ll die with less.

Hearing you singin’s got me singin’ too,

It keeps me dreaming, all I dream is you, Oh.”

Beside Velma, Daphne smiled dreamily and leaned next to Fred. Oh, brother.

As the beat of the synth ascended, Lewis and Vivi sashayed across the kitchen until they were together. The Dead Beats, having come to the sound of music, delightedly began to swirl around the room, bouncing and trilling to the beat. And as the lyrics returned, the Master and Lady of the house began to dance.

Vivi came in for the background vocals.

“Tell~ me!”

Then Lewis with the lyrics.

“You got my soul on fire tonight!”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my love, stare into the fire.”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my soul on fire tonight!”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my love stare- love stare!”

As the chorus repeated and Lewis and Vivi continued to rotate around the room, laughing and singing together, Velma’s eyes wandered to the others. Mystery looked pleased - clearly he approved of the relationship. Shaggy and Scooby, the goofballs (who clearly knew nothing about romantic love but that was a whole other thing) were tapping their toes. Daphne was sending Fred signals, and as usual Fred wasn’t receiving them.

And then there was Mr. E.

His posture was relaxed at his station, where he was keeping an eye on the black beans and rice. He was smiling, tapping his fingers and lightly nodding his head to and fro with the music. But there remained that deep sadness and longing in his eyes that Velma had caught on his face several times at random moments throughout the day, and she knew he must be thinking of Angel.

With everything else going on, Velma had to remind herself that the wound was fresh for him and he was trying to stay strong and productive through his grief. But all the same… was it terrible that it kind of pissed her off?

The pattern from the chorus broke with Vivi singing,

“Soul on- soul on- soul on fire tonight.

Soul on- soul on- soul on fire tonight!...”

Then Lewis came in with the next verse.

“Feelin’ my dreams are never comin’ true.

Was on my nightmare til’ it came to you.

Making me feel just like I wanted to,

You keep me dreaming, all I dream is you. Oh!”

Then as the instrumentals crested once more, Lewis picked Vivi up effortlessly under her legs and lifted her into the air against his chest. Vivi shrieked with laughter, her arms thrown around his neck.

Through all her cynicism, it was enough to make even Velma feel all mushy inside just looking at how happy they were together. They were so caught up in each other that they actually missed the first few lines of their return vocals. But their voices on the radio did just fine at supplementing the chorus over the sound of the lovers’ giggling.

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my soul on fire tonight!”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my love, stare into the fire.”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my soul on fire tonight!”

“Tell~ me!”

“You’ve got my love stare- love stare!”

As the chorus repeated and the rest of the song trailed off into repeating vocals that blended with the instrumentals, Vivi grabbed Lewis by the ascot and pulled him into a kiss.

The Dead Beats broke out into happy noises at the sight. Mystery, looking extremely pleased, looked away respectfully. Mr. E did the same, albeit while red in the face at the open display of affection. (Mr. E blushing! Definitely something that never occurred to Velma.) Daphne gushed, Freddy was smiling, and Shaggy and Scooby looked at each other and fake gagged. Of course.

“Alright, alright. Settle down everyone,” Vivi giggled, her cheeks pink as her boyfriend set her down.

“Sorry about that - when it comes to that song it’s easy for us to get carried away,” Lewis said with a shit-eating grin on his face. But even as he apologized Vivi was leaning against him and reaching for his hand to interlock their fingers.

“I think it was just wonderful! Oh, it’s so romantic!” Daphne said delightedly.

Right then, one of the timers went off for their food.

“Eh, Lewis? What do you want me to do with this?” Mr. E asked.

“Just stir it and turn the heat down as low as it’ll go to keep it warm until the rest is done,” Lewis said, leaving Vivi’s side to go help.

Before long, dinner was served.

Given that they’d eat just about anything, most people often disagreed with Shaggy and Scooby on the concept of what tasted good (this was the same pair who loved clam-flavored ice cream and had once gorged themselves on years-old gator burgers), but in this case Shaggy was right. Lewis was a really good cook. While the Peppers' restaurant, Pepper Paradiso, specialized in spicy food, Lewis had adjusted his recipes to take his guests’ tastes into consideration. He’d made four batches of enchiladas: one beef, one chicken, and one of each of the original recipe, with sauce spicy enough to melt your tongue off. At least to the standards of literally everyone except Lewis, Vivi, Scooby, and Mr. E.

How that came about was actually quite funny. Shaggy, still thinking as if he was still in his own body, tried to shove an entire spicy beef enchilada into his mouth at once and literally belched fire. He was so shocked by Arthur’s taste buds that he nearly threw up, and Scooby had to rush in to save the day by yanking his tongue out of his mouth and dousing it with ketchup to douse the heat. Then Lewis brought him an entire half-gallon jug of milk.

It wasn’t exactly funny at the moment, but once it was established that Shaggy wasn’t literally dying, everyone had a good laugh over it.

“L-like, I’d forgotten what spicy food’s like to someone who like, doesn’t have the mouth for it,” Shaggy wheezed.

“‘Someone who doesn’t have the mouth for it,’” Velma echoed thoughtfully, “Hey Mr. E, how well do you handle spicy food? When you’re in your own body, I mean.”

Mr. E held up a finger ‘just a moment’, while he chewed the bite of rice and black beans in his mouth. “Not very well,” he laughed after he swallowed. “I remember I went on a trip to New Orleans one summer with Cassidy and her family, and they put Cajun in everything there. The Williamses teased me the whole time - all in good fun, of course.” And again, he was smiling, but Velma could tell that through his pain the memory of her was bittersweet.

If you loved her so much, then why weren’t you her ally- our ally? Why couldn’t you have treated her the way she deserved when she was still alive? Velma thought. But she kept those thoughts to herself. After all, Velma knew the power of the curse, so she knew it wasn’t entirely his fault. She also knew that all on his own, he’d broken free of it and was trying to do better.

But still, those bitter feelings persisted.

“Alright then Mr. E, inquiring young minds want to know,” Velma said, putting a spicy chicken enchilada on a plate and sliding it over to him. “Same person, different body. How does he fare?”

Mr. E gulped, looking around at everyone’s expectant faces as if to ask for help. “Do I have to?”

“I mean, no one’s gonna make you,” Scooby said.

“But it is for science,” Velma said mischievously.

“Who knows? Maybe it’ll provide a clue,” Daphne said, going along with it.

“This is revenge, isn’t it?” Mr. E asked dryly.

“Maybe,” all five members of Mystery Inc. said at once.

“Fine,” he sighed, rolling his eyes.

After a moment of trepidation, he took a bite.

The first good sign was that he didn’t immediately spit it out. Then he hummed, pleasantly surprised as he chewed, and swallowed. “Huh. So this is the appeal with spicy food.”

“Well? What’s it like?” Daphne asked.

“Weird,” he replied. “I know for a fact that I’d be having about the same reaction Shaggy did if I was in my own body, but Shaggy’s taste buds are used to it so it’s just… good. Really good, actually. All the flavor with none of the pain. Thanks again for the meal, Lewis.” He said, taking another bite.

“I’m glad you like it,” Lewis said, looking very proud of himself. “I’ve been in the kitchen with the Peppers for as long as I can remember.”

“‘With the Peppers?’ Don’t you mean your parents?” Fred asked.

“Oh, I’m adopted,” Lewis said. “I don’t remember much of my birth parents. They died in an incident with a monster when I was… three or four, I think? Maybe five? But the Peppers have never treated me any differently from their own kids. I consider them my parents, and their bio kids are my sisters. They’re really good people.”

“That’s terrible!” Daphne exclaimed.

“It is,” Lewis shrugged. “But it doesn’t bother me much anymore. Maybe it’s not fair to them, but I remember so little of my bio parents that I don’t think of them much, and the Peppers are wonderful. They taught me everything I know about food.”

“I think I can understand that,” Fred said. “I’m… I guess ‘adopted’ too. My Mayor-Dad may have kinda, sorta, kidnapped me. And he wasn’t the best parent… a lot of times. But at the end of the day, he still raised me, and I know he loved me. Especially after everything that happened with my ‘real’ Mom and Dad, I consider him more my father than them.”

“I’m sorry you weren’t as lucky as I was in the family category,” Lewis said.

“You said your parents were killed by a monster?” Mr. E asked thoughtfully. “There are monsters in… where were you guys from again? I know it’s in Texas. It was… Tempo, right?”

“Oh, no. I mean yeah sure, there are mysteries abound to be found in Tempo, but my parents didn’t die there. We were from Crystal Cove originally, remember? Otherwise we wouldn’t be part of your curse. No - they died here. In Crystal Cove. I moved to Tempo with the Peppers.”

“Waitwaitwait- when did this happen? This would have been during my group’s time, wouldn’t it? I think I would have remembered a monster actually killing people during my Mystery solving days!”

“That’s because it didn’t happen during your mystery solving days,” Mystery said sadly. His ears were down, and his brows were furrowed. “It happened about two months after you left.”

“What?”

“You think the curse stopped after it got rid of you? It took almost a year for monsters to stop appearing after the Original Mystery Incorporated disappeared. I’m sure you all remember how chaotic Crystal Cove was during Crybaby Clown’s reign without Mystery Inc. to maintain the balance. Well let me tell you: 20 years ago, it was a lot worse. With multiple monsters on the loose getting increasingly violent without anyone able to stop them. Come to think of it, they didn’t stop appearing until after the not-yet-formed Mystery Skulls left Crystal Cove,” Mystery said thoughtfully.

“How do you know all that?” Scooby asked.

A look flashed across Mystery’s face like he’d been caught, but it disappeared just as quickly. “Vivi’s Dad and Grandma Yukino told me about it,” he dismissed the topic and buried his face in his dinner.

Vivi and Lewis also went straight to eating, avoiding their guests’ eyes.

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, and Mr. E all looked at each other. They knew that look well enough.

The Mystery Skulls had yet another thing they were holding off on telling them.

But what?

Whatever it was, it was apparent that the Mystery Skulls didn’t think it was the right time to share it, if at all.

The table fell into silence for a few minutes, broken only by the clink of dinnerware.

How to get them talking again? Velma wondered.

She looked around the table and once again her eyes fell on Mr. E, working his way through a plate piled as high as Scooby and Vivi’s. If talking about the past had been what got the Mystery Skulls to slip up, then maybe Velma could hit two birds with one stone. There was something she’d been meaning to ask…

“Hey Mr. E,” Velma said casually.

“Hm?” He acknowledged through a mouthful of beef.

“You never finished your story earlier.”

The entire table abruptly went quiet. Mr. E, yet again looking very put-on-the-spot, swallowed the food in his mouth. “Oh. You mean from back at the hilltop? When you asked why I went back to Pericles?”

Velma nodded. “We don’t have to talk about it now, but given that we’re all together and no one was saying anything else, I figured now’s as good a time as any.”

“No, no. You’re right. You all deserve the rest of my explanation. It’s fine that you’re still angry with me. In fact, it’s to be expected,” he said, sulking a little.

“I’m not angry,” Velma said, to her own surprise as much as his. “At least not as angry as I was this morning, after everything that’s happened today. I just… want to understand.”

He was so surprised it took him a second to respond. “Okay then… Let’s see… where did we leave off? Right. When I reached out to Velma. I’m good to tell you the rest of it, now. If that’s alright with everyone else.”

There were nods all around.

“Okay. So, when I was telling you all this story earlier I had actually gotten a little ahead of myself. I’d lost your trust - rightfully so. Sorry about the Obliteratrix, by the way. Alice took it further than I meant for her to, but it really was all special effects. I never would have actually hurt any of you.”

“At this point I'm too exhausted to even be mad at you. For now just consider it water under the bridge,” Velma said dryly.

“Thanks for not actually blowing up the Mystery Machine,” Fred said anxiously.

“Really? I mean- okay then. Anyway - Ed was dead, and Cassidy and I were hardly speaking anymore, much less working together. So after I drove Velma and Hot Dog Water against me, I couldn’t get anyone else to work with me. No one else wanted to, because I’d given in to my own greed and other bullshit, and it made me treat the people around me in ways they didn’t deserve. Everyone, that is… except one.” He sighed and looked away in shame, rubbing the back of his neck.

“At the time I came to see you Velma, if I recall correctly you all were in the middle of the Graveyard Ghoul mystery. You were out by yourself looking for clues while the rest of the gang was otherwise occupied.”

“Stuffing their faces with German chocolate,” Velma confirmed, giving the gang the side-eye. All of them shrugged guiltily.

“Well, here’s the part you don’t know,” Mr. E sighed. “A few days prior, Professor Pericles had called a meeting of the Original Mystery Incorporated - the first time all five of us had been together in twenty years. None of us would have gone if we’d known he was the one who called the meeting, but he tricked us. Cassidy, Brad, and Judy all thought that I’d arranged the meeting, and I was under the impression that Cassidy had called it. Then he showed up,” Mr. E growled, his scowl making him look more like himself than Velma had seen him all day.

“He offered a partnership - told us that you kids had another disk piece and that our best chance of getting the better of you was to work together again. Now, to be clear, I am not completely stupid. Neither are Brad and Judy, and Cassidy certainly wasn’t. That, we all actually agreed on at the time. We looked at him individually, and told him to go fuck himself. Not in those words exactly, but to the same effect.”

Several people snorted at that.

“But of course that was all part of his plan. He’s a patient bird. He had bid his time, watched from the shadows, and he knew exactly when to strike. He’d already murdered Ed, nudged Angel and I apart, egged me on and nudged my isolation along, then he started dropping in.

“After you refused my offer and left me Velma, you didn’t see it. But right after you left, he was there. Perched on a tree branch right above us, having watched the whole thing. He knew how desperate I was to have someone by my side. He knew exactly where I’d be and what I was going to do before I did it, and he was there lying in wait when the sting of rejection was fresh and I was ripe for the picking. ‘The others won’t work with me, so that leaves only you, Ricky. My sweet Ricky.'” He said mockingly.

“God,” He sighed, running a hand over his face. “I knew he was being manipulative, and I still gave him exactly what he wanted. He knew me, and he knew exactly what to say. He knew what I wanted most was impossible, but he dangled such a convincing illusion of it in front of my nose that I fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker. He played me so well that eventually, I thought our partnership was my idea,” he scoffed, shaking his head at his past self, “what a joke. So that’s it, Velma. That’s how I wound up back under Pericles’ thumb. Because I was stupid and pathetic.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

All eyes snapped over to Mystery. The little dog looked absolutely livid. But once he saw everyone looking at him he got a grip on himself, his lips lowering over his teeth and his fur lying flat on his back. He looked over at Mr. E and smiled sadly.

The table was quiet for a few moments.

“Okay,” Velma finally said.

“Okay?” Mr. E echoed.

“There was a lot there. But I think I understand better now. Thank you for telling us,” Velma said, going back to her food. She… really wasn’t sure what to say or do with that information. Not yet anyway. But for now she wanted Mr. E to know that she was okay with him being there. Even with all their history and her mixed feelings and everything else… She trusted people. Maybe that was a weakness of hers, but she wanted to give him another chance. He’d earned it.

“Good job, Ricky.” Mystery said, following suit.

Everyone else eventually went back to their dinner as well. Mr. E was the last to pick up his fork again, looking around incredulously at the others as if he couldn’t believe how fine they were with his confession.

“Oh. And, Mr. E?” Velma said.

He looked at her like he was expecting the other shoe to drop.

But all Velma said was, “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Then she went right back to her dinner. And after another moment of processing, Mr. E did the same.

“... Thanks, Velma.”

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Ricky was tense for the rest of the meal. At any moment, he anticipated… something. Some sort of reprimand or consequence for what he’d told them. Mocking, teasing, jabs, the silent treatment, anything.

But nothing of the sort ever happened. The meal just continued oddly… normal. The Gluten Demon was brought up and that led to Mystery Incorporated recounting the Headless Horror mystery and telling the Mystery Skulls all about how they’d met Dr. Rick Spartan, Cachinga, and Marian for the first time. Vivi took her scarf off and she and Velma compared turtlenecks. Fred, Daphne, and Lewis talked about ascots and men’s fashion. Shaggy and Scooby were… Shaggy and Scooby. And Ricky was… there. They didn’t push him to talk or join in, but they didn’t ignore him either. Nor did they seem at all displeased that he was with them.

It was strange, yet also sort of perfect.

I don’t deserve this, he thought to himself. But is it selfish of me to enjoy it while I have it anyway?

Between the nine of them, they absolutely demolished dinner. There would be zero leftovers to be found the next day, that was for sure. They all pitched in to get the dishes where they needed to be and straightened up the table. Which went without incident until Velma, her arms full of dirty plates, asked Mr. E to open a door for her. Or rather, she tried to.

“Hey Mystery, could you please get the door for me?”

Of course he didn’t acknowledge her, thinking she was talking to the dog. And Mystery was on the other side of the room and thought she was talking to the human.

“Hey Mystery-” Then Velma realized what she’d said. “Oh my God, now I’m doing it!” She exclaimed. “Mister. E. Could you please open this door for me?” Velma asked again, pronouncing both words this time.

“Oh, you were talking to me. Sorry Velma, I got it,” He said, rushing to get the door for her.

“I’m the one who got your name wrong. Why are you apologizing?” She asked, stepping into the kitchen.

A few minutes later everyone was in the kitchen helping put everything away and get all the dishes in the sink when Lewis popped his head in from the dining room. “Hey, Mr. E?”

“Yeah?” Ricky and Mystery both said at once.

“Oh. Hehe. Sorry. I don’t know which one I said now. Uh- Mister. E, as in the homo sapien, you left your jacket on the back of your chair.”

“Oh! Thanks Lewis," Ricky said, accepting his jacket from Lewis and putting it on.

“You know what? This isn’t working.” Vivi said, putting her arms up in the air.

Then she asked a question that absolutely nothing that had happened thus far today could have prepared him for.

“Hey, E? Would you mind if we started calling you Ricky?”

You could almost hear the record scratch as the entire room suddenly went dead quiet, staring at them.

“I mean- sorry if that was overstepping,” Vivi said. “It’s just that between you and Mystery, your names are so similar that they keep getting mixed up. And even when we get them right, whenever we say either of your names, both of you look up. Mystery doesn’t exactly have another name to fall back on, and you do.”

“I mean I do have another name but humans can’t exactly say it,” Mystery added.

“Ricky does suit him,” Lewis said.

“Or if that makes you uncomfortable, could we call you Mr. Owens?”

“No,” Ricky said a little too harshly. But he immediately caught himself. “Sorry- no. It’s just- Mr. Owens was my father. I never really got to be Mr. Owens, and the few times I’ve ever been called that it just feels wrong. So I suppose… Ricky’s fine. You can call me either/or. As long as you kids are okay with calling me that,” he said, turning to the new Mystery Inc.

“I mean- it would be the practical thing to do,” Fred said. “As long as you’re okay with us calling you that, E- or um… Ricky?”

Velma was staring at him with her eyes narrowed, arms crossed, hand held up to her chin deep in thought. She crossed the room to stand in front of him and sort of leaned in to look at him closely.

“Uh… what?” Ricky gulped, looking around the room for help.

After a tense moment of scrutinization, she finally broke the awkward silence.

“Ricky,” She said, testing it out. Then she turned around and stepped out of his space. “Yeah, I think I could get used to it.”

Ricky let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in.

“Me too! Uh, I think.” Scooby said.

“Like, yeah. It’s kinda weird but it’s like Velma said. Like, I could get used to it.” Shaggy shrugged.

“If you’d asked this morning I’d’ve been like ‘no way’. But now… Ricky… Yeah this’ll work,” Daphne said.

And that was how Ricky graduated to a first-name basis.

What a fucking day.

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Once the dishes were all in the sink, the Mystery Skulls told their guests to go wait for them in one of the central dens.

“We’re not going back to the library?” Scooby asked.

“The library isn’t exactly ideal for the conversation we promised you after dinner,” Vivi laughed.

Six sets of eyes widened. Clearly, Lew-lew’s mad kitchen skills had made them all temporarily forget what came after dinner.

“You mean-” Daphne started to say, but Lewis cut her off.

“Yeah. We’re going to spill the beans on what we’ve been keeping from you,” Lewis said. He said it with a smile, but Vivi knew him well enough to see that he was nervous.

Lewis and Vivi refused all offers of help with the dishes so that as their guests’ footsteps faded off with Mystery at the lead, Vivi and Lewis had a moment alone to talk.

“Alright. How do you want to go about this?” Lewis asked, scrubbing the largest pans first.

“I have an idea as to what would be the best approach."

They talked for a few minutes until they had a plan. Then Vivi asked: “Do you think we should tell them about… ‘our informant’ after that?”

“No,” Lewis said immediately. “It’s too much. Especially for Ricky. They’re bound to be freaking out enough about the other stuff as it is. Give them a night to process and rest. Then we’ll tell them in the morning before she gets here. It’ll be a big enough shock as it is without their blood pressure already being up because of us.”

“Ricky’s in a lot of pain because he thinks she’s dead. And he blames himself for it. He’s… a lot like Arthur. The longer we wait to tell him, the angrier he’ll be.”

“I know. But this isn’t about us. And trust me: today is not a good time to tell him. According to the Dead Beats… There was an incident with one of the mirrors in his room. That’s why it took him so long to come down earlier. Whatever he saw really upset him - don’t worry, the Dead Beats went ahead and moved the mirror to the basement. Anyway, Ricky’s pretending to be fine, but he’s not. We tell him that she’s alive and on her way here, he’ll have an anxiety attack or worse. And he won’t sleep a wink tonight. We don’t want that. He seriously needs to relax.”

“You’re right,” Vivi agreed with a sigh. “Dammit, I don’t like it. But you’re right.”

“Then it’s decided.” Lewis said, drying his hands as Vivi shut the dishwasher. “Minus Arthur’s part in our story, we tell them the truth about us tonight. And in the morning… we tell them the truth about who sent us back to Crystal Cove.”

༻˚⁺･⚉｡○✼༓☾⦾♫෴♡💛♡෴♫⦾☽༓✼○｡⚉･⁺˚༺

“My personal favorite theory is coven of witches,” Ricky shrugged.

“I’m still holding out hope for ‘secret trapping club.’” Fred said giddily.

“Seriously?” Velma deadpanned.

“No, but it’s funny to speculate,” Ricky chuckled.

Mystery had led them into a large yet cozy room with a high ceiling and tall, gothic rafters. There was plenty of seating space for all of them and a large roaring fireplace, above which hung a large not-moving print of the Mystery Skulls all together. Like the rest of the house, there was lots of pink, purple, and black in the decorations. There was a record player with a display case of Lewis’ record collection, a large TV with a gaming setup, two cabinets containing Lewis’ collection of romance movies and adventure games, and the walls were decorated with moving paintings of Peruvian landscapes and fluffy grazing alpacas.

“Neither of you aren’t even close,” Mystery said.

Just then, Lewis and Vivi entered the room. Lewis was rolling a large chalkboard, and Vivi was carrying a folder.

“Oh my. They have a chalkboard. Truly, this must be very serious business,” Ricky joked as Lewis positioned the chalkboard in front of the fireplace where they could all see it.

“Hardy har-har. Do you want us to tell you or not?” Vivi said flatly.

“Cuz I mean, we could make you wait another day if you’d prefer,” Lewis shrugged.

“No!” All of Mystery Incorporated exclaimed over-dramatically.

“Do not listen to him! He- he doesn’t speak for all of us!” Fred said in mock-seriousness.

“Yes! Yes. Please, we beg you, do not let Ricky’s smart ass mouth prolong the suspense any longer!” Velma said, shaking her head and trying not to laugh.

Ricky chuckled, brushing aside the feeling he got when the kids said his name.

“Okay then. Settle down and buckle your seatbelts,” Vivi said.

Lewis drew a five-row, three-column table on the board. When he was done, it looked like this:

“To start off our explanation, Vivi and I talked and decided to start off with what you know before making our way over to what you don’t know,” Lewis said, turning around.

“As you all know,” Vivi said, pointing to the board with a ruler, “the members within each mystery solving group connected to the curse of Crystal Cove, who are collectively known as the Children of Nibiru, traditionally fall into a distinct pattern of four kids and an animal descendant of the Annunaki, and further fall into roughly distinguishable roles based on general appearances, skills, and personality traits. Fred and Brad, Daphne and Judy, Velma and Cassidy, Shaggy and Ricky, and Scooby and Professor Pericles respectively all fall into the same roles. It’s this connection that allowed the being possessing Nova to swap Ricky, Shaggy, and Arthur - because they’re all in the same role.”

Lewis circled Shaggy, Ricky, and Arthur’s column on the table.

“Yes, we all knew this. What’s your point?” Velma asked.

“The point,” Mystery said, “is that as the Annunaki explained to Ricky and Shaggy, Arthur is the only member of our group who fits enough into that model that the swap was possible. The rest of us are in one way or another deviant from the pattern, and the Mystery Skulls collectively really only hang onto it by a thread.”

“And that’s what we’re going to tell you tonight,” Vivi said.

“Rohkay,” Scooby said. The others nodded to indicate that they were following along.

“First, the most obvious thing that differentiates the Mystery Skulls from every single other group that’s come before us,” Vivi said nervously, reaching over and grabbing Lewis’ hand.

Lewis took a deep breath. “As you all know through your own research,” Lewis sighed, “Three years ago our group investigated a supposedly haunted cave system and there was an accident that resulted in Arthur losing his arm and one fatality.”

“Up until this point, we’ve allowed you all to believe that the person who died was the fifth member of our group,” Vivi said.

“But that isn’t true,” Mystery confessed.

“What?” All six of them cried out at once.

“The Mystery Skulls have only four members. We’ve always had only four members. There isn’t, hasn’t, and likely never will be a fifth member of the Mystery Skulls,” Vivi explained.

“But like- that can’t be right!” Shaggy exclaimed. “Like, that doesn’t make any sense!”

“He’s right - it doesn’t. I uncovered from my research about you, independent of theirs, that one of your members died. Unless you somehow fabricated it? But I don’t see why you would do that,” Ricky said.

“That’s just it,” Mystery sighed. “I wish I could say otherwise, but we aren’t making it up, and we didn’t lie. Three years ago, in a cave system near Tempo, one of us was murdered. After the fact, after- everything happened, there was too much police involvement and press to cover up the fact that one of us died. But we could cover up who.”

“Wait wait wait- this still doesn’t make any sense! If one of you really did die, and you only have four members, then how are you all still… here?” Daphne asked, shrinking next to Fred.

“Because he didn’t leave,” Vivi said, with such an indescribable sadness that they all knew it to be nothing but the truth.

“The member of the Mystery Skulls who was killed three years ago…”

Lewis pointed at the chalkboard and to the shock of their guests, the piece of chalk in his other hand flew into the air and, by itself, crossed out his name in one furious swipe.

“... was me.”

And that’s when the whites of Lewis’ eyes turned black, and he was engulfed from head to toe in a pink inferno. No sooner had the six of them shot to their feet, gasping in horror, the flames cleared.

And floating before them, terrifying, spectral, and real, was the ghost of Lewis Pepper.

Scooby yelped with fear and jumped into Shaggy’s arms. Velma and Daphne shrank behind Fred, and without even thinking about it, Ricky dashed to stand between the monster and the only five things on Earth that he had left to care about.

Oh, it occurred to him as he trembled, Soul on Fire, indeed.

SO. This is what was originally planned for Chapter 13. As you can see, it would have been kind of perfect for the spooky ghost reveal to line up with unlucky/magical number 13, but then it took over 3,000 words to get Ricky downstairs. So here we are at Chapter 14. Lol For real tho, I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS REVEAL FOR 14 CHAPTERS! I did NOT expect it to take this long for us to get to this point, but here we are. I've literally been saving the song 'Soul on Fire' all this time just so that it would be in the chapter to foreshadow this reveal! I mean- okay, it wasn't exactly a reveal to us, but Mystery Incorporated is shooketh. 👻 Enjoy that cliffhanger, by the way. Because I have no idea when the next chapter (and the rest of the big reveal) will be written and posted. 😜 SO - The past couple of chapters of this fic have definitely put the Mystery Skulls on the back burner with the main focus being on the SDMI characters, so I was happy to bring them back into the spotlight this chapter. And for those of you who caught the reference at the beginning: come on. This is a Scooby Doo BODY-SWAP FIC. I had to make at least one reference to the live-action 2002 film. And given that there's so little Mystery Skulls canon to work with, why not give references like that to them? Kudos to anyone who got that reference without needing to read the author's notes. You get a gold star! ⭐ And an extra-shiny gold star if you caught the other, less obvious reference to the same film during the dinner scene. 🌟 Ricky's experience with Cajun food in New Orleans is based on my own experiences, by the way. Loved New Orleans - I was there the week before Mardi Gras last year. But no matter where you turn, the spicy WILL find you. 😆 I swear to God, my singular week in New Orleans exposed me to so much spicy food that it literally changed the structure of my mouth or something. 😝 Or maybe it was just forced exposure therapy. I was never able to handle even a teeny bit of spice before. It's a sensory thing with me. Like, I could not even stand to eat pepperoni pizza because that little bit of spice was just too much for me. But now? I can actually eat some spicy food. I like pepperoni! And I 100% believe that I have the Hell week my tastebuds endured in NOLA to thank for it. Back to the fic from my "obviously so-interesting life," the gang is calling Mr. E "Ricky" now! Stemming from practicality or no, progress is progress! 😁 That's all I'll say about this chapter - but I could talk on and on about it. If you notice things or have predictions/opinions, PLEASE SHARE THEM. The reason why I'm not saying more is BECAUSE I like hearing your thoughts! I like having conversations! I'd love to talk about this fic and SDMI or Mystery Skulls with anyone who wants to! I hope you all loved this chapter just as much as I did! Until next time, Auf Wiedersehen! 😈

Chapters 1-13 of One of Us are presently posted on Archive of Our Own.

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bahamutgames · 1 year ago

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SAGE 2023 Postin'

Yay!! SAGE 2023 has started! Last year I didn't make the time to play much of anything despite having a year to do it lmao, and that really bummed me out so I really wanted to get ahead of the curve and go ahead and play some stuff! Idk how much I'll play from this year's showing cause there's a LOT of great stuff! But I'll make however many posts it takes. Here's what I played tonight that I think YOU should check out!!

Dotty Game - by Wootinaboot

A game from a friend of mine! This is a SUPER cute Megaman like where you play as an ADORABLE little bug and blast mushrooms! This demo is really neat cause it's actually a gameboy file that I had to play through emulator! Although, you can just play it in browser on their itch so that's nice too! Controls are tight, sprites are great, music is REALLY nice and I was surprised by how challenging it could get with some of the bosses. There's also a LOT of hidden stuff to find so be sure to play it all the way through! You do NOT want to miss the special surprise let me tell you!

The Wingless Bee - by Ryansil

Another game from a friend and famously, the creator of Pac-Man as you all know. This game I was not expecting at all, it's actually very similar to Frogger! Though it is kind of gloomy and sad. But it's cool and the demo really shows some neat stuff like perspective changes and boss fights. It's simple but I genuinely had an out loud "AHA!" moment when I figured out how to fight the boss. Cool stuff!

Sonic McOrigins Plus - by Difgue

FINALLY, GAMING IS GOOD AGAIN! I have SO MUCH nostalgia for these old Sonic McDonald's toys! I tried to collect all of them but obviously couldn't (I didn't even realize there were SO many!) But I can relive wonderful memories of Shadow Grinding, Shadow vs Omega Hockey, AiAi Banana Catcher, Amy and Rouge Tennis ect ect. I knew there were efforts to archive these types of game & watch styled games but I hadn't really tried any before myself. This feels great and even works great on my dinky phone!

F-ZERO POCKET - by Linky493

This was such a neat one! F-ZERO on Gameboy Color! It has a TON of characters and tracks, I was actually seriously shocked by how much was in here. It's a little difficult to play though but weirdly enough I feel like that's authentic to how a GBC F-ZERO would be. If you're a fan you gotta check it out the novelty of this one alone is so good!

Toree Saturn - by Siactro

Probably the least surprising thing I've ever said by this point: I love Toree! I've played the whole series and I think at this point I've S ranked every stage in the series??? Maybe? It's been a bit since I looked. So of course I had to try Toree Saturn! I hadn't seen gameplay prior to playing this so I figured it was just gonna be another level pack. But to my delight, no! It's actually a Toree Sequel! A brand new game! New models, new moves and mechanics! Now I am BEYOND excited for this game! I still have to play Kiwi 64 but it looks amazing and Siactro hasn't missed once yet. This was a lovely surprise!

Dono's Tale - by Super Item Studios

WOW! WOW WOW WOW! This one absolutely blew me away! I've had my eye on this game for a bit (I'm so sorry I missed the kickstarter, y'all, I WISH I HAD MORE MONEY I'D FUND SO MANY INDIE GAMES!) But I finally got to try it with this demo and just WOW! This game is SO good! Absolutely GORGEOUS artwork that looks so authentically SNES it's amazing. Super cute music and designs, this was an absolute treat! My favorite powers were fire + wings! I wish you had more use for the other powers, though I do assume a full game will have levels soley based around each of Dono's abilities. This game rules!

Bub's Big Blowout - by Miles' Games

DUDE THIS GAME LOOKS REAL!? FAN GAMES JUST STRAIGHT UP LOOK LIKE OFFICIAL GAMES NOWADAYS THIS IS NUTS!! Bub's Big Blowout is a 3D Platformer translation of Bubble Bobble and honestly, it rules! I genuinely think Taito should give them the resources they need to make this a real game cause this is SO high quality and it's just the demo! I don't even think the game is done. This seriously looks and feels amazing! Only issue is I couldn't get my controller to work with it, but if it did I think this would feel almost 100% official

Sonic Battle Rush - by FreeGilio

A 2D Sonic Fighter? Using Sonic Battle Sprites? And Shadow has a Mephiles alt? YES YES YES!! A 2D Sonic Fighting Game is basically one of my dream games, but surprisingly I haven't tried any of the dozen fan attempts at the concept... Until today! This demo only features Sonic and Shadow and 3 stages, but it absolutely RULES! Both characters feel fantastic and unique and have fully fleshed out movesets! I was even able to string together some goofy little combos by myself and overall it felt super satisfying to play. Also there's a ton of modes and even ways to loadout your characters such as having 2 at once or taking turns. So the demo has lots to do! I'll absolutely be keeping up with this game going forward!

---

Today I just played some stuff that caught my eye from the SAGE 2023 trailer but I will try to play some more stuff as the year goes along! So if you have anything you think I'd like or if YOU submitted anything to Sage that you want me to look at just cause you want people to see your game? Why not, send that to me too!

There's so many amazing indie games it's genuinely hard to keep up with all of them. But SAGE is seriously becoming my favorite place to just discover new stuff or finally get to try things I'm excited for! Again I'm bummed it just kinda slipped my mind to try anything from last year but already we're not repeating that mistake. I encourage you to go try some stuff too if you have the time! Or at least just take a look at what's available! Everyone put in a LOT of hard work on these games!

#thoughts #sage 2023 #2023

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ruffboijuliaburnsides · 2 years ago

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So I wrote a Statement. This is a crossover between Hermitcraft and The Magnus Archives, ftr.

[Click of tape recorder being activated]

"[delighted gasp] Oh, I didn't realize you recorded them! Like, with a tape player and everything, wow, this is so retro!"

"...I can't decide if that's actually a dig or just you being eternally chipper."

"Oh, sorry! It's not a dig, I'm just surprised."

"It's fine, Scar just gives me shit for it sometimes."

"Well that's not nice, I'm sure you've got a good reason for not just using a digital recorder!"

"The, uh. The statements sometimes don't actually record. Or the recorder dies. Whatever's going on doesn't uh. The code doesn't mesh well with digital stuff?"

"Mm-hmm. That makes sense."

"...Seriously? I always thought it sounded kind of stupid."

"[nervous giggle] Well, maybe a little. That's okay, though, I'm the one coming to tell you about something weird. So do I just tell you what happened?"

"Sort of. Hang on. [clears throat] Statement of GeminiTay, regarding a caving expedition in Hermitcraft Season 9. Statement begins."

"Ooo, so official!"

"Gem."

"Sorry, right.

[a pause, and a deep breath]

"It was a few weeks ago, not long after we started on this world? Not right away, I didn't do a lot of caving on my own the first few days, I was running around with Pearl and Impulse mostly. But, well, you know how it goes, right? After the first little bit, when everyone's got a bed and some diamonds finally, everybody kind of breaks off and does their own thing so we can start gathering resources for our starter bases! And I made a tree again, so not a lot of caving necessary.

"I did need some deepslate, though, and preferably a few more diamonds, so I went down into the caves and thought maybe I'd be able to get diamonds without having to strip mine, since it's kind of boring! It's kind of scary, 'cause there could be creepers. I'm okay at everything else, they make lots of noise and give you warning before they're right up on you, but creepers, they're pretty quiet, and they can blow your stuff up if you're not careful, and even if it's over quick, exploding isn't the most fun way to respawn, you know? And I'd already been having some trouble with them this season.

"[a soft giggle] Impulse even engraved "Behind you, GEM!" on my sword when he enchanted it, 'cause it had happened so much. It's very sweet of him, especially 'cause it was so I could handle whatever was behind me myself.

"[hesitantly] It... I'm not a coward. I'm not. And I know we have infinite respawns, too, so it really shouldn't have been so scary, but... I don't know, Grian. I found a cave that hadn't been lit up, so I figured no one had been there yet. And it didn't seem too big, so I thought, hey, I'll light it up first, and clear out all the mobs, and then I'll go poking around and collect what I need. So I did! There was one little branch-off to a bigger cavern that I blocked up because I didn't want to deal with that but it was easy. Not even a particularly big cave, just threw down a few torches and I was all set!

"Um, the... the torches. They didn't go out. I could still see them burning, they didn't go out. But after I'd cleared everything out and was starting to collect the ores that I could spot, it... it started to get dark. Really dark. I-- It didn't make any sense. I saw some... well, I thought it was glow lichen, but... I don't know, it was a little more teal than lichen green, but it wasn't anything to worry about, right? But then I was mining near it and I heard some strange rattly noises. I thought they were probably skeletons on the other side of the wall, so I moved a little away, but..."

"...Gem, if you don't want to--"

"No, I can tell it!"

"Okay. Okay. What happened?"

"...Something... something came into the cave."

"A mob?"

"I don't know. If it was, it... There was a low rumble, and then everything went dark. The torches were still there, I was looking at one when it happened, but it was like... it was like they didn't actually cast light anymore. The darkness was almost thick enough to touch, I think. And then there... there was a heartbeat.

"I couldn't see anything. But there was a heartbeat, and a strange... it sounded like breathing, but not like a player or a mob that I know about, it was low and rattly and drawn-out, and it was so dark, and I just... I panicked. I ran to my staircase as quick as I could and blocked it off with whatever blocks I had on me and I ran. I don't think I slept for like three days after that, honestly. It was... whatever it was, it was tracking me. I heard it and then I stepped back, and it was... it was like it was trying to sniff me out. I just couldn't, I couldn't stay there, it was so terrifying. I don't know what it was, but... I went back a few days later, with Impulse and Pearl, just in case? There wasn't any glow lichen in the cave. And it was super brightly lit from the torches."

[long pause]

"Is that it?"

"Is... that not enough?"

"Oh! No, sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were done, is all."

"Oh, okay, yeah I'm done. I took a look around the cave and then just y'know. Went back up to the surface with Impulse and Pearl because even if it was being normal, that was weird, so I just left it."

"All right. Where's the staircase down, just in case I need to do more research?"

"Well, um... I kind of did fill the whole thing in with stone a few days after we went back down there, um. Just so nothing could, um. Come back up. You know?"

"Ah."

"Sorry."

"No, no, it's fine. I can't really blame you, that sounds... well, terrifying, to be honest."

"Yeah, it was kind of a lot. [a long pause] So, uh, did that... did that help?"

"Oh! Yes, yes it absolutely did, thank you!"

"Oh good, I'm so glad I didn't waste your time!"

"Aw, you could never do that."

[click as tape recorder turns off]

[click as tape recorder turns on]

"Post-statement notes. I have no idea what Gem encountered, but she's largely trustworthy and she's not the sort of person to straight out lie about something like this. [sigh] I have no idea what she could've run into, but clearly there was something going on. I was hoping we'd left this behind with season 8 and the other statements I've gotten were just flukes, but... this is too much to ignore.

[Very long pause]

"...Fuck."

#hermitcraft #tma #tha #my fic #mcyt #geminitay #grian

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bettsfic · 4 years ago

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march pinned: ending the sex project

in the march edition of my lowkey writing-related newsletter, in addition to my writing-related post roundup and upcoming consultation availability, i have personal essay recommendations and a segment on the definition of a project!

for more information on my creative coaching services, check out my carrd.

if you want to receive my lowkey writing-related newsletter directly, you can subscribe here.

full newsletter below the cut, or you can read it here.

fuck february, amiright?

i thought january was bad. but february. february was the stuff of nightmares. my cousin passed away from covid (you can read about her here; she was really an amazing person and i feel so lucky to have known her). i was finally formally diagnosed with PCOS (bittersweet, i guess). my car broke down. i took two (2) days off and it took me two and a half weeks to get caught up again. i can only hope march treats us all a little more gently.

the good news is, i finished revisions on my short story collection to send to my agent, finished workshop submissions for the semester, and now i can return to my first love, fanfiction. that i am constantly working through original fiction to return to fanfiction has been making me think a lot about the nature of a creative, capital-p Project. so, this month’s BTALA (been thinkin a lot about) is going to inspect the concept of a “project.”

new resource

last month i unveiled a folder of my favorite short stories which i’m pleased to hear several of you have perused and gotten some inspiration from. this month i’ve compiled my favorite personal essays. there are fewer essays than there are short stories because i’ve broken them into two groups: personal and craft. next month i hope to have the craft essays compiled.

i’m always looking for more things to love, so if you have recommendations for your favorite short stories and essays, i’d be happy to hear them!

writing-related posts

how to physically maneuver the revision process

the difference between M and E ratings of fic

resources for worldbuilding (check out the reblogs for more!)

a couple syntax/prose book recs

how to break a long work into chapters

march availability

unfortunately i have to cut my coaching hours down a bit, so i don’t have any openings left in march, but i have some availability in april. if you’re interested in a writing consultation, please fill out this google form!

you can learn more about my services on my carrd.

what i’m into rn

for the past year, i’ve basically been trapped in a 10x10 room, and my health is definitely reflecting that, both mentally (does anyone else feel like they’re living in groundhog day? just, every day being exactly the same except fractionally worse than the day before??) and physically (i reorganized the kitchen and could barely move for two days).

reader, i have discovered something called “walking,” in which i put on real human shoes and go outside. it feels strange, bestial. neighbors wave hello to me. a harrowing experience.

while doing this, this walking, i’ve been listening to the lolita podcast which a friend recommended to me, a ten-episode series that dives into everything lolita: the novel itself, its context, adaptations, greater cultural responses, and — as a sticker on my laptop says — vladimir “russian dreamboat” nabokov. as far as i can tell it seems well-researched and presents the many perspectives of lolita in a fair way. i’m only a few eps in, but i’m entranced so far. highly recommended if you, like me, have a complicated relationship with lolita.

i’ve also found myself mildly addicted to a mobile otome game called obey me, which. look i know it’s like the definition of cringe but it’s also mind-numbingly fun and if i want to spend my minimal free time pretending 7 demon brothers are all vying for my affection then that’s between me and god. it’s a lot of what i loved about WoW: frequent events, bright colors, a daily to do list of simple but satisfying tasks, many many rewards, and it doesn’t take itself very seriously. and if i have 4k fic written of mammon/reader that’s nobody’s business but mine and my longsuffering ao3 subscribers.

i’m telling you this because i don’t know anyone else who plays it and am desperate to trade headcanons. so if you play, or start playing, hit me up!! i will give u mad tips and daily AP.

been thinkin a lot about

the project. the project. even the word “project.” PROject (noun). proJECT (verb). what is the project? “project” comes from the latin pro and jacare which means “to throw forward,” or projectum which means “something prominent.” a projector throws forward an image. to project onto something means to throw your perspective onto something else. to embark on a project is to make something prominent in your life. the concept of “the projects” comes from public housing projects, the government throwing forward affordable housing.

what is the project? in joseph harris’ essay “coming to terms” he says that “to define the project of a writer is…to push beyond his text, to hazard a view about not only what someone has said but also what he was trying to accomplish by saying it.” harris’ perspective is that of an english teacher encouraging his students to read critically, not just to summarize a text but to find its project, its greater purpose. and while i first read this essay in a seminar on composition pedagogy, it stuck with me as a writer. it made me reconsider the greater nature of the creative project.

how many of us, if asked to describe our writing project, would begin with a plot or character premise, the nuts and bolts of a specific story? maybe even the working title? but i wonder, is breaking out the plot really the project? is the discipline of sitting down and typing really the project? and when the story is finished, is the project over? what is the project?

in 2019, i wrote 86k words of a novel. i began revising that novel last fall, and i’m finding that i’ll probably keep maybe less than 10k of that initial draft. i’m not bothered by that. the novel i wrote before that started at 125k, then i rewrote the entire thing to 200k, then i whittled it back down to 160k, and next i’ll be tasked with paring it back down to 80k. i’m not bothered by that either. in the past five years or so i’ve written about 2 million words, and i’ve only published 20k of them. only 1% of what i’ve written, i’ve published. in the words of lauren cooper (catherine tate), i’m not bothered.

i used to see publication as the birth of the project, and writing it akin to a long gestation period. then i saw publication as the death of the project, and its life was lived in its drafting. now, publication seems irrelevant to the project. the confines of a story and its many revisions are also irrelevant to the project. the beginning of a story is not the start of the project and the end of the story is not the end of the project. the project is larger than the story, its revisions, its publication, and its eventual readership.

i think it took me so long to see this because for so many years i was still in my first project, the sex project, an exploration of trauma and sexual identity, which began in 2014 with destiel fanfiction, endured through many fandom shifts, my MFA, years adrift as an adjunct, all the way through 2020 with the completion of my short story collection. i used to wonder how anyone could write about anything other than sex. to me it was the only topic worth my attention. i was certain that i would spend my entire life being a sex writer and i’d never find fulfillment writing a young adult sci fi adventure or a highly literary novel about complicated family dynamics. i was baffled by people who were interested in other things, who could write entire novels without using the word “cock” even once.

then my sex project ended. i don’t know when exactly it happened or why, but suddenly i realized i never wanted to write another artful description of an orgasm or find a tactful euphemism for a vagina ever again (personally i prefer “wet cunt” because not only is it blunt, i find it phonetically pleasing). obviously i’m still writing explicit fanfic but it doesn’t feel the same as it used to. sex feels more sidelined to me, even if it’s still the center and drive of a fic. i no longer get any personal satisfaction from writing it, although i do get satisfaction in sharing the work for readers to enjoy.

it’s like i’ve somehow solved the biggest puzzle of my life. or i guess made peace with my meanest monster, that extremely complicated double-mind of desire that some non-sex-repulsed asexuals feel: you want to feel desire you can’t actually feel so you write it into fiction, to try to understand this thing you can’t have and which society tells you you’re missing, and you don’t even know if you don’t have it, because you still feel desire for affection and intimacy, and maybe even a desire to be desired. and for those of us who are asexual and have c-ptsd, sex you don’t actually want (but don’t know you don’t want, because maybe you’re ambivalent and mildly curious and touch-starved) and an unrelenting drive toward people-pleasing can be a dangerous combination. how can you ever know what consent is if you always put other people’s desires above your own?

maybe i’m alone in this. maybe i’m not. maybe for most people, wanting sex is a light switch: yes i want it, or no i don’t. but for me, i had to write a whole lot of words to figure out things like desire, consent, intimacy, forgiveness, the shape that good love takes. the lengthy theoretical flowchart of “i might be interested in having sex if this and this and this and this and this happens in this exact order and under these exact circumstances.”

it was hard to write something into reality that i have never seen except in pieces, in subtext i clung to with no lexicon to give it shape and meaning. te lawrence in lawrence of arabia. some of tarantino’s early work. the film benny and joon. and weirdly, the star wars prequels (that one’s hard to explain; i’ll spare you). i don’t think the sex project was about coming to terms with my asexuality as much as it was trying to organize my thoughts and feelings by continuously rendering my own experiences within a greater, shinier ideal — like how you sometimes have to unravel the entire skein of yarn to find the loose end, and only then can you get started.

i guess i’m in the infancy of the power project now. i’m moving toward themes of control, infamy, greatness. the exact circumstances in which atrocity occurs. how people rise into leadership and fall from grace. the consequences of success. i don’t know why this project has come to me, or what, if anything, it has to do with me. i’m not famous and have no intention of becoming famous; i don’t have social power or influence, at least not beyond my little corner of fandom, and i’m not interested in having it. and yet, here we are, already hundreds of thousands of words in.

my fics digging for orchids (tgcf) and a standing engagement (the hunger games) deal with the detriments of fame. and even float (breaking bad) to a degree is about the aftermath of being so close to power. my novel cherry pop, loosely based on macbeth, is about an ongoing power exchange between two teenage girls. my other novel, vandal, is about a girl who believes she has magic powers and casts a spell on her neighbor to fall in love with her. and i’m in the very early stages of a novel called groundswell, a cult story i’ve been wanting to write for years. i had no idea why i couldn’t write it until i realized it wasn’t yet my project. i’m not even to the stage of developing characters, let alone a premise or plot. i’m still just building my aesthetic pile (i discuss the aesthetic pile here, as well as vandal in more detail), watching documentaries on cults, reading books, finding inspiration, marking down ideas as they come. it may be years before i’m ready to sit down and write it.

now that i know what the project is, i have more patience with myself. it doesn’t bother me to rewrite a novel from the beginning, or to scrap novels altogether, because the story isn’t the project. the project cannot be diminished by cutting words, sentences, paragraphs, entire chapters. the project does not have a product. the project cannot be published. the project is in the practice, in dragging the impossibly large into clear, acute existence, so you can see it. so you can see the very center of what you thought was an unknowable thing.

#pinned #lkwrnl

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originalcontent · 4 years ago

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Oooookay. Welcome back. Posting about pathologic part 4 I think? Part 4. We just reached Act 4 too, so everything’s going according to schedule. This gaming session had some ups and downs. Ups: That good good lore, and a lot of quality time spent with my good pals Daniil and Changeling and also Clara apparently, although she might not be my good pal after all, but w/e. Downs: FUuuuUUUUCKkkk we are so bad at video games, and also the kin folk have become A Lot, holy shit. Where to start.

Okay so this time the game wasn’t actually super stressful for me personally bc this time I kind of just handed off the controls to my sister every time shit got dangerous. She’s a lot better at video games than me. Shoutout @akpaley for keeping me from dying from stress in real life.

The drawback of this is that since she’s a lot better at video games she’s also a lot more willing to actually take risks rather than just running away from literally everything. Which I won’t deny, has gotten us a lot of much-needed money and resources but also.

WELCOME TO THE FUCKING DEATH SPIRAL PART OF THE GAME. I guess it had to happen eventually, right? Fuuuuuuuck us, do you have any fucking idea how much shit you have to redo when you’re randomly shanked by some dude every fifteen minutes? And they’re harder to fight every time we come back, apparently, and also our health is like permanently half gone? Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck why are there not more clocks.

Victor Kain, you were the one who made the clocks?? I could fucking kiss you. I owe you my life. Or like, six hundred of my lives. Hhh.

Okay, seriously though, the clock lore is actually kind of sick. Victor told us that they’re smaller versions of the cathedral, and we were like “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THaT’S WHerE wE RESET THE GaME IN THe PROLOGUE!!!!!!! METAPHYSICS!!!!!!!!!” The Kains are so cool.

(Maria Kaina got infected tho. Sorry, you. :( Although technically that happens later.)

Um, we gave the rest of our shmowder to Khan. We’re out now. We’ve been looking for more but haven’t found anything.

Also we made a random potion, and the plague showed up and was like “fuck you,” and I was like “damn, calm the hell down, you’re the one fucking killing people.”

Met with the Saburovs more. They were like “we have another suspect!” and I was like “yeah they probably don’t but w/e” and my sister was like “they’re in an infected land and we should probably save their lives” and I was like “why do we care about helping the Saburovs again, literally all they do is accuse random people of killing my dad, the Kains are obviously the best family, we should just be throwing in with them” and she was like “that’s not all they do, they also run the guards, you know those guys who patrol plague districts?” and I was like “okay fuck you’re right let’s visit them” and it turns out that that there was actually some super cool lore pertaining to the town’s mistresses. Also, god if they don’t have some cool reflections. I love everything about this town’s history.

Afterwards we randomly decided to visit Yulia for literally no reason, and she was like “I’m glad you’re here, I have a lot of super heavy important shit to discuss with you about the Inquisition that will be here tomorrow, it sure is convenient that you’re in my neighborhood for some reason even though I live in an incredibly inconvenient location?” Also she knows something about the nature of Artemy, Daniil, and Clara-or maybe the Changeling but she called her Clara? Oh yeah, Daniil was there too for some reason. Poor guy, I don’t think he’s okay. He cried on my shoulder a lot, he was endearingly open and earnest and for once I felt bad about the dialogue options wherein Artemy throws shade.

And then Clara happened to be standing outside literally right then? I wonder if that was going to be a big quest location and we just happened to arrive right before the game told us to go there anyway. I think that’s it actually. We’re so good, damn. Clara keeps pulling shit and then immediately trying to reconcile and asking for help. I really like her, but we really shouldn’t be trusting her right?

Oh Murky was also there and she set up a meeting between us and her “friend” and that night we went and Clara and Changeling were both there and I’m so confused???? What is her deal? But!! Changeling facilitated a deal between me and the plague! And Murky is now off the hit list!!!!!!!!!! Does this mean she’ll live? Anyway the plague started talking to us, and our infection rose a bit in an unhealable way, and, dumbasses that we were, said “wow this is probably all just the natural consequence of the bargain we made. Guess there’s literally nothing we can do to address this.” (Spoiler: That is not the case, the cost of the pact was literally just that we became infected and would have to cure it with fire before it killed us. We figured that out eventually, I promise.)

Fast forward to the next day after we finish the day’s entire fucking plotline, when we have done literally nothing so our infection’s increased a shit ton and it starts actually killing us. And since we only have like half our potential health bar from getting killed so much, we literally can’t survive long enough to treat it. We run around trying to cure ourselves and die like ten more times before we finally accept that we just have to go back in time to before the infection was this bad, try to get cured immediately, and redo the whole day. There’s a whole fucking skeleton out by the theatre by now btw. Fucking death spirals. This play session took a long fucking time okay?

Alright, flash backward again. After talking with Changeling, we visit Stakh because after rescuing him twice in a row he promised we could talk. We go to his house and he’s sleeping, or maybe just pretending to sleep, but either way Artemy has the absolute sweetest little monologue, just talking to him, and so much has happened but I can tell there’s still a lot of tenderness there between them even if it’s buried deep, and it’s just such a soft scene against such a harsh story.

Guess who’s dead by morning.

The next day Aglaya showed up and was like “see me immediately,” so obviously we visit Capella and then town hall first off. Daniil’s there, he bitches to me about Aglaya for a bit. So cute, we really are friends. I promise to help him with corpse duty bc Capella wanted me to visit Grace anyway. We talk to the official people at the official desks, one is collecting babies, one is giving me some lunch money as a very good reward for being a very good little surgeon, and one is telling me that actually money is illegal now but here are some free coupons that actually are too cheap to buy anything with.

Aglaya is the woman from the prologue! Hhhh things are really building to a point, aren’t they. I wonder how Yulia knows her. But damn, the whole village was out there waiting to meet with her weren’t they.

I made a deal with the rat prophet to clear some space in the graveyard so Grace would be okay. Dunno what will come of that. I’ve been seeing him everywhere lately though.

I met with Oyun and gave him my dad’s house. I met with Aspity and was like “did you kill Stakh” and she gave me some vague shit, and in general I am very upset at the kinfolk right now but I tried to save them anyway. Went to the termitary and did the whole termitary thing. Wow that sure is a place, right? God, have I ever mentioned how much I love all the screaming soundtracks in this game.

Damn, Taya’s whole child queen vibe is unsettling.

The whole termitary is horrible, and what the kin folk have been put through is horrible, but their obsession with blood and strength legit terrifies me. I’ve spent all my time until now trying to convince everyone that they aren’t bad, and that they aren’t to blame for the disease, but now they want to kill? And they really really really want me to be a killer too. And the whole thing with Taya is creepy as fuck too, she’s just a kid. Anyway, we’re sending Vlad the older to them, I don’t know whether he or his son deserves to be torn apart more, but Changeling was really upset at the idea of Vlad the younger going there, so I guess we’re backing her. We run all around town making sure the right Olgimsky is going, and then we realize we actually have a few hours left so we take a hospital shift too! And then we die of disease like six times.

Okay, flash forward again, we’ve gone back, gotten some guy to molotov cocktail us, redone the entire termitary thing, saved the game on Vlad’s clock after sending him to his doom (sorry dude). That’s where we’re at currently.

(Only it’s not actually, we went back and spent like an hour going back and forth between the termitary and Oyun again trying to deal with their shit, and everyone was like “murder all dissenters :D” and I was like “what the fuck” and the day was almost over but then a dude stabbed us and we randomly died, and none of these places had clocks, so at that point we were basically like “yeah it’s after midnight, let’s just call it quits.”)

Anything else......oh, the warehouses are at risk again. Notkin and Sticky, what would I do if anything happened to them. I hope my medicines are good enough, I gave some to Bad Grief too but now all there really is to do is wait. :(

Oh, I once again have thoughts on how fucking theatrical is it that everything in the game is simultaneously literal and metaphorical, it’s gorgeous, and have I mentioned the costuming choices for the Orderlies and the Plague, hhhhhhhh, not to say anything nice about Mark fucking Immortell, but he knows what he’s doing with this thing. Listen if this post weren’t already way too long I would just gush about the theatrical elements again, but sadly it is too long.

Okay, that was our latest session! We’ll be back either very soon or in like three weeks.

#kj plays pathologic #pathologic #pathologc 2 #this got so fucking long holy shit #also: can anyone tell me how old clara/changeling is?#teenager? twenties?#i initially guessed the latter but i'm growing unsure #theorizing that if clara's a teenager she might be the eighth? bc i still have no clue who that is and clara doesn't appear on the character #screen #but if she's an adult then that wouldn't make any sense

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marinerofthestars · 4 years ago

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the zodai tag

bit of a late arrival to this fandom, but better late than never, i suppose!

1. How did you hear about the books? about a year ago, i was doing research on the zodiac for an urban fantasy project i’m working on, tales from omphalos, when i found the house ophiuchus info page on the zodiac website. unfortunately life got in the way and i forgot the series for a while, but a little while ago i remembered zodiac’s worldbuilding and got sucked right back in!

2. What is your favorite moment from the series so far? it’s hard to choose just one moment, but i’d have to say skarlet and rho’s first meeting in black moon for how atypical it is. we know skarlet is the hypotenuse in rho and hysan’s love triangle, but she doesn’t act like the stereotypical petty Other Woman at all. she’s charismatic, she’s genuinely fun to be around, and she has sympathetic motives and ambitions. above all, she’s actually super nice towards rho, and doesn’t let her feelings get in the way of their political collaboration. (and then thirteen rising assassinated her character. yes i am still bitter about it why do you ask)

3. Which House are you from? house leo!

4. What do you like about your House? artistry pride is something i’d really love to be a part of as an aspiring author, i have blaze and trax (both criminally underrated characters imo) as my housemates, and our zodai wield FLAMING SWORDS in battle. what’s not to love?

5. If you had to change Houses, which House would you pick? since leo really vibes with my passion for art, this is definitely a tricky question! probably either libra (police brutality is a thing of the past with bind, and their government seems like they have their act together), scorpio (much waterworld. much ambition. much cool tech. wow), or sagittarius (diversity, democracies where the voices of the young and non-complacent can be heard, and really vibrant cities are all things i appreciate)

6. Which system would you most like to visit? capricorn, no question. the zodiax is THE single most location in the entire zodiac bar none to me - an ancient complex the size of a planet, its oldest curators having access to transportation systems most inhabitants don’t even know about? an archive of humanity’s collective knowledge, so massive it has hotels and restaurants within it because leaving to sleep or eat is just so impractical? LET ME TOUR IT. LET ME UNCOVER ITS MYSTERIES I KNOW THEY EXIST (i think history is rad okay)

7. If you got to choose, which Zodiac technology would you like to have? probably...the tattoo? i don’t have anywhere enough knowledge about neuroscience/engineering to design my own, but assuming that i did, i’d love to design a tattoo that can interface with my brain and with digital art software, so that i can turn whatever ideas i have in my head into artwork!

8. Which character would you want as a best friend? skarlet. she’s six feet tall, buff as all hell, super attractive, prefers diplomacy to violence but still perfectly capable of kicking ass, and an outspoken risers’ rights activist. what’s not to love? (though knowing the type of people i usually hang out with, i’d probably end up with like. twain or gyzer as my best friend. one can dream though)

9. Which sign would you like to date? aries, because as previously stated skarlet is awesome. (a sentiment i will continue to reiterate) failing that, either libra for their sense of justice, scorpio for their ambition and passion, or aquarius for their innovative mindset.

10. Who do you hope Rho “ends up with?” (If anyone at all!) firstly, thank you for acknowledging that rho might not be interested in romance after everything she’s been through. (aromantic rho? arho?) secondly: skarlet.

this might be a little controversial, but i feel like in some regards, rho has far more chemistry with skarlet than she has with hysan. (ms. russell. i am sorry but. i have. Issues. with ‘centaur smile’ and the context surrounding it doesn’t make it any better) all of their interactions are marked by a noted admiration on rho’s part, and it’s not just merely admiration of her frankly enviable body (there’s more than enough of that, but it feels respectful somehow, there’s no five-page purple prosey ramblings on how the sweat glints on skar’s brow as she lifts weights, unlike with some people - sorry, mathias), but admiration of skar’s personality.

her charisma. her ambitions. her drive to fight for people who’ve been beaten down for millennia, to give a voice to the voiceless. to use violence as a last resort, not a first strike.

even at their absolute worst in thirteen rising, even when they’re butting heads, they don’t let it get in the way of doing what needs to be done. hell, skarlet even points out that she wouldn’t be giving rho such a hard time if she didn’t respect the hell out of rho, if she didn’t think she was tough enough to take it. there’s a sort of unspoken bond between them, a slow orbit that they’re both caught in. at the end of the series, they part way on relatively good terms, and with the hope that maybe, just maybe, that orbit might become something more than just professional acquaintance.

also their oppositional dichotomy of cardinal fire/water signs is an awesome aesthetic that i really wish was brought up more than it was in canon :(

11. If you could record a Snow Globe, what would you put in it? only A snow globe? you’re not exactly giving me a lot of slack here in all seriousness, if i had to choose one moment to record in a snow globe, probably the moment i first came up with the idea for the urban fantasy project i mentioned above, tales from omphalos. i’ve never been devoted as much time to or invested as much energy in a project as i have with tfo, and i’d like to keep an easily accessible record of my original vision on hand. and hey, if by some chance i manage to follow in romina’s footsteps, get tales from omphalos professionally published, have it become a big success with a respectable fandom, i’d like to look back every once in a while, and remember how it all began.

12. If you had the chance to tell Rho anything, what advice/encouragement would you give her? - lies, especially lies of omission, are necessary a lot of the time to get ahead in politics and life in general use that being ahead to help out the people and groups you care about - don't trust the immortal child-aristocrats or expect them to behave in a way that won't inevitably screw you over - if you must play nice with them, figure out how to decrease gemini’s horrific income inequality, and see what you can do about exporting cell rejuvenation therapy to the wider zodiac - ferez is right, risers are the future and you need to acknowledge that going forward - skarlet is excellent at garnering support and bridging generational gaps, and while fernanda purecell is a bougie running dog, she’s got her head screwed on the right way regarding politics and institutional riserphobia; together, the three of you should be able to make some headway towards making amends for past wrongs - i don’t care if family heads have suffrage, matriarchal aristocracy (aristocratic matriarchy?) is NOT a democracy or a form of government that looks out for the rights of men/NB people/agender people/multigender people/intersex people/you get the idea - romance is by no means an exclusively two-player game, and skarlet has said she would be open to an arrangement; however, if you MUST insist on ignoring that polyamory is a thing, go for the six-foot risers' rights activist - i’m sorry about all the bullshit with your mom. whatever the end result was, whatever her intentions, it does not excuse the way she treated you and your dad and stanton. it’s okay to feel like shit because of what she did to you, and not being able to wall it off doesn’t make you weak or anything dumb like that - you’re already far stronger than she ever was. i know how much it sucks - i was in the same situation as you once - but believe me when i say that things do get better. you’re not alone here, rho. - please you gotta fight the gender binary you live in the FUTURE you gotta do it you gotta-

BONUS QUESTION 13. How would you react if your friend became a Riser? let them know that I love and support them no matter what their house, that being the way that they are is totally valid, and that anyone who says otherwise will have to answer to my fist in their face. if they’re unbalanced, make sure they have access to any resources they need (possibly including memory recap vlogs, definitely including medication and therapy to help out with any health issues they may develop).

#zodiac #zodiac books #wandering star #black moon #thirteen rising #romina russell #romina garber #the zodai tag #skarho #rhoses and thornes #look i stan skarlet okay

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hazbincalifornia · 4 years ago

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Check-In

Chapter 8: Stolas checks in on Blitzo.

Likes, replies, and reblogs are all appreciated, both here and on ao3!

Warnings: Mpreg

Ao3 link

Blitzo startled awake in his chair at a knock on the door, nearly falling off from the strange angle as he’d draped himself over it and almost tipped it over when he jolted up. “Fuck!”

“Oh, good, you’re awake.” Loona held up the phone. “It’s for you.”

He gave a long, sustained groan as he dragged himself across the office to take the call. “Heeeeeeeeeello?”

“Blitzy! Good, there you are!” Stolas sounded chipper enough that Blitzo briefly imagined stuffing him through a leaf mulcher. Oddly enough, it didn’t really help. “Change of plans. Instead of our usual call, I’ve tried out that smartphone Via had me get, I’m right outside your office!”

“Wha- shit, really?” Blitzo looked over at the clock, then down at himself. He was dressed- well, pretty much the same as he always did, so it wasn’t like Stolas was going to judge, but it was all wrinkled from his nap. This was just what he’d get for springing this on him. “Uh, we might have a-”

“Your Loona said that there was nothing on the schedule for today.”

She gave a half-grin at Blitzo. “Have fun.”

He set a hand over the bottom of the phone. “Seriously?”

Loona shrugged. “He promised to get you lunch.”

“Slightly more acceptable, then.” Blitzo took a breath. “Alright, you can come-”

Stolas opened the door before Blitzo even finished his sentence, and Blitzo fumbled the phone back into place before trying to straighten his suit a little.

“Oooh, it’s so cute!” Stolas gushed, getting down on one knee to admire the bump. Blitzo could already feel his eye twitching as the owl began running his hands over it in full view of Loona, who, when he looked over, had already buried her face in a magazine.

“Soooo... Loona said you promised lunch?”

Stolas looked up. “Yes, I’m taking you out of here for a few hours. I’d rather get a face-to-face update today, see how things are going.” He paused. “And Stella is out with her parents, so we have the house to ourselves until tomorrow.”

Ah, right. “What about… Olivia?”

“Octavia.”

“Yeah, her.”

“She’ll be in today, but she’ll likely be in her room.”

“Alright.” She didn’t seem that bad from what Blitzo had seen, at least. Maybe she could even distract her dad a little if she showed up. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Aw, don’t you want to spend time with me, Blitzy?” Stolas fluttered his eyes, and Blitzo couldn’t hold back a snort, ruffling at the top of Stolas’s head.

“I’m not about to turn down free lunch and we needed to talk anyway, let’s leave it at that, got it?”

“Good enough for me.” Stolas stood back up- even having shrunk himself a little to fit into the office, he towered over Blitzo. He reached for Blitzo’s wrist, leading him towards the door, and when Blitzo looked back, Loona waggled her fingers in farewell without looking up. Traitor.

_______________________

The ride to the palace was mostly filled with Stolas talking about how the last week or so had been. Via had introduced him to some new band that he wasn’t particularly fond of but did enjoy the instrumentals on, and he’d had to go to some mega boring dinner party. On and on, including some political bullfuckery in fancy words that Blitzo couldn’t really understand or bring himself to care about. (Especially not when he was sweating like a pig even though the limo had AC on when he put his hand up to the vent.)

“But on the plus side, the mawplants in the back of the greenhouse had been blooming wonderfully! And speaking of blooming…” Stolas grinned, cupping Blitzo’s cheek. “How have you been, Blitzy?”

“Fine.”

“Fine isn’t saying much, you know.”

“I’m alive, that’s something, isn’t it?”

“It is.” Stolas’s grin shrunk a little, but it was becoming more of a soft smile instead as they pulled up to the front doors. “Is the child giving you much trouble?”

“I want some grub in me before I start talking about this.” The leather seat creaked as Blitzo stood up. He stretched, rolling his shoulders before Stolas took the lead.

“I suppose I cannot begrudge you that.” The owl folded his hands behind his back, falling quiet until they made it to the dining room. Or some version of it, anyway- the table looked pretty small, so it was probably the tea room or something? Blitzo couldn’t imagine any really big feasts in here. It was kind of cozy, though.

The imp servants that were talking to each other when the two of them entered shut themselves up and side-eyed him. He flipped the nearest one off, making them take a half-step back.

“Relax, dipshits. Not here to take your jobs.”

One had an expression that Blitzo couldn’t quite parse out, kinda like she’d just swallowed pickle brine but then also was trying to offer sympathy at a funeral. She hurried out when Stolas waved her towards the door.

“Go collect the lunch things.”

“Yessir!” They cleared out, and Blitzo settled himself down at one of the seats. He ended up having to just get into a kneeling position and settle down on his calves in order to reach the damn table.

“Ah, I’ll have them bring you a cushion,” Stolas said as he sat down himself. “Are you alright with fish?”

“Yeah, fish’s fine. I like fish.” Blitzo looked around- he usually didn’t see much of the palace outside of the hallways and Stolas’s bedroom. There were paintings and pictures all over- several of Stolas himself. “Interesting decorations.”

“Thank you!” Stolas seemed to take it as a compliment. “Now, how have you been the past week?”

“I told you-”

“It doesn’t have to be about the child. I want to hear about you.” Stolas’s elbows were on the table as his chin settled on his hands, head tilting slightly as he watched Blitzo with all four eyes half-lidded. Even kneeling, Blitzo was still getting looked down at, and he groaned, resigning himself to standing up on the chair until the servants came back with something tall enough to make him not feel like a fucking baby. His armpits felt like swamps and he hoped he didn’t smell like an acrobat’s ass-crack.

“Pretty typical week. We had a few jobs, I killed some random jackass who he tried to mug me because he was drunk as shit and tried to tear my clothes off.”

“Oh! Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t much of a fight. Like I said, he was drunk, and it was enough he was super clumsy. That kinda shit happens a lot,” Blitzo said, leaning against the table. Dammit, Stolas was still taller, but sitting on the table itself was gonna be way too demeaning. “He had a lot in his wallet, though.”

“Ah. Resourceful!” Stolas’s smile widened a bit as one of the imp servants brought in a silver tray with two plates on it, kicking a small stepstool out from under the table in order to set the tray on the table and push the plates towards the two of them. “Now, a high cushion for Blitzy here, so he doesn’t have to stand.”

The imp turned to look over at Blitzo, but the narrowed eyes he met were enough to send him hurrying out of the room as Stolas picked up a little fork.

“Don’t worry if there’s any left over. The portion sizes are typically for Hellborns more my size.” He grinned. “Of course, I know you much you can swallow, don’t I?”

“Wow, you managed to make it a while. I’m actually impressed.” Blitzo picked up the fork and started to pick at the fish before taking a bite. It was- okay, it was delicious. Rich people had good food, he already knew that. He stabbed the fork into the plate as he scooped up another decent-sized chunk before stuffing it into his mouth.

“Mmm, and you haven’t decided to come over just for fun yet, I’ve noticed.” Stolas used his fork to cut the fish in half horizontally before dropping the top half into his beak, the two halves making a ‘click’ as they snapped shut and the whole thing moving down his throat in a huge lump. Blitzo lost at least half of his appetite, but the fish that was still in his mouth tasted good enough to swallow.

“It’s only been a week, I’ve been busy.” He paused for half a second. “Hey, besides, the deal was I come over if I want to now.” Blitzo pointed the end of his fork at him. “I thought you couldn’t go back on the handshake ones.”

“I can’t, I was merely curious.” Stolas licked at the side of his mouth. “I still expect updates, of course, but yes, it’s up to you now. I think that makes it more exciting, don’t you?” His voice practically dropped to a purr. “After all, it will be when you can’t resist staying away.”

Blitzo’s stomach turned as he plastered a smile on his face. “Uh… huh.” He looked down at his plate, then back up at Stolas. “Might as well get this over with. I need a new gun.”

“Done, but what happened to your old one?” Stolas didn’t seem angry, just curious, which was… well, pretty much what Blitzo had been expecting.

“....Puked my guts on it and it turns out pregnancy puke melts shit,” Blitzo grumbled.

“Would you like me to order it, or just give you the funds to-”

“Funds,” Blitzo said, just as the servant came back with a stack of cushions. He looked up at Stolas who nodded over to Blitzo, and then the cushions were passed up to Blitzo.

“Alright, I got them, you can go.” Blitzo made a shooing motion before sitting down, and the imp’s eye twitched before he hurried out. “What, was he expecting a tip?”

“He probably isn’t used to seeing imps get special treatment around here is all,” Stolas said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Anywho. You were saying something about sickness- I believe that’s a good segue into asking you how the pregnancy in general has treated you.”

“Fucking terribly,” Blitzo snapped. “There’s the acid puke thing, which luckily hasn’t come back yet but definitely will, I have to basically cut out any coffee stronger than piss, Moxxie and Millie got all bitchy at me for trying to use coke-”

“Cocaine coke?” Stolas leaned over the table, alarmed.

“I didn’t get to actually use it, keep your feathers on.”

“I should have included a clause about keeping yourself safe as well in our deal!” Stolas slid off the chair and crossed around the table in a few strides, cupping Blitzo’s face. “I know how good you are at your job so I wasn’t too worried about the baby’s health before, but-”

Blitzo pulled back, pushing Stolas’s hand away. “-But I’m a grown-ass man, I can handle myself, alright? You asked me how it was going, I said it sucked, I’m not sugarcoating this.”

“You should have contacted me.” Stolas clicked his tongue. “I could make some tea for nausea, and at least given you some advice from when Stella was with Via.”

Blitzo slumped back on the chair and felt the cushion pile shift under him, not quite steady. “So. Do you have any advice?”

“Well, I would advise relaxing, but you don’t seem very fond of slowing down, isn’t that right?” Stolas pinched Blitzo’s cheek, getting a grumble out of the imp. “I suppose you should be on the lookout for odd cravings- they might be more raptor-esque, depending on how owl the child leans.”

“If I have to eat mice or something-”

“I could give you some!” Stolas interrupted, grabbing Blitzo’s shoulder. “You never know what’s in street rats.” He shuddered. “Via had a phase when she liked eating fresh-caught rats instead of respectably home-raised mice. She’s lucky she didn’t get sick.”

“...I don’t wanna eat rats,” Blitzo muttered, feeling sticky in his suit as he shifted around again.

“You may not have a choice- Stella was a right beast sometimes when it came to getting certain foods as she wanted them! It was more than worth it in the end to have Via, though, of course.” Stolas’s hand drifted down from Blitzo’s shoulder to his stomach.

“It hasn’t gotten any bigger in like a week.”

“I know that, but it’s still wonderful,” Stolas said, a big dopey grin on his face with his eyes plastered on Blitzo’s middle. “You’re really carrying our child.”

“Yeah. That was the deal.” Blitzo wasn’t really sure why his skin had ants scurrying underneath it at the touch. Stolas casually undid the lower button on Blitzo’s suit, pushing the fabric aside to see the fabric of the turtleneck underneath. “Hey, no gropey.”

“I’m just making sure that the child is still alright, if you’re being such a reckless little imp,” Stolas hummed, his hand glowing red. Blitzo’s stomach glowed underneath it, and Stolas let out a soft sigh of relief. “Good, they’re still fine.”

“And me?” Blitzo raised an eyebrow, and Stolas’s hand moved up to rest on his chest, still pulsing a gentle, warm red.

“Of course I’m worried about you too, but you can take care of yourself.” He paused, tilting his head. “Or at least I thought you could, but you might need some help, hmmm? Perhaps I should contract one of your employees to keep an eye on you.”

“Moxxie’s already halfway up my ass on a daily basis, you don’t have to do that.”

“Calls twice a week, then,” Stolas countered. “I can’t have you breaking what’s mine, can I?”

“I’m not going to fuck this up.” Blitzo crossed his arms. “Five months. I’ve been through worse than this, I don’t need a fucking babysitter.”

Stolas sighed. “Perhaps not, but I have both of your safety in mind.” He turned to return to his seat when a new owl stuck her head into the room.

“Dad, when are we going to-” Her eyes widened before narrowing into pink slits. “What are you doing here?”

Blitzo just waved with a strained grin as Stolas swept over to Octavia and pulled her into the room.

“We have some exciting news!”

“You’re turning him into the butler or something so you don’t even have to call first?" Her fingers twitched towards fists, and Blitzo held his hands up in a placating gesture.

“Hey, now-”

Stolas waved his arm towards Blitzo, as if he was a prized attraction. “We’re going to be having a child!”

Her tone dropped like a rock. “You’re what?”

#helluva boss #one time #daddy blitzo #helluva mpreg #hb #shadow writes stuff

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xuune · 5 years ago

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oh wow i haven’t been on tumblr in so long bc mobile is shit but how tf did i forget abt ur art ??? fukcin blows me away wow. any tips on anatomy for a rly bad artist? ik practice, but i get so frustrated when it doesn’t look like what i see in my head :(

yeah lol mobile on tumblr sucks major ass now. i cant even publish drafts on there. and im in the same boat wiht you on anatomy lmao. it might look like i know what im doing, but sometimes not really. maybe im just good at deceiving ppl on the way i draw when its kinda inaccurate

anyway, i also struggle with never really composing the shit i want, and even i tell myself to go practice anatomy but im never really granted a lot of time in my life, so i gotta make use of whatever i can find whenever i draw.

this post is actually long, so if you just want anatomy resources, you can check these out:

stuff that i made tutorials/tips on: torso/hands/pose

these are all very condensed tutorials/tips, so a lot of this is just collection of stuff that i’ve learned/noticed from others. this might be helpful, but idk man

here’s a list of other resources for anatomy/any other refs

this one was mentioned in the list, but its easily looked over: posemaniacs, it has different modes you can try out (timed/casual study), and its good for practicing foundations in anatomy. i paid more attention to this one when i saw a twitter post of it

bodies in motion is a site you can also use. it has a catalog of images to see people acting something out, and you get to see all the frames of it occurring. even though you’re just looking at images, its still a reference to learn how arms, legs, or torsos move B^) its a good way to pay attention to the smaller details like the various muscles in bodies

and honestly, check out what other ppl say too. there’s a lot of artists out there who might’ve already wrote some shit that i mentioned or have new info that i never thought about. just type in “anatomy/art tips” into any kind of search bar and you’re sure to find something useful at some point. but main takeaway i really want you to have is to seriously study from life. dont do it based on memory or anything. there’s no other general advice that i can really give besides 1) practice 2) study from life 3) dont stress out and take your time. if you want me to give a specific tip/tutorial on a body part, i can try, but the amount of depth i can give is really based on my own knowledge of it

now for the 2nd part of this post:

COMPOSING SHIT OR MAKING STUFF LOOK LIKE WHAT YOU EXPECTED IT TO LOOK LIKE:

“i get so frustrated when it doesn’t look like what i see in my head :(“

i suck at it, whoever is reading this prob sucks at it (and they secretly know it too) we all gotta start somewhere. you’re kinda asking for composing stuff while also anatomy tips, but its kinda broad, so lemme mention something about composition:

use perspective grids or at least practice using them first. the best way to understand how things are supposed to look is also based around the way you’re trying to see it in, like a certain angle of some sort. here, lemme give an example where i drafted a sketch a lot:

ok cool, got a pose i want, got the general idea, niiiiiiiiiceee. but i didnt think it was good enough, but i still managed to plan out a pose anyway with that grid on the bottom. it helped me gain a focus on how these characters were supposed to lay down on the ground, but it still wasnt good enough yet. character on top was facing their right instead of the person in front of them, which wasnt what i wanted.

then i sketched it again. this time the “camera” of the scene was more based around the front of the characters rather than the side, and now the character is looking at the person below them. but wait, it wasnt good enough yet. i didnt like how relaxed their position looked.

i changed the position of the character to make it seem more convincing that they were pressing hard into the ground and possibly sneering at the person below them. they held dominance over the person simply based on the way theyre positioned in the scene. the way people move suggests a lot about what is happening in the scene and what might be apparent about their character. i was able to make a pose i wanted with the help of a perspective grid, and it really does help at times. use perspective grids to help you out with making anatomy. also, dont forget that what you learn from simply observing how bodies work can help you out with giving clues to how the bodies should look at a certain angle

but am i a master at using perspective grids? no, lol. i always have to make several perspective grids while i draw as a way to convince myself that i really am drawing my shit right.

some of the resources i listed lean into something related to perspective, so there’s that. there’s definitely tutorials out there to understand how to use perspective grids, so i suggest you search those up too. there’s a program called carapace thats specific for creating perspective grids, but im not sure where the original download site is, but if you want to know what it looks like or where to download it, google is your friend. if you use digital media and your drawing software offers a perspective grid function, then i highly suggest you learn how to use it.

i wouldnt say that there’s a specific thing you need to learn first (i.e. learning perspective before anatomy), but if you want to just simply learn how to draw anatomy, then go ahead and find whatever you can. if you wanna create some cool ass poses with some interesting perspective shots, then take what you learn from anatomy and apply it to how you practice your perspective shots or vice versa. there’s a lot of variety in what you can do and how you can do it simultaneously with something else to learn something out of it B^)

#answered asks #art tips #some art shit

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anthropologist-on-the-loose · 6 years ago

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bitch if you think african dictators wouldn't wipe their asses with any returned ancient artefact or sell it to the Chinese and keep the money for themselves, you're out of your mind. colonial theft was a terrible thing, but giving those objects back would ensure they're destroyed and lost forever. many Western museums fund the training of archaeologists in Africa and elsewhere - that's the only reparation that makes sense.

Wow, my first anon hate! This means I’m starting to make it big, right?

So many racist assumptions here I don’t know where to begin. Let’s list them, shall we?

Colonialism is over

All of Africa is a war zone

Western-taught academia is necessary for archeology

Non-Western countries are incapable of being responsible

Non-Western countries are only interested in money and have no desire to connect with their heritage

Only the Chinese buy black market artifacts

I think I got most of them? Feel free to point out any additional racism I missed.

Now, the only reason I am not just ignoring this is because this does bring up complex, important issues that many people genuinely do not have a complete knowledge or understanding of. I did not want to get too in-depth when I made my original post, but I have decided that at this point I do not care how lengthy this ends up being. So I am going to address those issues right here and now. Namely, the belief that Western countries should hold onto objects for the sake of preserving them and how it is thinly veiled racism.

To begin, I would recommend watching Chimamanda Adichie’s TED Talk, The Dangers Of A Single Story. It’s making big waves in the academic community as it clearly articulates to a general audience how our views of the wider world are shaped by narratives we are told, rather than the lived realities people experience.

You imply that the entire continent of Africa is ruled by corruption. Firstly, it’s not. Here’s a few pictures of modern day Africa:

Nairobi, Kenya (x)

Gaborone, Botswana (x)

Porto-Novo Benin (x)

They look like real hives of scum and villainy, the lot of them.

These people have a stable government. Artifacts would be just as safe here as anywhere else.

It’s true that not all regions of Africa have political stability. But those issues are the legacy of colonialism. People in Africa (and other parts of the world) had stable societies for thousands of years before Europeans came along and destroyed any semblance of Native political structure. And yes, while societies rose and fell, and artifacts didn’t always survive, it was only 75 years ago when WWII almost caused the complete collapse of European society. Plenty of incredibly important artifacts were lost because of it, yet for some reason I don’t see anyone arguing that Western museums aren’t “safe” enough for artifacts.

Here’s a comparison: Let’s say you have a priceless family heirloom, passed down for generations. It has important cultural significance, and you could sell it for a high price to private collectors (which, according to our current laws, you would be within your right to do so). You keep it, not only because it’s valuable, but because it has a special meaning to you. Now imagine someone broke into your house and stole that heirloom and put it in a museum. You know exactly the person who stole it, and you have ample evidence of how they violated your rights. So you go the court and present your evidence and ask if you could have your heirloom back. But now the court says that no, you can’t have it back, because clearly you weren’t responsible enough to prevent it from being stolen in the first place. Plus, the court argues that it’s an important piece of art and shouldn’t be hidden away in your house. Maybe, just maybe, if you build a fancy glass case for it and allow people to come see it they will give it back. But you don’t have the money to build the case because when they broke into your house they stole all your money too. You can’t even go see your family heirloom in the museum; the entrance fee is too high. And funny enough, you might have considered donating that heirloom to the museum eventually. If the museum had waited, and asked politely, and offered to let you help tell your family’s story with that heirloom, all parties might have been happy. But I’m willing to bet that now you’re not really feeling in a charitable mood.

The point of all this is, and I can’t emphasize this enough, Western museums do not have the right to dictate what other cultures do with their artifacts. We lost that right when we took them by force.

Sometimes an Indigenous community will be the bigger person. They’ll say hey, we don’t have the resources right now to preserve our history in the way we want to, since you took all economic power from us as well. Please keep our artifacts safe until we’re able to. Sometimes, they decide to build bridges and give a museum a selection of artifacts they want to be displayed. But whether or not they do this is entirely up to them.

Oh, and lastly, if you think it’s only the Chinese who buy black market artifacts and help keep colonialism alive, check out the time when the American company Hobby Lobby helped fund Islamic extremist groups by buying black market artifacts. Or if you want something more recent, here’s a guy who stole from Native gravesites for his personal collection.

Have any other arguments? Feel free to bring them up. I’d love to discuss them with you. Try to be less defensive, it’ll help your case. And this time, try not to use anon. I can’t really take you seriously this way.

#museums #repatriation #history #colonialism #indigenous rights #i’m feeling salty today #i usually try to be less caustic and more informational #i know that not everyone has the same knowledge background that i do #but if you come at me hard i’m gonna do the same in return #ask #anon #the repatriation post saga #in which i say things

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gg-astrology · 5 years ago

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Can you tell us 10 things about you? and about ur friends irl? How u met them/ how long u know them/ what u like to do with them? This is gonna sound nosy but how's ur love life hdjsks LISTEN YOU'RE LIKE MY DREAM BEST FRIEND AND I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU AND ACT LIKE WE'RE TOTES HOMIES OKAY IM A VIRGO SUN PISCES MOON smh a girl is cURIOUS AND (platonically) IN LOVE WITH YOU 😖❤❤❤❤

Hey there!! 💕💓❤️ Oh wow!!!! 💕💓❤️💕💓❤️ Don’t worry this is fine!! I’m actually -- like, really happy and giddily flustered you’d want to get to know me!? 💕💓❤️ I’m really flattered and really grateful/touched aaaaaaa only virgo/pisces deserve rights, my current wife is also a virgo/pisces this is obviously some kind of synastry destiny (jk *wink wonk?*)!! 💕💓❤️thank you for caring about me!!! 💕💓❤️💕💓❤️💕💓❤️💕💓❤️

Yeah sure!! 💕💓❤️I can tell you more things about me!! 💕💓❤️

Disclaimer? I think it’s good for the audience to know where I’m coming from and who I am? I just think transparency/knowing who you’re talking to is important because knowing who I am, can also help you and me see where my flaws are and where I may be coming from! 💕💓❤️ Or what I provide, but where I might miss my mark somewhere, y know? 💕💓❤️ Not to say you have to judge me, I just don’t see the point in not just being who I am and saying yeah I can see where I took the L there. It’s just-- better? for future endeavors as well? So here we are?

More about me? In sections?

10 things about me?

I’ll start with this since it’s the shortest!

This may come off as totally random but I do better in colder climate than hotter ones -- even though I currently live in a tropical island

I used to live in the US!

I actually have a designated place where I go to sit, open up my laptop and answer asks from tumblr. I sit outside my little patio and stare out at my garden, and then answer qs from here!

This means I’m always subjected to the Wild Life coming at me unexpectedly sometimes, but my cat also visits me at my table! So it balances out!

My favourite drink is milk but I like plant-based ones, or rice milk? Or the lactose free ones! They’re delicious!

Cherries are my favourite snacks but I usually get them once every 3 months -- so the result is I don’t tend to snack often. This is by design of me trying to Not Snack + using my pickiness to weaponize against myself and my eating habits.

To unwind I watch cat/animal videos on youtube before I go to sleep - it’s not very effective because I have to keep my eyes open to see, plus I always end up making cooing noises at the screen -- so I’m not sure when if it’s actually making me sleepy or not. But it’s working so far so I’m continuing to do it.

I have very specific knowledge of certain things in very acute details + link/resources of further studies on the topic, but otherwise I have 0.5 braincells most of the time, just a lot of Forbidden Knowledge.

I have a folder of cursed memes and that’s all you need to know about my sense of humour I think?

Love life?

I am currently single! 💕💓❤️ Gf application is always open! 💕💓❤️ However, I’d like everyone of you to know I’m a 95 liner and I will not accept applications from those born after 98′ 💕💓❤️

Although I’m bi + had ex-bf before... I am (as of right now) on the fence about men personally in my personal life (disclaimer) because I’ve got a week of quarantine, thus I haven’t been doing the do and can think clearly for once. I am contemplating. Men. And the necessity in life. Y know?

Although my love life is free!! I am not excused from the occasional panic of having a crush (annually). I’m lucky enough to go through it just once every year, but every time it happens I am an absolutely clown + always in turmoil. It’s what happens when you’re a sag venus who can’t control your p***y brain. Luckily, my crush just have to insult me or make me explain things from my past and then I’d be too traumatize to crush on them again. It’s quite effective, and works out best for all of us! 💕💓❤️

I’ll refrain from talking about my ex because I know I have a habit of recounting the good and being mushy. Even if we ended it on rocky terms. So! I’ll save everyone from that. 💕💓❤️

Friends (expanded, clarifications?)

The ones I mention on the blog are usually

taurus/taurus,

cancer/cancer,

leo/libra,

leo/cap (x2),

virgo/sag,

libra/aries (x2),

scorpio/sag,

scorpio/cap,

sag/taurus,

pisces/scorpio,

pisces/aqua,

Oof that’s alot.. This might be better to outline in a timeline format... so leo/libra, scorpio/sag, libra/aries and partially virgo/sag are whom I grew up for the majority of my childhood-teenage life! 💕💓❤️

They obviously made a very big impact on me! 💕💓❤️ They’re with me through thick/thin, leo/libra (sag rising) is the extrovert of the bunch. He’s one of my best friends, close guy friend, most of the time I too find him a little exasperating because he’s.. well its his problem so nevermind, but he’s also very endearing! 💕💓❤️ If it wasn’t for him-- well, there’s also another leo I thought was very endearing in a little brother kind of way. So leos to me have a very positive influence in my life, they’re very cute especially when they ask for your attention. I think they are like puppies/kitties when they are needy, and their blatant way of just being themselves always makes me feel refreshed + I admire them for it. In the end, I’m totally heart-eyes endeared for Leos! 💕💓❤️

Scorpio/sag is also my best friend! 💕💓❤️ She’s a taurus rising, and she’s so sweet, kind, chatty and very open/friendly to people! 💕💓❤️ Her, my cousin (who’s also a scorpio but a scorpio/pisces), and quite a few of my other best friends who are scorpios - actually made me realize they’re not like what they’re usually describe as. Maybe that’s just me? But I think they’re very sweet and comforting to be around, not to mention they’re quite supportive and willing to listen when you’re having a tough time with something!! 💕💓❤️The pillar of support and one of the few rare people I don’t mind interacting with (actually crave interacting with them) because of just how chill they are, I wish more people recognize that in a scorpio! 💕💓❤️

Libra/Aries is one of my longest childhood friend, probably from birth! 💕💓❤️ He’s a supportive big brother type figure. But he can be very silly and he doesn’t hold himself so seriously most of the time! 💕💓❤️ Whilst he’s very understanding and quite nosy with others, he tries to be subtle/sleek but he isn’t! I think he’s very endearing when he wants to be, and he deserves someone who loves him lots as well 💕💓❤️ We reunited for the first time in 6 years the other day? And I think we both ended up crying a little and holding hands because we miss each other alot! 💕💓❤️ It was very nice, I think he’s much more emotional (just suppressed) than what people realize! 💕💓❤️ He’s very caring though - like willing to talk you through your problems and make sure you’re taken care of, back on your feet, but also willing to smile scarily at people who’ve hurt you and actually take them to court/yell at them for you. I think its very sweet! 💕💓❤️

Virgo/Sag is someone I hung out with for a short period of time, but kept in contact with periodically throughout my life because we ended up going through similar majors/path in life! 💕💓❤️ She’s someone who’s very caring, wants to take care of you, when she’s endeared by you she makes sure to dote on you often! 💕💓❤️ Actually, she’s born a day after Namjoon I think? But that’s not the point, the thing is - she’s my virgo/sag and when she’s not by my virgo/sag she’s super cool and I can see that many of our friend respects her/think she’s very mature + she’s the Shit! 💕💓❤️ I really admire her too and I think she’s super cool, but more than that, I love how caring and tender she is. She’s the best 💕💓❤️

These are the people I grew up with, and then I went to college and met/lived with Scorpio/Cap + Pisces/Scorpio+Aqua.

Scorpio/Cap and I actually hit it off since the first day? We were in orientation, and we’re both talkative I guess! But in similar ways. He appreciates my bluntness/sense of humour and I like that he’s sarcastic and the only one engaging enough to be around/paying attention to what’s happening. We went to a house party together and then had 1 class together the semester. After that, me and him decided we’d live together off campus (along with our other friend who fell through, I think he’s a Leo?) - whilst we lived together we share majors in the same division, on holidays or at night after class, we’d grab dinner together + walk there, or we’d eat at home and binge watch a marathon he’d pick together. 💕💓❤️ It’s really fun! 💕💓❤️

Both of us like cooking, so he’d make dishes/drinks and I’d do that and we’d coerced each other to hang out in the living space together. Basically, we’re there to force each other to socialize/hang out with people and also encourage each other. It’s very fun! But we also had moments where we’d buy each other dinner/go to art galleries/exhibit together. There’s more serious too of course, like talking about our problems or worrying about stuff. But I think I found someone who looks out for me/I can look out for him, be confidants for each other and not be embarrassed with each other. Besides this, he also found my p0rn collection and suddenly mentioned it when we’re on campus so now I can never unfriend him because he has blackmail material on me. I’m forced to be his friends forever now.

Pisces/Cap and Pisces/Aqua are my roommates after Scorpio/Cap - actually, Pisces/cap invited me to live with them when I was finding a place, it was very fortunate! 💕💓❤️ We’re all close friends because we live in the same hall during first year, plus me and Pisces/cap (and a Gemini friend) would get drunk + go to parties together so!! This is very convenient! 💕💓❤️

Actually.. Pisces/cap, me and Gemini friend.. I went with Gemini friend to buy his apartment with him (along with his friends, I’m good friends with them too) and Pisces/cap went with him to buy furnitures lmao! 💕💓❤️ And then me and Pisces/cap moved in together, although I didn’t room with them. I roomed with Pisces/Aqua whom till this date is my favourite roommate I’ve ever lived with! 💕💓❤️

It’s a little messy with Pisces/Cap but not in a? bad way? at all? Like we’re close friends who still talk often, but they did confess once over the holidays, and I turned them down (that was when I was about to move in) - we did make out along with pisces/aqua but like.. that’s... I guess that’s normal for college y know? We did a couple projects together for their class, like a comic about me and gemini friend, poems, photography, I drew them something. And I think they did have something with Gemini friend as well but! Gemini friend moved away on the last year so it never went anywhere there.

But these are all good memories we had together and it’s not like-- bad at all, I don’t ever think badly at them for it because it was honest to them/for them, it was their emotions and tenderness from the heart? I can’t ever look down on anyone for that or judge them for being true to themselves, I actually think they’re very brave to be able to heal themselves and process things especially involving emotions like that. I also think these are all precious and honest memories, being friends with them definitely helped me grow my EQ by so much. Without them, I’d be very close-minded today! 💕💓❤️

Pisces/aqua is my roommate for a long time, and I love them to bits too! 💕💓❤️ They have two cats, both I love so so much and would sacrifice getting up for very often! 💕💓❤️ More than that, Pisces/aqua is so smart and able to pick things up immediately! It’s honestly very admirable, how they pierce things together. Whether it’s tarot or astrology, they’re the one who got me into this actually? 💕💓❤️ It was their interest before it became mine through proxy or maybe osmosis lmao, but they’re quite judgey and sometimes have a ? idk, superiority complex/elitist attitude towards stuff sometimes? So I never really talked about it much with them because it can get really frustrating sometimes 💕💓❤️ I do love them lots though, I can be ignorant of a lot of things and really slow on the uptake, but they’re very nice and kind and patient with me - honestly they’re as patient as a saint sometimes with me. And I’m really really thankful to them for it! 💕💓❤️ They’re getting married this year to a Scorpio! 💕💓❤️

Taurus/taurus and Cancer/cancer are my college best friends. Actually we hang out outside of class too! 💕💓❤️ I celebrated cancer/cancer’s birthday with them and their friends/roommates and it’s really fun. Heres why it’s -- like, momentous. It’s because my college classmates are more like colleagues or co-workers, so we don’t usually have that kind of camaraderie outside of first year. Plus, we’re all kind of working or busy with our private life outside of class - so it’s hard to reconvene that with who you know in classrooms.

They like their private life separated from the college one, which is what I prefer as well. I really adore them though, since we have a major that usually makes us get little to no sleep and have to stay at school at night-till morning most nights (for programs on the computer or printing facilities, rip) -- they’re the one who would either stay up with me, working together at the same table and we can ask each other for fresh eyes on our work. Or they’d motivate me to go home and not be stupid to stay at school. Or they’d drive me home so they know I get back safely/on time. It’s just -- I adore them so much they’re very very good! 💕💓❤️

Taurus/Taurus is also a college best friend whom I befriended later on in the years, they’re really sweet! 💕💓❤️ We have more of a friendship where we spend time outside together, walking in the city trying out a new cake store or just going back to their place to play games or talk about what else we have going on in our lives. They’re really busy!! Since they’re involved in church activities, they travel to another town an hour away every sunday - their dedication to their work, school and church (AND spending time with their fiance’s family + fiance) is amazing! 💕💓❤️ They also got me my first job at the firm they’re working in, in our last years - I made sure they’re not too tired and get their work done on time so they don’t rush their finished project. Or give better advice if the teacher is making them fume. I really like them lots too, we had alot of fun together AND they’re a foodie! 💕💓❤️

There’s another Libra/Aries whom I knew from college, while I was still living with Scorpio/Cap - I was in another town/not the same town as the Pisces back then. But Libra/Aries was close and she’d come by often! We’d travel the city together, lay on the lawn, go to parks together or exhibit. They’re very proactive and we spend a lot of time talking about work and projects, personal interests, when we watch movies together - we’d spend time sitting in cafes after watching them to talk for hours/until closing about the movie ( ‘we have alot to unpack’) -- they’re a lot of fun to talk to because they’re just as intense about stuff! 💕💓❤️ And their interest is genuine, give good hugs, a little too loud for our cats but she means well! 💕💓❤️

This is brief recount of everyone, mostly focusing on activities we did together but knowing them as people obviously made a big impression on me! 💕💓❤️

Leo/Caps are people I met since I finished college/working now, they’re my two admins on the blog actually! 💕💓❤️So internet friends, but I really click with and they’re soothing + fun to be around when I’m home/anywhere! 💕💓❤️

Sag/Taurus is also another internet friend, I’ve known her for a year now? But man, every conversation is an adventure and she’s so fun to be around! 💕💓❤️ Also very sweet and an extremely kind person, in a fire sign kind of way. Which means a lot of gawking from me and very loud laughs. But yes! 💕💓❤️ Very good people! 💕💓❤️

I do have friends from work... but well we’re not close enough for me to actually consider them good friends/talk about them personally? They’re nice! But I have yet to form a more positive opinion about them - it’s positive and negative, so I’ll see who survives and come through as a person I’d like to hang out with outside of work. 💕💓❤️

To Virgo/Pisces anon:

Here’s my best friend application do I make the cut please reply 💕💓❤️

#about me #phew this took a while to answer!#virgo/pisces anon #are we best friends now pls tell me #anon #asks

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psychosistr · 5 years ago

Text

Friendly Four Verse- Meetings Part 3: Liquidator

Summary: Investigating some disappearances along the coast lead the Terrific Trio to a life-or-death battle against the forces of the sea. Thankfully for Megavolt, Quackerjack, and Bushroot, the sea seems to be on their side.

Notes: The final chapter of this installment and, as promised, it’s gonna be another long one. Hope everyone enjoys it!

-First Chapter-

The Liquidator was the last to join their little rag-tag group of heroes, but he left the biggest impact. Saving the whole city tended to do that…

There had been reports of ships going missing on their way to St.Canard for weeks now, as well as a string of missing people from the bay and the beach itself. Sadly, one or two missing ships and an occasional missing person’s report were common place in a city so rampant with crime- but the current wave was reaching unprecedented levels.

Determined to get to the bottom of the strange spiriting away at sea, the trio of heroes (duo plus one, Bushroot still tried to insist) arrived at the beach to do some investigating. Unfortunately, Megavolt’s glaring weakness was making things more than a little difficult.

“Oh for the love of-! Would you get away from the water already?!” Bushroot shouted before stretching his long arm several feet over to where Megavolt was standing dangerously close to the incoming tide. He grabbed the electric-powered hero and physically dragged him back to the much drier sand. “Are you actually TRYING to short out?!”

“Sorry..” Megavolt at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed as he rubbed at the back of his short-haired head before pointing at the spot he’d just occupied. “But I think I found something!”

“We’ve been over this, Sparky.” Bushroot sounded an awful lot like a parent lecturing a child that had ignored them several times already. “It’s too dangerous for you to get wet. If you see something, just get me or Quackerjack to take a look at-” He stopped suddenly and looked around with a scowl. “Wait..where’s Quackerjack?” He spotted the brightly colored clown in question further out in the water with a pink snorkeling set on as he looked beneath the waves. “You two are seriously going to be the death of me..” Bushroot grumbled before stretching both his torso and arms far enough to physically reach the snorkeling jester and drag him back to dry land. “Having fun?” He asked in a voice dripping with dry sarcasm.

Quackerjack answered the sarcasm with a bright smile and a nod. “Yeee-p.” He replied jovially, even popping the P at the end of the word for added effect. “Lots of neat fish out there!” The way he grinned made it hard to tell if he was seriously that childish or if he was just playing it up to further agitate the other duck.

Bushroot let Quackerjack go and rubbed at his temples with his leafy fingers, taking a moment to close his eyes and collect himself. “How the heck you two got anything done before I came along is a mystery…” He exhaled a long-suffering sigh before opening his eyes and looking at his companions (he refused to say partners or friends yet) again. “So, have you guys actually FOUND anything?”

“Well, the fish are busy stockpiling weapons for their rebel army.” The words that left Quackerjack’s mouth were said with the same amount of seriousness he said almost everything with…which was hardly any and sometimes made it hard to tell whether he was joking or not.

“What, did they tell you that?” Bushroot asked with a roll of his eyes.

“No, don’t be silly, Bushy.” Quackerjack said with a chuckle. “Fish can’t talk!” He reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled out a tin of fish bait. “I bribed ‘em with some treats and they showed me their weapons’ cache. The rest was just pantomiming, but I got the gist of it- something about an evil queen about to wage war on the city or something.”

Bushroot opted to ignore Quackerjack’s explanation and instead turned to Megavolt as if to pretend Quackerjack hadn’t said anything at all. “Did YOU find anything, Sparky?”

“Don’t call me Sparky.” Came the automatic reply before Megavolt pointed back to where he’d been standing earlier. “And yeah, I found this weird chunk of yellow stuff in the water over there.”

“Yellow stuff? Great, maybe it’s poisonous…” Bushroot, feeling once again like the responsible parent trying to look after two overly active kids, walked over to the spot in question and looked around for the “yellow stuff” that Megavolt had described. He found it quick enough, and was actually surprised when he reached into the water to pick it up. “Huh?” His hand pulled out an odd cube of something yellow and rubbery. It was shiny like plastic, but squishier like silicon or rubber- almost reminding him of lemon gelatin. What was REALLY surprising, though, was that it had a strand of seaweed passing through the middle of it, like it had formed around the seaweed and inadvertently severed it from its source. “What the heck is this stuff?”

“Uh, Bushy, I think we’ve got BIGGER things to worry about!” Quackerjack’s urgent tone of voice caught Bushroot’s attention, making him turn to see the jester pointing out to sea. “A LOT BIGGER!”

He was about to ask what the other meant, but then he saw what the other duck was pointing at and his eyes widened in alarm before his head hung low and he face-palmed into his waiting leaves. “You have GOT to be kidding me.” Before he could once again dwell on and lament his life choices, he was being dragged away at a brisk pace by Quackerjack and Megavolt’s now-too-familiar grip on his sleeves.

Finally getting his feet under him to run with the other two, Bushroot glanced back briefly to see the source of danger they were currently fleeing from:

A giant tsunami-sized wave of water.

Thanks to Bushroot wrapping his arms around the other two and Quackerjack pulling out his bat (they didn’t see where from- seriously, where did he keep that thing??), they managed to get away from the beach by jumping up into the air, flying away using the bat’s rockets, then using Bushroot’s unraveling feet and Megavolt’s magnetic abilities to latch onto one of the taller buildings further in-land and quickly scale their way to the top before the wave hit.

The building was tall enough to avoid the harsher force of the wave, but the wind and pressure generated was still strong enough to send someone flying. To avoid being separated, Bushroot wound his arms tighter around his friends and unraveled his legs in order to weave them around the metallic railing along the top of the building.

“What the heck?!” Quackerjack shouted over the roar of the wind and water around them while clinging to Bushroot. “Since when is Audobon Bay a tsunami-zone?!”

“It’s not!” Megavolt shouted back to him. “Something must have triggered it! Something like-”

“An army of whales?!” Bushroot asked in an alarmed tone of voice.

“Yeah! Something like that would do it!” Megavolt nodded in agreement.

“Something like that DID do it!” Bushroot inclined his head back out towards the ocean when the first wave began to recede. “Look!”

Megavolt and Quackerjack looked back out towards the ocean as Bushroot instructed and saw, to their surprise, a literal army of whales (sperm whales, to be precise) lining the horizon- all of them decorated with military-like badges and uniform sashes made of common sea-fare such as seashells, kelp, and coral. Seated atop what could be described as the lead-whale due to its extra adornments, was what appeared to be a throne made out of coral.

When the wind and air-pressure died down, Bushroot let the others go and re-formed his feet so they could all walk to the edge of the building and get a better look at the creatures that caused the sudden tsunami.

To help get a better view, Quackerjack reached into his toy pouch and pulled out a glittery pink kaleidoscope. Peeking through it, he twisted and adjusted the view until he could see far enough and gave an impressed whistle. “So THAT’S the evil queen the fish were talking about..gotta say, she definitely fits the bill..”

He handed the unassuming toy to Megavolt so he too could get a look at the coral throne and the person occupying it. When he looked through, he was momentarily impressed to find that, while it still had the shifting rainbow edge of a typical kaleidoscope’s view, the toy also doubled as a powerful telescope that gave a perfect view of its target.

Megavolt saw what could only be described as a female fish mutant sitting on the whale’s back. She was short in stature, but the chipped trident she carried and the various scars and torn fins on her body, along with her dark scales and ripped black body-suit, gave the accurate impression that she was a lot stronger than she looked. “An evil fish queen..that’s definitely a new one for the villain-list..” He said mostly to himself while handing the kaleidoscope off to Bushroot.

Bushroot looked over their enemy-of-the-day as well. “Wow, that’s something you don’t see every day.”

Quackerjack took back the kaleidoscope once Bushroot was done with it. “What, a fish mutant leading an army of whales?”

“No,” Bushroot didn’t even bother looking at him when he handed the toy over to the jester. “You being right about something.”

The duck-duo spared each other a smirk while side-eyeing one another, the healthy dose of sarcastic humor helping to alleviate stress in life-threatening situations for them.

Before Megavolt could tell them to stop joking around, the sound of a loud, bellowing horn brought their attention back to the ocean and the looming threat of the whale army ready to drown the city.

“People of the surface, I am Neptunia- Queen of the Seas!” The fish-mutant had a large conch shell set up in front of her, serving as a megaphone to broadcast her surprisingly regal voice out to the entire city. “For too long the creatures of the deep have suffered under your wasteful ways- polluting our waters with your trash and chemicals, stealing our citizens and resources for food and decoration- but no more!” She held her trident aloft in the air, the army of whales bellowing in response. “Now WE will be the ones on top while YOU suffer below us!!” She then leaned closer to the shell and blew into it, the same bellowing horn sound ringing through the air once again.

At her command, the whales turned around so their tail-ends were facing the city, raised them high into the air, then slammed them down into the water in unison. The resulting impact sent another tsunami-like wave rushing towards the city, driving the heroes into action.

Megavolt looked down at the streets where the people who survived the first wave’s assault were still stranded or injured in the water. “Quackerjack, help me get the civilians to safety! Bushroot, see if you can block off the water somehow!”

“On it!” The other two heroes shouted at the same time before all three of them jumped off the side of the building together.

Bushroot used his long-reaching limbs to grab onto and swing across a series of street lamps and building ledges. As he moved through the air, he reached into one of the pockets on his coat and pulled out a handful of seeds, tossing them down to the ground as he went. “A few philodendrons..some Chinese evergreens…English ivy…and some cork and oak trees for good measure..” With a wave of his hand, the plants began to grow and sprout up at an impressively fast-rate. The trees took root deep in the ground below while the ivy and more hydroponically inclined plants wove around them to help form a make-shift barricade. “Good thing there’s plenty of fresh water already.” Bushroot said as he finished planting the natural barrier.

Meanwhile, Megavolt used his magnetized boots to skate along the sides of buildings and any powerlines that weren’t already destroyed. “Get on top of the cars!” He called over the panicked screams of the people around him as he ran.

The citizens scrambled to do as they were instructed and got on top of any vehicles they could find. Once the majority of them were in position, Megavolt concentrated his electricity and magnetism based powers into his hands and aimed them at the vehicles. The resulting blasts of yellow and blue caused the cars to thrum to live and drive forward on their own. Megavolt controlled their direction with his magnetism and made the cars drive in a straight line towards a free-way ramp.

As the cars got up onto the ramp, Quackerjack was waiting on standby to grab the people off the top and take them to safety. To this end, he’d set up a large area of what appeared to be silly-putty by the base of the tallest flat-topped buildings in the area and had secured himself, as well as a small army of moving teddy-bears, to the roof with a brightly colored rainbow of bungee-chords.

“Alright, boys!” Quackerjack called out to his small, fluffy army. “Remember- the floor is lava, so let’s hurry before this situation gets any hotter!” And with that he leapt from the top of the building to grab the first group of people that arrived on top of the cars, flanked closely by his teddy bear army.

Quackerjack began a pattern with his fuzzy friends of leaping down, grabbing people off the top of the cars alongside his bears, taking them up to the roof, letting go while the silly-putty bounced the cars away to make room for the next group, and repeating the process again once the next vehicle got close enough and leaping over to clip their bungee-chords to the top of the next building when the top of one got too full. The unusual system worked surprisingly well, the plant barricade that Bushroot set up helping to deter the water long enough for Megavolt to guide the vehicles over to Quackerjack so he could get them up high enough to avoid the rising water levels.

It wasn’t until the last vehicles was being unloaded that a problem began to present itself.

Said problem was more waves being sent towards the city. Apparently the fish queen had taken notice of their meddling and changed up her strategy. The whales were now staggering their attacks, resulting in waves that were less intense in size, but much more numerous.

The repeated barrage wore away at Bushroot’s plant-wall and began to create gaps that he rushed to fix, but were growing more numerous by the second. “Could you two hurry it up a little?!”

“We’re going as fast as we can!” Megavolt shouted back to him while guiding the last car towards Quackerjack.

Right on time, Quackerjack and his bears jumped down to grab the final group of people just as a particularly powerful torrent ripped a sizable hole in the natural barrier that had kept it at bay. The resulting surge of water that flooded in through the opening began to quickly submerge the surrounding area.

Quackerjack had been in the middle of grabbing a woman off the top of the car when the waves of water suddenly hit. “Hold on- this ride’s gonna get a little wet an’ wild!” He said to the woman while holding onto her tightly.

The water got to them before the bungee cord could get them back up to the roof. The stretchy cord kept them from being swept away, though, and Quackerjack tried to pull both of them back towards the building. The current proved too strong, however, and the hero and his charge ended up getting buffeted by the waves and slowly dragged under.

“Quackerjack!” Megavolt raced along any available metal surfaces and wires to get to his comrade, Bushroot not far behind. “Hold on, we’re-!”

His exclamation changed into a surprised gasp when a torrent of water suddenly rushed beneath Quackerjack and the woman in his arms. It submerged them briefly before crashing back towards the building, going against the current and racing up the side of it in an odd, rolling motion. It splashed over the edge of the building and deposited the pair along the edge safely where they coughed up any water that had gotten into their lungs before the water receded back down into the rest of the flood below.

The other two heroes were momentarily stunned by the odd wave that had washed Quackerjack back to safety, but they soon recovered and joined him up on the roof with the other civilians.

“You still breathing, clown?” Bushroot asked with an air of indifference that most would consider rude, but the other two were well-aware by now that it was just his way of hiding his concern.

“Yeah..” Quackerjack spit out some sea water that had gotten in his mouth and shook his head to get the water out of his cowl. “Don’t think I swallowed too many fish..” He got to his feet with Bushroot’s help (Megavolt tried to offer him a hand up first, but Bushroot beat him to it with a stern look to remind him that shocking both himself and Quackerjack wouldn’t do anybody any good). “Hey, you guys might think I’m crazy-”

“Bit late for that.” Bushroot said without missing a beat.

Quackerjack rolled his eyes briefly but continued. “-but I’m pretty sure I saw a face in that water just now.”

“A face?” Megavolt repeated with a confused expression. “You sure it wasn’t just the lack of oxygen messing with your vision?”

“Maybe..” Quackerjack shrugged, looking down at the water with a thoughtful expression. “But I’m PRETTY sure it was real…”

Bushroot clapped his leafy hands together, the rustling sound getting the other heroes’ attention. “We can discuss Quackerjack’s growing need for therapy later. Right now, we need to focus on stopping those whales before the little mermaid out there decides to turn the next state over into beach-front property. Any ideas?”

Megavolt looked back out at the sea and their current enemy while weighing their options. “If I can get close enough, then one good zap should knock her out. The only problem is GETTING to her without shorting out.” He looked back to Quackerjack with a quirked brow. “This might be a shot in the dark, but do you have any giant pool noodles or surf boards or something?”

Quackerjack tilted his head back and forth as he thought the question over. “Hmmmmmmmm…no, I don’t think so..” He suddenly snapped his fingers. “But I think I’ve got something else that’ll do the trick!” The jester reached into his toy pouch and pulled out-

“A rubber ducky?” Bushroot asked with a deadpan stare at the grinning clown.

Quackerjack squeaked the small yellow rubber duck in front of Bushroot’s face as if to confirm his assessment. “An all-purpose rubber ducky, thank you very much!” He gave the duck a firmer squeeze and it began to rapidly inflate into a rubber raft with a proportionately big head on the front. “All aboard the S.S.Bath-Time!” Quackerjack said with a grin.

Megavolt just chuckled at the toy maker’s usual enthusiasm while Bushroot shook his head with a barely restrained smile. “Quackerjack, you’re a genius!”

“Tell me something I DON’T know, sparky.” Quackerjack replied with a wink.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon the trio of heroes were riding over the turbulent waves with ease thanks to Quackerjack’s surprisingly sturdy rubber raft. He’d given a brief explanation about counter-balancing weights and a solar powered turbine, but it had been too hard to hear him over the loud whale songs and crashing waves (though Megavolt made a mental note to try asking him about that engine later- they’d have to compare notes sometime).

They’d almost reached the whale the queen was on when something reached up from within the water’s depths and smacked them away. “!!!!” They all shouted in surprise and clung to the raft, looking up to see a pair of giant tentacles flailing about above the water now.

“Oh, great..” Quackerjack said once the raft had reasonably settled again. “A twenty-foot tall calamari buffet and we don’t have ANY dipping sauce.”

Bushroot shook the water out of his petals and glared at the squid that decided to show the rest of its body that had been hidden below the waves. “I think I’d be fine with some sashimi right about now…”

The giant squid glared down at them and tried striking their boat again. Its actions gained the queen’s attention and she looked over to them from her throne with a mildly irritated expression. “You look like the rude peasants that stopped my waves.” She jumped from the back of her whale onto the backs of a few others until she reached the squid and landed on its head. “So, what brings you all the way out here, if I may ask? Come to surrender?”

“Other way around, villain!” Megavolt said while pointing a charged finger in her direction. “We’re gonna give you one chance to call off your army before we send you back down where you came from!”

Neptunia let out a loud laugh, leaning against the side of the squid’s head. “Ha! These locals ARE amusing, wouldn’t you agree, Sebastian?” Her laughter was gone in an instant, turning instead to an icy glare as she pointed her trident down at them. “Now then, darlings, I will give YOU one chance to get your little dingy out of here before my men decide they want duck and rat kebobs with a side salad.”

“Wow, I’ve been upgraded from a weed to a salad- what an honor.” Bushroot said sarcastically with a roll of his eyes as he stood up and prepared to fight.

“I know, right!” Quackerjack chuckled while standing up as well. “Before you know it, you’ll be treated as a full-fledged main course, Bushy!”

“If you guys don’t stop with the food jokes, you’re gonna make me hungry.” Megavolt complained as he stood alongside his comrades with a crack of his knuckles. “We can make one more seafood or fried fish joke, but then that’s it for the food quips, okay?” He adjusted his safety glasses and held out one hand. “Now, let’s take down this deep-sea deviant!”

“Just try not to earn your sea legs today, alright?” Bushroot said while grabbing Megavolt’s hand. At a nod from Megavolt, Bushroot swung him back before launching him off towards Neptunia.

Megavolt landed next to the fish-mutant on top of the giant squid and tried to hit her with an electrically charged fist. The fearsome fish, however, was much more agile than one would assume, and jumped over his attack to counter with a smack using the blunt end of her trident.

While their third member did battle with the sea-queen, Bushroot and Quackerjack took the boat around and began attacking the whales. Bushroot handled the steering at the boat’s rudder while Quackerjack lobbed his exploding red dodgeballs at the tail fins of any whales they passed. Just like during his fight with Bushroot, the balls burst when they hit their targets and covered them in a squishy but sticky red putty that caught on anything they came in contact with- including each other.

As Bushroot saw the whales struggle to get free from each other, he couldn’t help but shake his head slightly in sympathy. “That won’t work unless you can rip your own body parts off- trust me, I know.”

“Good thing we’re not fighting lizard people again!” Quackerjack chuckled while pulling new exploding dodgeballs out of his toy pouch, activating and then throwing them in a steady pattern.

Meanwhile, Megavolt was having more than a little trouble beating the surprisingly strong fish woman. In addition to having the home-field advantage of the squid constantly catching her every time he managed to knock her off-balance, she was also incredibly strong for her size and could easily lift him whenever she got a good hold on him. Add to that the fact that there wasn’t anything metallic for him to grab onto, and one could see why exactly Megavolt was struggling with the fish queen.

He felt like he’d finally caught a lucky break, however, when he managed to grab her arm. “Time for some extra-crispy fried fish!” He channeled what he thought was an appropriate amount of electricity into his hand and experienced a brief moment of elation when his amphibious attacker suddenly went limp…an extremely brief moment, it turns out, as she soon turned the tables on him by grabbing his arm in return. “Huh?!”

She looked up at him with a smirk. “Sorry, darling, but I’ve received better shocks from electric eels.” She used her grip on his arm to suddenly lift him up and toss him towards the water a few miles away. “Why don’t you go ask them for some lessons?!”

“MEGAVOLT!” He heard Quackerjack and Bushroot calling his name in alarm, and even caught a glimpse of them racing towards him on their boat in the distance.

They were too far away, though, he realized with a growing sense of panic. There was nothing for him to grab onto, no way they could reach him in time- just him and the vast ocean that would soon be his watery grave. As he began to lose his forward momentum from the throw and saw the water drawing closer, Megavolt closed his eyes and braced himself for impact with-

-with something squishy?

Opening his eyes hesitantly to make sure this wasn’t some sort of cruel near-death fantasy, Megavolt was shocked to see that he’d reached the surface of the water, as he expected, but it wasn’t water anymore. What he found himself laying on instead was a strange, rubbery yellow substance that looked a lot like the cube they’d found by the beach earlier.

In addition to the strangeness of finding himself suddenly (albeit gratefully) lying on a surprisingly buoyant substance of unknown origin instead of shorting out in the ocean like he’d dreaded, there was an additional anomaly within his yellow make-shift life-raft that Megavolt noticed right away:

Hands.

A pair of hands moving about within the rubbery substance had supported him when he’d landed, taking great lengths to make sure he didn’t hit his head or get whip-lash, and had since then begun to move to the edge of the unknown mass. Once they were on the edge, Megavolt saw something shift in the water by the hands and his little rubber island began to move slowly towards the direction that he’d last seen Quackerjack and Bushroot in.

“Megavolt!” He heard Quackerjack shout his name as the boat he and Bushroot were on got closer. “You alright, Sparky?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He replied, never taking his eyes off of the water by the hands. There was something odd about the way it moved, rolling about as if it were its own current. In fact, if he looked close enough, he could almost see a faint outline where the water looked a little different, almost like a person’s silhouette. “Hello..?” He asked, reaching out to touch the strange body of water. Unfortunately, making contact with the water was a terrible idea as it resulted in a spark of electricity that made him stumble back and nearly fall off of the yellow island and into the water below. “Ow!”

“Megavolt!” Over the sound of Bushroot calling out his name, Megavolt could swear he heard someone else’s voice yelp at the same time his own had and that there was a sudden and abrupt splash coming from the area he’d touched. “Idiot!” Bushroot’s long limbs stretched out and caught Megavolt before he could fall into the ocean. “What were you thinking?!”

“There’s someone in the water.” Megavolt said once Quackerjack had gotten the rubber ducky boat close enough for him to climb in. He looked back over to the spot he’d last seen the mysterious hands and was disappointed to find they, and the oddly moving current of water, were no longer in sight. “Hey! Anyone out there?!” He tried looking around for the silhouette he’d spotted earlier, but it’s hard to recognize a body of water WITHIN a body of water.

“You saw something, too?” Quackerjack questioned eagerly while searching for anything different in the water.

“Yeah- a pair of hands.” Megavolt explained while the two of them looked around. “And I KNOW I felt something in the water when I touched it.”

“You sure you didn’t just fry your nerves?” Bushroot asked with a disinterested expression.

“Well I’m pretty sure my fried nerves didn’t have anything to do with THAT.” Megavolt shot him a mildly irritated look and pointed at the strange yellow substance before returning his attention back to the water. “Hey! If anyone’s there, thanks for saving me! We could really use your help, though!”

There was a moment of silence, just long enough for Megavolt to doubt himself and what he’d seen, but then they heard him.

“Y-You…want m-my h-he-h-help…?” A deep but timid, gurgling voice asked them from somewhere within the water below them.

Much to their combined surprise, they saw a face appear within the water. It was simple and hardly noticeable had it not been staring dead at them, consisting of nothing more than two round eyes that were barely darker than the deep water around them and a slight line for a mouth.

Their reactions were….intense, to say the least.

“Woah!” Quackerjack gave an excited shout and leaned over the edge of the boat to get a better look at the face, nearly falling out in the process. “I knew it! You saved me too, right?! Are you MADE of water?! That’s awesome!”

Megavolt clung to the boat to keep from falling out while curiously examining the face looking up at them, attempting to see if he could spot any sort of body or silhouette in the water’s depths again, but finding none. “How big are you? Are you the size of the entire ocean, or are you just a concentrated mass mixed in? Do you suffer from any sort of diffusion effects?”

Bushroot just stared at the face in the water for a moment, a look of surprise on his own more solidly defined face. “Quackerjack was right. Twice in one day, too. We’re probably all about to die..” Giving a shake of his head and a sigh, Bushroot soon recovered from his initial shock and looked back to the water. Being much calmer than his companions, he noticed a few signs of discomfort on their new liquid-cohort’s face- the way his eyes shifted, the way he’d open his mouth to say something but close it again, the fact that the water around his face seemed to dip downward in an attempt to physically back away from their barrage of questions. Feeling an odd pang of sympathy for the watery creature and knowing how both Quackerjack and Megavolt could be oblivious to social cues, Bushroot firmly grabbed the two heroes that were half-way leaning out of the boat and firmly yanked them in by the backs of their shirts. “Geez, haven’t you guys heard of a little thing called manners? You’re supposed to wait until the third date to ask a mutant about their powers.” He shot them both a stern glare before looking down at the concave-face by the boat. “Sorry, I know they can be a bit much.”

“O-Oh, it-it’s f-fi-f-i-i-fi-” He seemed to struggle with his speech for a moment before rising back up to be level with the water’s surface. “It’s okay, I-I don’t m-mi-m-mind.”

The speech impediment was becoming glaringly obvious now that they’d had more conversation with him, but the three heroes (two plus a tag-along, Bushroot would have insisted) chose not to call attention to it.

Megavolt was about to say something else to the fascinating water creature, when the sound of loud splashing from earlier began to resume. “Huh?!” Looking back to where they’d left Neptunia and her army, he could barely make out her and her squid freeing the whales from the putty by summoning electric eels to fry the substance to a crisp and peeling it off. “Looks like break time’s over, guys.” He looked back down at the unnamed figure in the sea with a small smile that was partially pleading, but mostly understanding. “We’ll understand if you don’t wanna help- but, if you do, we’d appreciate anything at all.”

And with a quick wave to their new friend, the three took off back towards the tyrannical queen and her army of sea creatures while the hidden figure in the ocean stared after them.

“So, what’s the plan this time, Sparky?” Quackerjack asked while steering the boat so that it would counteract the swelling waves and not send any of them flying off.

“Don’t call me Sparky.” His reply came automatically. “And..same as before, I guess.” Megavolt admitted with a frown. “I’ll try to take down the diva of the deep while you two find a way to stop those waves from reaching the city.”

Bushroot looked at Megavolt with one brow cocked skeptically. “Hate to break it to you, Sparky-”

“Don’t call me Sparky!” Megavolt cut in briefly.

“-but you didn’t do too well against her last time.” Bushroot continued, ignoring Megavolt’s interruption as if he’d never said anything at all. “You got any OTHER plans?”

“Not really..” Megavolt rubbed at his neck while avoiding eye contact with the plant duck. “But..there’s not really much else I can do out here: My powers can’t do anything against those waves, but I can’t just sit by and do nothing.” He looked back up to the pair of ducks in the boat with him, giving them a slightly embarrassed but genuine smile. “The lives of the citizens come first, no matter what- that’s why I have to trust the hard stuff to the heroes that can actually save the day this time.”

The other two ended up smiling at him, although Bushroot tried to play his off by rolling his eyes. “Sappy as usual, huh, Sparky?” Before the usual retort could come, Bushroot reached over and flicked his leafy fingers against Megavolt’s forehead. “We’ll do what we can, but don’t go getting yourself dunked again, okay? Unless getting saved twice in one day by a living puddle is something you want us to tease you for.”

“And you know I’ll have fifty water related puns ready by the end of the day!” Quackerjack grinned teasingly at the electrically themed rodent. “But, hey, if we win it’ll just be water under the bridge!” He laughed at his own joke, falling over momentarily when Bushroot shoved him in retaliation for it.

“See what we have to look forward to?” Bushroot sighed while shaking his head. He looked at Megavolt, holding his hand out to the other man expectantly. “If I have to go through more lame jokes like that, you’ll BOTH be sleeping with the fishes, got it? So no losing.” The thinly veiled words of encouragement and the light squeeze to Megavolt’s gloved hand conveyed everything that the botanist refused to say.

Megavolt smiled softly and returned the squeeze to Bushroot’s own leafy extremities. “Same goes for you two- I don’t feel like finding a mime and a ball of sea-weeds floating in the ocean later.”

Bushroot smirked and flung Megavolt back towards Neptunia just like before, both of them ignoring Quackerjack’s enraged shouts regarding the insult of being compared to a mime even in death.

When he landed on the back of her whale, Neptunia gave the superhero a deadly glare. “Shouldn’t you be six feet under by now?”

Megavolt returned the glare with a challenging grin while charging his hands in preparation for another fight. “Haven’t you heard? Heroism is unsinkable- unlike you and your low-tide dreams of conquest!”

The fish queen grabbed her trident and spun it around, the bored look in her eyes clearly giving away how she felt about a second-round against the city’s protector. “We shall see how water-tight your ideals are when I’m through with you, nave.”

With that, the re-match was underway.

Megavolt had learned his lesson about the small sea-femme’s strength and stuck with distance attacks this time, favoring long-range shots of electricity over his earlier grappling. Neptunia, on the other hand, was trying to close the gap between them with flying leaps and swift thrusts with her trident that the rodent barely dodged.

After knocking her away with a particularly powerful plasma-pulse, Megavolt spared a glance to the whales around them to check on his comrades’ progress.

He wasn’t disappointed.

Quackerjack and Bushroot had resumed their earlier task of trying to stop the whales, but with an update to their tactics: This time Bushroot was the one working to incapacitate the whales while Quackerjack focused his efforts on stopping- or at least slowing down- the waves. The mutated botanist tossed seeds into the water near the whales and commanded them to grow, sprouting up into gigantic kelp forests that wrapped around and tangled the aquatic mammals’ tails to restrict their movements. Meanwhile, his more colorful companion had utilized a slingshot to shoot what, at a distance, looked like tiny capsules into the water along the path of the waves. When the capsules made contact with the water, however, they suddenly expanded at an incredibly fast pace- transforming into giant, brightly colored sponges shaped like dinosaurs, flowers, animals, and many other fun childishly cute things that absorbed the swelling waves before they could get too far.

“Yes!” Megavolt gave a quick cheer of excitement when he saw how well his friends were doing. Oh, he was so glad he wasn’t doing this hero thing by himself anymore! Honestly, there was no way he could’ve handled this one on his-

A loud, bellowing horn suddenly sounded off a few feet away from the sparky superhero, causing him to wince in pain and fall to his knees while covering his sensitive ears. When he recovered from the pain and looked towards the source of the debilitating sound, he saw Neptunia blowing into the seashell horn/megaphone from earlier.

Focusing his energy into his hand, Megavolt sent out a quick blast to break the horn, but the attempt only seemed to further amuse the tidal tyrant. “Too little too late, darling.” She told him with a smirk. “I’m afraid it’s time for the REAL attack to begin!”

Right on cue, the waves began to ripple and churn around them. Within seconds, a battalion of blue whales and a few colossal squids rose up from the water’s depths. Raising her trident as a signal to the newly revealed soldiers, the sea creatures heeded their queen’s call and raised their tails and tentacles in preparation.

Megavolt’s eyes widened in alarm and he turned to his friends, trying to warn them of the impending rush of doom about to head their way. “Guys, get out of there!!” The warning, unfortunately, came too late. Before his eyes a great surge of water was started in unison by the various sea creatures in attendance- a much larger, and far more powerful one that rivaled the tsunami that first struck the town- and Bushroot and Quackerjack were eclipsed and swallowed by the massive wave when it rolled over them. “Quackerjack! Bushroot!” Megavolt rushed to the edge of the whale he was currently standing on, desperately looking for any sign of the two other heroes within the chaotic current. When he found none, he fell to his knees, a look of shock and despair painted across his face. “No…” His voice shook around the simple word, his mind not wanting to believe the situation at hand.

“Aw, poor little washed-up hero. So much for heroism being ‘unsinkable’.” He heard the villainess’s voice drawing closer behind him, but he didn’t have the presence of mind to even bother facing her. “Don’t worry, darling- you will be joining them soon enough.” Megavolt could see the shadow of the fearsome fish’s trident, poised to strike.

“…….” Preparing to finally get back up so he could fight to avenge his friends and do what he could to save the city (even if he wasn’t sure what he COULD do yet), both Megavolt and Neptunia were startled to see a large, rubbery, bright yellow bubble suddenly breach the water’s surface- a bubble containing a water-logged but still breathing Quackerjack with Bushroot holding him protectively as the waves rocked their colorful container. “?!!”

“What?!” Neptunia stared at the bubble in an amusing mixture of anger and shock. “What in the seven seas is that?!”

Megavolt’s face lit up with an excited, confident grin at the realization of exactly what, or rather who, was responsible for the bubble that saved his partners’ lives. “That, you sinister sea creature, is heroism at its best!”

In perfect timing to demonstrate his point, an unnatural swell of water suddenly rose up in the path of the tsunami-sized tidal wave and rushed forward to meet it. Rather than meeting the other wave as water, though, the countering water-wall began to turn into the same bright yellow rubber that had already saved each of the heroes once that day.

The bouncy material proved to be water tight, not allowing any of the liquid through, and even repelling it back out to sea. What’s more, whenever some of the water began to push over the edge of the rubber-wall, it would quickly be converted into the rubber’s mass to help reinforce its structure. Whenever one of those changes occurred, interestingly enough, Megavolt could see a person-sized silhouette moving within the rubber, the figure rushing wherever it was needed to help reinforce the wall and protect the city.

Once the tsunami sputtered to a halt and the waves had calmed down, the rubber wall began to shift once more. This time, it changed shape into what looked like a giant cannon and opened fire on the various sea creatures under Neptunia’s command. The cannon would fire large balls of the rubbery material, but in a looser state. When the balls made contact with the various whales and squids, they would rapidly harden, immobilizing them in rubber shells.

“What?! What’s going on?!!” Neptunia sputtered while looking at the state of her army. “My army! This-This cannot be happening!” Once every squid and whale- minus the one that the pair were currently standing on- was encased in rubber, the cannon dissolved and another unnatural swell of water formed a wave that flowed smoothly & rapidly across the ocean’s surface, scooping up Neptunia’s entire battalion and washing them far out to sea. “NO!” She bellowed in rage, raising her trident threateningly. “The ocean is my domain! The tides bend to my will! I am the queen of the sea!!”

“The sea d-disagrees!” A familiar voice (well, mildly familiar to Megavolt, at least) challenged the underwater usurper while two large waves formed on either side of the whale. The waves soon shifted into a pair of giant hands that grabbed both Neptunia and her whale while forming a protective bubble around Megavolt similar to the one Quackerjack and Bushroot were still in. “Heroes everywhere agree, though- messing with St. Canard is dangerous for villains of all shapes, sizes, and species!” Once Megavolt’s bubble was safely floating on the water below, the large hands lifted the whale and the tyrannical terror of the deep high into the air. “So stay away, or you’ll get double your karma back- guaranteed!”

And with that threatening sales pitch delivered, the hands performed a more literal pitch and, after encasing the whale and the angrily screaming sea-queen in a rubber cube (reminding Megavolt of those gelatin molds people did with fruits or vegetables inside), proceeded to chuck the rubbery prison far off into the horizon in the same direction as the other creatures from before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometime later, the small group of heroes were gathered on the beach. Their helpful new friend had helped out once again by moving all of the water out of the city and back out towards the bay- he’d even managed to remove any trash and debris from it and left it all in a few dumpsters around the coast.

When he spotted the face in the shallow water along the coast (much smaller now given the lower volume of liquid it was shown in), Megavolt walked over to it excitedly with a grin. “That was amazing! Seriously, we can’t thank you enough for what you did. If it wasn’t for you, we’d all be six feet under by now.”

Quackerjack looked down at the face and nodded in agreement. “He’s right- without you, we’d be all washed up!” He laughed at his own joke, earning an elbow to his side from Megavolt and a smack to the back of the head from Bushroot. Once his giggles had died down, he gave the living water below them a more sincere, less joking smile. “You were great, though, really.” He playfully nudged Bushroot with his elbow. “You’re seriously giving Bushy here a run for his money as ‘most amazing mutant in Saint Canard’!”

Bushroot shook his head at the comment. “Funny, I didn’t realize it was a contest.” He looked back down at the water, a half-smile tugging at the corner of his beak. “But…I guess I could give up the crown for someone like you, since you saved our lives and everything.”

If it was possible for water to blush, they would swear that was what was happening: Two little spots above the face’s mouth had turned slightly darker and there was a bit of steam coming off of them. “W-W-Wow..tha-that’s-that’s …the k-k-kind-ki-n-nicest thing anyone’s s-sai-s-said to me in a l-long-l-long t-ti-i-ti-” He paused to take a breath before continuing. “Th-That’s..the nicest thing a-anyone’s said to me in-in…in a while. Thank you.” It seemed to take some focusing to get everything out so concisely, but he looked relieved to have accomplished it.

Megavolt smiled down at the watery face in understanding. He may not have had a problem with stuttering, but he’d dealt with his fair share of difficulties due to his own “quirks”. Little things like remembering a previous conversation or an address were easy things for most people, but, for him, they were daily challenges he faced with varying degrees of difficulty. He imagined that getting through a sentence like that was a similar struggle for their new friend.

“You deserve that- and a lot more, too.” Megavolt stepped a bit closer, silently acknowledging Bushroot’s leafy hand on his shoulder with a gentle pat as it attempted to dissuade him from getting too close and risk shorting out. He bent over slightly and held a hand down towards the water with a bright smile on his face, hoping that it would be more inviting and less overwhelming than when he first tried to talk to the living liquid. “We would love to have you on our team. If you want to, that is. Like I said before, it’s fine if you don’t want to, but we could really use your help.”

The creature in the water stared at his hand in surprise. “You…Y-You really…want m-m-m-me-e…?”

Quackerjack planted one elbow on Megavolt’s back and leaned on him casually while pretending to look around the coastline. “Oh, do you know any other selfless, heroic, life-saving, super cool living bodies of water around here?” He asked sarcastically before grinning down at the face in the water. “Of course we want you! You’ve got cool powers AND you’re already good at saving lives? We’d be crazy not to ask!”

“Sanity is still questionable, at best.” Bushroot shoved the harlequin off of the rodent’s back with a roll of his eyes, causing him to fall into the shallow water and muddy sand below (though he was quickly helped up by a watery hand that rose up out of the surf). After smirking down at the other duck’s sand-covered face, the plant-duck redirected his attention back to the other mutant. “Either way, there’s no way you could be any worse at it than me.”

Megavolt looked over his shoulder with a frown and a mildly chastising look as he softly spoke the same words to his self-deprecating friend that he always said in these situations. “You’re a hundred times better than you think you are.” He smiled fondly when the usual darker green color settled over Bushroot’s cheeks and he turned his head away in hopes that his long petal-hair would obscure the sight from the others (it never did, but it was endearing to watch him try). Laughing quietly to himself for a moment at the adorable way the grumpy plant-hybrid crossed his arms, Megavolt returned his attention to the water once again, his hand still outstretched as an offering to their potential new member. “So, what do you say? Want to join the greatest superhero team in Saint Canard?”

There was a long moment of silence from the floating face. Then, without warning, it faded away without a single word. Megavolt’s smile slipped, his mind already going over what he must have said wrong to drive away such a wonderful hero. Maybe he’d come on too strong with the team up offer? Quackerjack had gone for it immediately, but Bushroot had taken a while. Maybe he should have-

A hand stretched out of the water towards Megavolt’s own. Just before making contact with it, the water’s consistency changed to rubber so that it could grasp the shocking-superhero without shorting him out. The hand was soon followed by an entire body of water- a person’s body, that is, not the entire ocean. As it rose up from the shallows the water began to take a more defined form, shifting into that of a dog- the water on his body even changed to create the image of a pair of dark blue pants with a lighter blue top and a dark blue tie. When he opened his eyes and smiled shyly at the stunned superheroes, the trio instantly recognized the blue dots from the previously more simple face.

The water-dog shook Megavolt’s hand with his own rubberized one, taking a deep breath before giving them a proper introduction. “Has your city been ruled over by a tyrannical duck with a height complex for far too long? Are a motley crew of thugs, criminals, and/or supervillains causing trouble for superheroes and everyday citizens alike? Then call on the reliable services of THE LIQUIDATOR for all your crime-fighting needs! One round with this hydro-powered hero and the bad guys will be alllllll washed up- guaranteed or your money back!” He finished his introductory sales-pitch with a wink. His confidence quickly deflated, however, when the other three people on the beach just stared at him silently with the same wide-eyed expression. “Um…w-was that to-t-too much..?”

All at once the trio returned to their senses and properly welcomed their new member with open arms- literal ones in Quackerjack’s case.

The colorful clown-hero whooped loudly and wrapped his arms around Liquidator’s shoulders. “You’ve already got a cool name AND lines prepped?! Oh, you are a keeper, buddy!” (They were all too excited to notice the way the dog’s ears twitched slightly at the term of endearment.)

The excitement in Megavolt’s eyes shone brightly enough to be seen through his safety glasses as he looked at Liquidator’s rubberized hand in his own. “Okay, I’ve gotta know- how are you doing this?! Did you just alter the chemical composition of the water to-”

He was interrupted by a leafy slap to the back of his head. “Remember, Sparky- third date.”

“Don’t call me Sparky!” Megavolt said with a pout before looking around at the small group of allies he’d found himself with a slowly growing smile. “I guess we’ll need a new name, huh?”

“Yeah, we’re not the ‘Terrific Trio’ anymore.” Quackerjack raised one hand, keeping the other around their newest member’s shoulders. “Ooh! Ooh! How about the ‘Fearsome Four’! It sounds cool and I know you’re a sucker for alliteration, Sparky!”

Liquidator frowned slightly as he looked at the clown beside him. “D-Doesn’t sound very fr-frien-f-friendly..”

“Friendly…” Megavolt said the word aloud, tapping his chin in thought. “Friendly…” Then, as if to act as a visual representation of his epiphany since there were no lightbulbs to turn on above his head, a shimmering bolt of electricity raced upwards from his boots and curled around his torso all the way up to his head before dancing off the tips of his hair and whiskers. “That’s it!” He beamed at his newly formed team and held a hand out in front of him. “From now on, we’re the ‘Friendly Four’!”

Quackerjack chuckled at the other hero’s enthusiasm and placed his hand on top of the gloved one of his friend. “Sounds good to me, Sparky!”

Liquidator smiled and placed his hand on top of Quackerjack’s. “That…That d-does sound a lot n-nic-cer.”

Bushroot sighed in annoyance, his hands currently shoved deep in his pockets. “I don’t know why you guys insist on including me in your head-count. I keep telling you: I’m not a hero.” Just as Megavolt and Quackerjack were about to argue the subject with him for what felt like the millionth time, they saw one leafy hand leave the confines of its coat pocket before joining the pile. “But…you guys would look pretty stupid if you ran around calling yourselves the ‘Friendly Four’ and there were only three of you…so I guess I’ll stick around until you find someone better to take my place.”

Quackerjack laughed and smiled at the other two members of their group. “You hear that, guys? We get to keep Bushy forever!”

“Hey, I didn’t say that!” The ex-botanist snapped at the toymaker with a harsh glare that was easily tempered by the visible blush on his green cheeks.

As the two launched into a teasing argument over Bushroot’s place on the team, Quackerjack using Liquidator as a living barrier between himself and the irate plant-duck when the greener mutant tried to catch his non-powered ally, Megavolt looked at the other members of his team with an affectionate smile. For at least two decades he’d been fighting for this city all by himself. Now, though, now he had a team.

Things were likely going to get rougher before they got better for the rag-tag group of heroes, but, one thing was for sure:

This team had a bond between them that would not be broken- not even by Negaduck and the other forces of evil plaguing their city. The Friendly Four were going to save the day, no matter what!

<-Previous Chapter Next Story->

End Notes: Well, that concludes the first story for my Friendly Four universe. I hope everyone enjoyed it ^//////^ I have a lot of ideas for this universe and, for the first couple of stories, they’ll be set up like this with each character or pair of characters getting their own chapter that matches with the theme/title of the story.

Also, just as a funny side note, I didn’t originally intend for it to happen, but it ended up being that each of the heroes ended up defeating the same character their villainous counterparts took out from the Justice Ducks. I always intended for Liquidator to be the one to confront Neptunia, but Quackerjack and Bushroot taking out Shamutt and Morgana just kind of happened by accident and I ran with it.

Gizmoduck was left out on purpose, but don’t worry- he’ll get his appearance in the next installment, and it’ll leave quite an impact on the heroes *cue evil chuckling with lightning flashing in the background*

#negaverse #friendly four #megavolt #quackerjack #liquidator #bushroot #quackervolt #liquiroot #bushvolt #quackerroot #liquivolt #liquijack #ot4 #neptunia #nega-megavolt #nega-quackerjack #nega-bushroot #nega-liquidator #nega-neptunia

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r3b3lgrrrrrrrl · 5 years ago

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A LunaTic and her Gunn (Part 14)

"To Clvlnd She Goes"

Colson tells Emma that Luna is going to fly in tonight so they can have lunch tomorrow.

"Is she staying with you?" She asks.

"Nah, she's gonna stay down town." He reassures her. They agree on a time, Emma calls her mom to confirm Colson can drop Casi off for while. "Cool. Thanks Em."

She nods her head, smiling at him. "You're welcome." She says before he walks off to collect Casi.

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After booking her flight, Luna heads back to Ashley's. She's home now, chilling on the couch with Jagger. Luna tells her of her plans to fly out to Cleveland. Ashley's shocked. She knows Casi but she didn't meet her until she and Kells had been friends for a good while. "Wow!" She says, cocking her head back.

"I know. It's like meeting his mom, but obviously not his mom, you know?" Replies Luna.

Ashley doesn't want to but she can't help but laugh. Luna's never done well with parents or any type of authority. "Well, she is an important mother to him. Considering..." Referring not only to Emma being Casi's mother but also to Colson's own absentee mother.

"I know." Says Luna quietly "That's why it's important and I don't wanna make a bad first impression."

"You'll be fine. We're not 17 anymore. She's a mom, but she's your peer. Just be your shining, brilliant self." She says popping off the couch. "Now come on, I'll help you pack AND even drive youuuuuuu."

"Oh, FUCK! A ride to the airport?? Now THAT'S friendship!!! Laughs Luna as the girls head up stairs."

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Luna gets comfortable on the bed, pulling out her vape pen. The flight was smooth and she had easily ubered to the hotel.

She'd FaceTimed Colson once she'd checked in and had gotten settled. He was home playing FortNite Casi. They spoke for a bit, he gave her shit for not letting him pick her up. She told him to shut up, that she was fine and to enjoy hanging out with Casi. He's going to pick her up around 1230 tomorrow, after he drops Casi off. They exchange goodnights and I love yous.

He texts her his Snap code later and sends her a dick pic through it. She screenshots it but doesn't reply.

"A little teasing never hurt no body..." She thinks as she snuggles into the bed. After a few minutes she misses Colson. She Snaps him her slender legs propped up, toes and tattoos in full view. She tries to fall asleep after, hating the familiar feeling of a once full but now empty bed. It makes her think of Justin. "But you'll SEE him tomorrow." She reassures herself before popping a lunesta to shut her mind up.

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Casi and Colson had hung out, played video games and now she was in bed. He's in his own too, smoking a joint, waiting for Luna to Snap him back. She does. When he sees it, he instantly gets hard. He screenshots it so he can jerk off to her.

"Fuck, she gets me!" He thinks as he easily cums. Once he lays back down, he looks over at his empty bed missing Luna. "Soon enough." He falls asleep with dreams of their future adventures together dancing in his head.

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Colson and Luna arrive at Blue Point for lunch. Emma is already seated and watches them come in. They're dressed causally but stylish. Luna in a black lace top, cuffed ripped boyfriend jeans and nude heels. Colson spots Emma and waves holding Luna's hand, leading her to the table with him.

"Hey!" He says leaning over to peck Emma. "Emma this Luna. Luna, Emma." He introduces them.

Luna smiles brightly and reaches her hand out to Emma. "Hi! Nice to meet you!" She says.

"You too." Responds Emma, taking her hand. Once they sit down, the server greets them. Taking their drink and appetizer order. Emma asks how they met. Colson first speaks of their past not meeting all those years ago. It rings a bell in Emma's head. "Don't tell me you're The Girl in the Cheetah Print coat!!" She exclaims, astonished.

Luna laughs and looks at Colson. One look. He blushes. "Yup!! This is her." He says proudly, throwing his arm around her without a thought.

They order food. Conversation between Emma and Luna flows easily. Emma asks Luna what she does, where she lives, if she has any kids.

Luna answers, that she calls NY home. That she does not have any children. Explains that she does a little of everything. That she's a singer/songwriter on an independent label. How she's had a few art showings and has successfully sold some solid pieces. That she enjoys scouting, shooting and helping upcoming artist break through. She mentions a bit of her political activism.

"Wait, so you went to Flint?" Emma asks, impressed.

"Yeah, we loaded up 3 large Uhauls, packed to the gills with thousands of cases of water and drove them from NY to MI. I went the first 3 times to establish a solid connection, then set it up to where there's been 2 full monthly deliveries for the last 4yrs. It's still not nearly enough though. So, I'm currently working with this great guy in the community, Gary. We're building a class action lawsuit at the moment. We're preparing to take it all the way to the Supreme Court, if we have too. Not that those biased fucks will really do anything... But we either fight or die, right?" Luna concludes.

"Wow." That's really admirable." Emma says listening intently.

"I have the platform, resources and the intelligence to help. I'd be a Fucking dick and a part of the problem, if I didn't." Luna says with a sadness in her eyes.

Emma nods in agreement.

She looks at Luna seriously, making her nervous. "I feel like I can ask you things and you'll answer them honestly, which I truly respect and appreciate." She continues looking over at Colson "I like you, you seem like a strong, independent, educated, KIND woman, who can potentially have a very positive influence.." She looks at Colson again "Over our daughter. But I have to ask you. What drugs do you do?"

Luna laughs, catching Emma off gaurd. "I'm so sorry. That was incredibly rude. You just me threw me off!" Luna apologizes. "To answer your question, I smoke a LOT of pot. I LOVE a mushroom and maybe some pure MDMA, but I don't fuck around with scary drugs. Like meth or heroin. I'm already too hype for coke. I drink but... Pot, pot's the go to. Always."

Emma looks at her, appreciating how candid she is. Then she looks at Colson, who's staring at her. Hard. "You know how much coke Colson blows?" She asks dead out.

"What the fuck, Em??" Colson throws his long arms out.

"I'm only asking Colson, because if you're serious enough to want her to meet Casi. Then, I need to know, that she knows what she's getting herself into. So, that our little girl doesn't get attached and her heart broken, if Luna decides it's too much in 6mnths." Emma states emotionally.

"You think I'd bring Cas around someone who I didn't think was gonna ride with me for the long haul??" He snaps back.

Luna interrupts them both. "Guys, chill out." She grabs Colson's thigh with her left hand squeezing it under the table. While she reaches across the table with her right, to lightly touch Emma's hand. "It's ok. It's a valid question, Bunny. That's why we're here." She says looking at Colson. Then she turns to Emma, "Honestly, obviously I know he does blow and addies, I don't know how much because I don't do it with him, but I have an idea." Luna pauses. Then continues. "No one can guarantee anything in this life, but as adults we CAN control our own actions. The only thing I can tell you, with absolution, woman to woman. Is that, I've never done this before. Being in love with a man who has a child. I will guarantee, to you, her MOTHER. That if I do develop a relationship with your daughter and for some crazy reason Colson and I don't work out. I still have control over my own actions and if Casi wanted to continue being friends with me, as long as it was ok with both of you, I WILL make it a point to maintain my relationship with her. IF, it came to that, which I do NOT think it will. Because, honestly. I love Colson, Emma. For all of his greatness and all of his flaws. I'm all in. If I wasn't, we both know I wouldn't have cared to jump on a plane last night to be here today. This. Colson. Casi. Your opinion. They're all very important to me." She squeezes Emma's hand slightly, giving her a comforting smile.

"Fuck." Is all that Colson can think. Completely enamoured.

"Thank you." Emma says. "That is a lot more mature and understanding than I expected from someone without kids." She smiles at Luna.

"No. Thank you for giving me a chance. Kids fucking terrify me." Luna let's out a light laugh.

"Well, be ready then because Cas is a pistol!!" Emma laughs with her.

Colson watches both women enjoy each other's company while they finish lunch. "Wow." Is all he can think, falling even more in love with Luna while being equally grateful for Emma.

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

Heading back from lunch, Colson tells Luna how much her coming to meet with Emma means to him. "I know, Bunny." She says. Going on to express her relief of how well it went. That, when they were leaving though, she wasn't surprised that her and Emma had hugged sincerely, before parting ways. As she sweetly, leans over to kiss him on the cheek.

But it's not enough for her. So she moves to his jaw, then his ear, his neck. While her hands slide over his pants unbuckling them, pulling out his hard cock. He lifts his ass so she can slide his pants off slightly. Then she takes his cock into her mouth.

"God Daaaamnn!!!" Colson thinks, trying to focus on the road.

"FUUUUUCK, BUNNY!!!" He groans loudly lifting his hips, pushing himself deeper into her mouth. As they drive through downtown Cleveland, she sucks his cock intently. He cums just as they pull up to the hotel. "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST." He says in exasperated satisfaction. She pops her head up. He wipes the stray cum from her open mouth. "You're so fucking HOT. I love that you swallow." He smiles at her, his hand resting on her face, from where he wiped his excess cum. "Want me to come up and return the favor? He asks.

"Mmmmmm...as hard as that is to turn down. You should get back to Casi. She's waiting on you and I've taken enough of her time today."

"Are you sure? What are you gonna do?"

"Honestly? I'm probably gonna go upstairs and book a flight tonight. I'd rather get back to LA late and tired, then be weird and manic in a city I don't know." She laughs.

"You can come over and hang out with me and Cas."

"Nahh... this is her time. Are you coming back to LA with her?

"Yeah, tomorrow. Especially if you're leaving tonight."

"You talk to Casi, like I said, tell her about me, ask HER if she'd like to meet me and let her choose where. Even if I don't meet her officially tomorrow, I'll slide by to see you." She says kissing him.

"Aight." He begrudgingly agrees.

"I love you. I'll let you know when my flight is and no matter what, will see you tomorrow." She says kissing him deeply. He agrees before she slides out of his Cobra. "Looooove you." She beams before closing the door.

"LOVE YOU!!!!" He hollers, laughing from inside the car before he pulls off.

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

"Fuuuuuck, I love him...... Damn! She's REEEEEEALLY nice, I wasn't sure how this would go, but I enjoyed her a lot." Luna thinks, happily trotting into the hotel. "That was much less painful than you had anticipated, ya freak." She mocks herself, laughing, heading to her room.

**********************************************

"I knew Em would like Loons. How can you not? I can't wait for Cas to meet her. They're gonna have so much fun together.... She really is amazing." His heart gets a little sad, missing her already as he heads to pick up Casi.

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

To be continued....

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mautadite · 5 years ago

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january book round up

27 books this month! the most i’ve read in a month in quite some time, and a good start to the year. a couple days late because i’ve been feeling a bit meh. i doubt i’ll be able to read this much at any point this year. but it’s nice to get a good strong head-start on my yearly goal. a mix of audiobooks and e-books so far.

a land so wild - elyssa warkentin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a really lovely epistolary/found media m/m romance story, set during the 1840s, about a ship captain and a naturalist trying to chart a northwest passage in the arctic, and find a ship that was lost five years ago trying to do the same thing. very beautifully told, with lots of emotion that you’d think would be lost because of the mode of storytelling.

how to bang a billionaire - alexis hall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a re-read. i remember being very sceptical of this when i first read it, but now that i’ve finished the entire series there’s so much i appreciate about it.

trade me - courtney milan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ my first courtney milan book, after hearing a lot of good things about her. the hype was deserved! i like her writing a lot and this book (a romance between a poor chinese-am daughter of immigrants, and a billionaire heir with an eating disorder) touched on a lot of stuff that you don’t typically see in romance novels. particular what it mean and what it feels like to be poor. this was probably my favourite treatment of billionaires in a novel (at least, ones where they don’t get beheaded).

hold me - courtney milan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ the second in the series, equally enjoyable. the hero of this novel has to confront and own up to his sexism in ways that a lot of romance novels would simply let men get away with! if i’d known that that’s part of what the book covered i might not have been enthused to read it, because while i genuinely believe bigoted people can change for the better, i’m not super interested in reading about it. but i really enjoyed how milan wrote it, and the romance was lovely. (also the heroine is trans, nice.)

my lady’s lover - nicola davidson ⭐️⭐️⭐️ not a lot of substance, but it’s historical lesbian romance, which is my eternal catnip. a lady’s maid who’s the member of a society for sexual freedom falls in love with her mistress, and happily discovers that the feelings are returned. there’s sex, some angst, and a happy ending,

a lady’s desire - lily maxton ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ another historical f/f romance. pretty low stakes, without much external conflict, but it had good writing and great characters, and i’ll always have a soft spot for childhood friends to lovers. and let’s be real: i mostly picked this up because of the cover. a woman with her head in another lady’s lap, gazing gayly at her? yes, thanks.

rebound remedy - christine d’abo ⭐️⭐️ eh! m/m holiday romance, about a guy who gets dumped before christmas, has a whirlwind rebound romance with his bartender, and then starts falling deeper for him. nothing bad about it, but i just wasn’t feeling the romance. i’ve read shorter stories that had more chemistry and character interaction.

don’t let go - cynthia dane ⭐️ another f/f romance that i got mostly because of the cover, but this one let me down hard. i liked that it was set in taiwan; had a lot of cultural nuance and tidbits that i enjoyed, but everything else, the writing, the editing, and characters, the chemistry... it was a bust. it also had a weird and baffling approach to mental illness, and managed to be yet another book that makes me hate rich people. also... the two authors credited are the pseudonyms of the same person skfjhdfkj ihni why she’s crediting herself twice.

alone - e.j. noyes ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ LOVED THIS. f/f mystery/thriller-ish romance, though the mystery aspect is admittedly light. noyes has lovely prose and a good sense of storytelling, but the romance is where this really shone for me. which... idk, i’m aware that it might not be for others who read this book. but something about the way olivia fell so helplessly in love with celeste, everything celeste does to hold on to olivia... it appealed to me on a visceral level.

boystown book 1 - marshall thornton ⭐️⭐️⭐️ three short stories about a gay private eye solving mysteries in the community in the early 1980s. it reminded me of how much i love short form mysteries; there’s just something about stories being told that way that i can’t resist. i was also kind of charmed by the way our main character tripped into bed with a cute twink like every 10 pages. :3

poems i sleep next to - shelby eileen ⭐️⭐️⭐️ a collection of contemporary poems. really enjoyable. nothing wowed me, but several poems moved me.

how to talk to nice english girls - gretchen evans ⭐️⭐️⭐️ early 20th century f/f romance between a spirited american heiress and a nice proper english girl. low stakes, character driven. not really character driven enough actually; i felt like they didn’t get to spend enough time knowing each other. and some more external conflict wouldn’t have hurt. but it was hot and fun and well-written.

by his rules - j.a. rock ⭐️⭐️⭐️ an m/m romance that looks at abuse in bdsm communities, and spends a good long time on recovery, survival, and healthy relationships that involve kink. i really could not get into the discipline stuff, but i really liked that the main characters worked for their HEA; nothing clicked magically into placed for them, and aiden was given space and resources to work out his trauma.

the wolf and the girl - aster glenn gray ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a retelling of little red riding hood set in early 20th century russia and france that focuses on the friendship between two young women. simple story, very beautifully told.

the secret diaries of anne lister - anne lister ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ i started reading this in the middle of last year, after i finished gentleman jack, and i was basically reading snippets at a time until december, and then by january i was eating it all up. i LOVED this. i loved the diary of this at times manipulative, haughty, but kind-hearted and tender and clever woman, and all of her loves and struggles and observations. there’s just something... very good about knowing and seeing that lesbians have always existed, and hearing her first hand accounts is just... GREAT. really looking forward to the next volume.

oh, earthman! - berlynn wohl ⭐️⭐️⭐️ an anthology of short stories. weird, fun, scifi-flavoured m/m erotica.

emma - jane austen ⭐️⭐️⭐️ took me long enough, i know! but i really really thoroughly enjoyed my time with this book, especially the audiobook, whose narrator i loved. i loved emma: her cleverness and wit and finesse and all her terrible blunders. though i could tell where the story was going, the getting there was really fun, and i super duper enjoyed the romance (though at one point i got seriously squicked out haha). and fight me: i adored miss bates, i thought she was the best character in the book. LOVE a spinster who don’t know when to shut her trap but is earnest and kind and gentle-hearted and GOOD.

«légendaire.» - kai ashante wilson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ kaw, i’m begging you, PLEASE write another fell length novel. or novella. please! i love his writing and world-building so so so much, i flip out thinking about it. until he does, these short stories will have to suffice. this was great: everything i love about his writing, revisiting the world and concepts that we’ve seen in his other books, with mesmerising characters and a tragic, but soulful tale.

a conspiracy of truths - alexandra rowland ⭐️⭐️⭐️ i love stories about stories, and as far as that goes, this a pretty good one! the one way it failed to grasp me was on the character front; i just didn’t enjoy the main character as much as i could, or as much as i was meant to, and i felt at times he was too far removed from the plot. basically, chant is a master storyteller travelling in a foreign land, when he’s falsely accused of witchcraft and spying. the novel details how he uses storytelling to get himself out of the pickle, and all the consequences that follow. there are some amazing side characters in this (esp. his apprentice, who i will definitely read the nest book for).

animal farm - george orwell ⭐️⭐️⭐️ felt like rereading this, so i did. and i mean, it’s animal farm! it holds up.

the overdue life of any byler - kelly harms ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ like i said above, i like books about books, and i got this thinking it would be something like that? but it’s more about a single mother who gets the chance to take some time off from her kids and her life, have fun, find romance, and how she deals with managing that, and the guilt, and all the elements that are introduced/reintroduced to her life. i don’t think this is an amazing book, but it’s a lovely one, and i know there are middle aged mothers out there who would benefit from reading it. it’s not about romance (though there’s a cute romance in it); it’s about motherhood and being there for yourself as much as your kids.

the subs club 1&2 - j.a. rock ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ the first two books in an m/m romance series. a group of friends is still reeling after one of them dies at the hands of an irresponsible dom. they decide to form the subs club; a website to review and rate doms, with an eye towards making the community safer for subs, though it doesn’t really work out that way. the first book follows dave, who ends up getting involved with a guy who’s eerily like ron swanson from parks and rec, and the second follows miles, a masochist who gets involved with a guy who likes to pretend to be a vampire (lmao??). i have to tip my hat to j.a. rock, who seems to have a knack for getting me to read things i’d be otherwise sure i wouldn’t be interested in. and i mean, even after reading, i’m pretty sure i don’t want to read other books about domestic discipline or s&m or pretend draculas, but her characters and plots are well written and engaging and i had a really good time. although, i have to mention: the second book dealt with internalised racism in a way that... while well meaning, was definitely not very deftly done.

alice & jean - lily hammond ⭐️⭐️⭐️ post wwii f/f romance set in new zealand. a young widowed mother falls for the dashing woman who delivers her milk every morning. they have to contend with community scrutiny, an old friend of alice’s husband, and her bitter old mother to fight their way to happiness. i enjoyed it; it was simple and the romance was incredibly sweet, though the writing did drag at times.

american dreamer - adriana herrera ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ DELIGHTFUL. the very definition of feel good romance! a young dominican-american man moves to the outskirts of new york to start his food truck, and almost immediately meets a cute librarian who turns his head. i flipping love queer romances with characters from the caribbean; it just feels so good when slang is part of the language of love.

minotaur - j.a. rock ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ i read four books by this author this month, and this is hands down my favourite. i don’t know man, combine girls and monsters and lesbian romance and i”M THERE. thera is a teen orphan sent to a home for girls at the edge of town. there, she makes friends, raises hell, falls in love with the mysterious new girl, and also becomes obsessed with stories of the minotaur, half woman half monster, locked the labyrinth in a cliff not far away. this story appealed to me in so many ways, and i really hope the author writes more f/f in the future.

two dads and three girls - nick (yu) he ⭐️⭐️⭐️ the autobiography of a gay man growing up in china, and the story of how he finds himself, finds love, and becomes a father. very sweet.

whew. that took me a while lol. that’s it for january. i probably (hopefully) will be too busy to read as much this month, but i have some interesting books on my plate. currently listening to an audiobook of beneath a scarlet sky, which is unfortunately underwhelming, and i’ll probably move on with some fun YA.

#book talk #long post #extremely long post lmao sorry

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marshmallowgoop · 5 years ago

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Kill la Kill Books!

Got a small haul of Kill la Kill books the other day!

SUSHIO CLUB LOVE LOVE KLKL has been a glaring omission from my collection, so when I saw a listing of the book for 3,600 yen—which usually goes for 10,000+ these days—I bought it right away.

And I figured I might as well pick up a few more things while I was at it, right? To make the shipping more cost effective?

That’s definitely the only reason.

But anyway, my growing mass of Kill la Kill books and magazines has now reached 36 items.

And I’ve talked about some of this merch before; you can find my post about the Febri volume 21 issue here, my post about Fractal 10 here, my post about the Talking About Composite books, The Complete Script Book, and The Art of KLK Vol. 3 here (and I have a whole tag for the script book, #klk-script-book), and I yammer on about the nine Blu-ray key art collection and artboard books here. I also have several essays discussing the official manga adaptation:

Kill la Kill Manga Chapter 7

Kill la Kill Manga Volume 3, Chapters 8-17: Thoughts and Impressions

Kill la Kill Manga Volume 3: Translation Notes, Anime Differences

Kill la Kill Manga Volume 3: Worth it?

Manga Differences

And now, I wanna briefly (lol) yap about the six new additions to my collection.

Because I have a lot of love in my heart for this ridiculous, ridiculous anime.

SUSHIO CLUB LOVE LOVE KLKL

So, I got this book for cheap because it was allegedly in poor shape and “not suitable for collection.”

(My reaction to “not suitable for collection” is always, “It’s suitable for my garbage collection! I’ll give your ‘ugly’ copies a loving home!”)

But, like? There are a couple of dents and folded corners, but the condition is really not bad at all. The art is completely intact and beautiful.

Sushio—who is the character designer for Kill la Kill—has shared much of this book on his Twitter, and I would definitely recommend fans of the series to scroll through his photos and have a look. There’s such a cute, sweet charm to Sushio’s work, and along with the polished, colored pages from LOVE LOVE that he shares online, he also shares sketches of his own fanart for the series, too.

(Okay, maybe this isn’t exactly the best demonstration of Sushio’s absolutely precious artwork, but. It’s one of my favorites from the book. Ryuko resorting to such wild extremes to be with Senketsu again is just. My heart. Kill la Kill is actually adorable.)

In any case, I don’t think any of the content in LOVE LOVE was new to me, but there’s just really something about having the book in my hands. I know there’s such a strong desire for digital media these days, but call me old-fashioned—there’s nothing quite like holding this art and really seeing every stroke and line in person.

Being able to physically flip through the pages also makes me notice things I didn’t before. For instance, I found myself charmed by the little detail of Barazo, Mako’s father, loving and adoring Sukuyo, Mako’s mother.

I mean, aw? It’s stuff like this that really makes me wish Kill la Kill were a kids’ show (as Sushio himself seemed to want!) Barazo is so much more likeable when there aren’t any signs of his less-than-pleasant behavior and he’s a loving, supportive husband and father.

Seriously!

Another thing I notice from having the book now is the order in which the pages are organized. Like, I couldn’t help but be amused about how Ryuko gets her own page here...

(Smiling for her Starketsu in the sky, right? Just like he asks her to in “Till I Die”?)

...and then the next pages have Satsuki beside Nonon and Mako (and Mataro) beside Ira...

...which strikes me as a bit funny because this isn’t exactly how Sushio organized his Tweets of these images. There, Satsuki was next to Ryuko, Nonon was next to no one, Mako and Mataro were next to Ira, and Uzu was next to Houka:

So, in LOVE LOVE, is Sushio deliberately trying to say something with the changed placement? Especially when it comes to the direction of the ladies’ eyes?

Yeah???

I kid, I kid.

(But really, it looks much better to give Ryuko her own page and not have Nonon standing next to nobody.)

Also, one of the first things that popped out to me about LOVE LOVE is how Senketsu’s pages are right next to Ryuko’s pages. As they should be.

They belong together, okay?!

And speaking of Senketsu and Ryuko, I remember a comment years back that said you could probably find pics of your OTP with matching expressions in this book.

But, uh. Just compare Senketsu posing to Ryuko posing...

They’re kind of different types of people, lol.

But hey, they do both make cute sneezy faces.

As a final note about my copy of LOVE LOVE, I will say that my only disappointment is that I received the version with print errors. As such, this page of Nui...

...was accidentally printed twice, and I miss out on this page of Nui as a result:

There are also some minor goofs, like Mako’s arm getting cut off by the background here:

But considering I got this beautiful thing for only 3,600 yen, I really can’t complain!

Now I just need Sushiotan 2 to complete my Sushio Kill la Kill doujin collection....

Takepro

This charming little volume is a collection of animator fanart for the show (and other shows). The book includes a short profile for each featured artist, and their big Kill la Kill pieces are—like all titles in Kill la Kill—named after classic Japanese pop songs. You can read and see more about Takepro here.

It’s hard to pick favorites from this doujin because there is so much adorable and wonderful artwork, but I especially love Naoki Takeda’s “ここに幸あり,” or “Here is My Happiness,” named after the song by Yoshitsu Ootsu.

youtube

The picture features Ryuko, Mako, and Satsuki sitting together, all having a good time, and there’s just something so sweet about seeing happy Satsuki.

I also found an English translation of the song’s lyrics, courtesy of beast-senior 810:

The storm breaks and the rain falls Thorny as the women's path might be I would still keep on living with you And my happiness is here in the blue sky

I could not tell anybody of my scars A bird of love that resided in my chest If only I wander about crying and evading A sorrowful night wind will blow through the streets

I call out your name from the bottom of my heart Who will be awaiting me at the end of the echoes? Snuggle up to you and cheerfully look up to your face And my happiness is here in the white clouds

Aw. This song is so Satsuki.

And speaking of Satsuki, I can’t get over how cute she and Ryuko look on the cover of this book. Like??

Aw!

I also am quite fond of a small piece by Syuichi Iseki, which is in a super-deformed style and features Satsuki comforting Nonon after her uniform is destroyed during the Naturals Election. Nonon cries, and Satsuki pats her head. In the background, Ira looks distressed at the display, Houka seems to be deciphering it, and Mako smiles. It’s really, really cute.

Yoshie Endo’s “僕笑っちゃいます,” or “I’m Laughing,” named for the song by Shingo Kazami, is also real cute. It depicts Mataro holding up Guts, who licks his face. It’s another one of those, “I-so-wish-Kill-la-Kill-were-a-kids’-show” kinda pieces....

youtube

Hiroyuki Imaishi’s Doujin

Admittedly, I don’t actually know the title of this one, but it’s a very small doujin by Kill la Kill director Hiroyuki Imaishi. There isn’t too much Kill la Kill content, but there are two pages of Ryuko and Satsuki in their respective Kamui, accompanied by some text.

I thought the text might be something about the show, but it seems like it’s actually about Imaishi’s experience working on the show. And... it’s rather sad? He talks about how he’s able to accomplish more now, but he also has to consider a lot more as well, and he doesn’t have the time and energy that he used to. It’s a lot about aging and growing old.

At least, I think that’s what’s being communicated. Here’s a transcription, though:

なんだろう。

初会社役員とか。

昔よりやれることは増えたが考えなきゃいけないことも増えて時間と体力は足りなくなっていく。

年相応とも言える。

だけどいつまでも大人気なく生きていきたいものだ。

One last interesting thing about this doujin is the material it’s made from; it’s different than any other book in my collection. I’m not an artist, so forgive me if I sound totally ignorant here, but the paper reminds me watercolor paper. It definitely took me by surprise!

SL Sketch 3

SL Sketch 3 is a small fan doujin by Buzin. You can find most of the art in this book on their Tumblr!

Sketch 3 is a really fun collection of sketches, and I especially love the cover. I’m so desperate for art where Senketsu is acknowledged as an actual person that I’m just all heart eyes over Ryuko smiling at him here.

March 2014 Newtype

Okay, so this one’s really a magazine, not a book, but wow. I was taken aback by what’s inside!

I’ll definitely have to look at this issue in more depth because there are a bunch of Kill la Kill goodies in here that I didn’t even expect. And I don’t think most of it has been translated at all!

I also realized that I’ve been mixing up my Newtypes and will have to fix my resources page. But on the bright side, there is so much to love about this issue.

Like, the Elite Four Light Novel got reprinted in the Kamui Bansho, but it’s way better here because it has pictures!

I also love how Nonon, out of all the Elite Four, is the only one who stands beside Satsuki in these illustrations.

And I don’t even know what this is (VR or something with Ami Koshimizu, Ryuko’s VA?), but it’s cute and got me smiling:

And Ryo Akizuki, the mangaka for the official Kill la Kill manga, made a small comic about his experience working on the project. I like the little title panel with Ryuko, Senketsu, and Mako a lot:

Plus, there’s a shiny ad for the manga’s second volume, too:

One of the things that most caught my interest, though, is an article about the second opening song for Kill la Kill, GARNiDELiA’s “ambiguous”:

I got so curious about this bit because I’ve heard varying, conflicting information regarding the meaning behind the song’s lyrics. On the one hand, I’ve heard that half of the song is from Ryuko to Senketsu, and the other half is from Satsuki to Ryuko. On the other hand, I’ve heard that the whole song is from Satsuki to Ryuko. But I’ve never found any concrete sources for either of these claims!

So, I was hoping the Newtype article would help, but it’ll take a lot more digging into. Still, briefly looking over the page, I did find this bit:

そんな私の思いと歌詞が一致しました。『キルラキル』でいう流子ちゃんと神衣・鮮血の関係に近いかもしれませんね。

Roughly, it says, “As such, my thoughts about the song agreed with its lyrics. You might say it’s like the relationship between Ryuko and Kamui Senketsu in Kill la Kill.”

I’m not totally sure about the context here—and I admittedly don’t even know the author’s involvement in the making of "ambiguous”—but this article might explain where the Ryuko-and-Senketsu reading of the song came from. It’s definitely something I’d like to delve into more.

Because I really love the Ryuko-and-Senketsu reading of the song, okay, and I’d love some actually official backup for it!

Finally, another favorite part of the Newtype is simply all the art. Takafumi Hori’s spread is particularly great:

(You can find a cleaner image here.)

Just... dang. I wish I got a little poster of this instead of the ones actually included in the Newtype! The artwork is just stunning.

And one of the cutest things about the Newtype is all the fanart from its readers! I particularly love the little Valentine’s Day special; there’s an illustration of Ryuko giving Senketsu chocolate, and there’s also a Ryumako piece, too!

Kill la Kill Storyboard Ep. 01

Finally, one of my favorites from this haul is the Kill la Kill Storyboard Ep. 01. The book was included as a shop bonus for the original Japanese Blu-ray/DVD release, though I was able to win it by itself in an auction. I do think I overpaid a bit, but gosh, it’s a lovely addition to my collection. It’s just really neat to see the production process of an anime in action. I wish there were storyboard books for every episode in the show!

Hiroyuki Imaishi’s storyboards are also just super amusing. Here is a small sampling of some of my faves (because there is so much gold in here, my goodness):

And that’s all for now!

...I guess this really wasn’t so brief at all, huh?

Shocker.

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